Our projects

Healthy coastal ecosystems provide natural protective services and a first line of defense for coastal cities, communities and infrastructure, as well as other valuable ecosystem services. Well maintained coral reefs, for example, can absorb up to 97% of wave energy, and provide critical ecosystem services such as nurseries and feeding grounds for fisheries, providing coastal protection, and securing an important food supply for many coastal communities.

The health of these ecosystems is, however, rapidly declining. Preventing (and reversing) this decline requires a number of interventions, including (a) building the case for effective coral reef protection, restoration and sustainable management by defining the range of ecosystem goods and services they provide and quantifying the environmental, social and economic risks associated with their damage, (b) implementing strong policies and governance approaches to underpin their protection, restoration and sustainable management and (c) deploying sustainable financing and risk management systems to address climate change related hazards.

Funding from the Asia-Pacific Climate Finance Fund (ACliFF) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is supporting the implementation of this project; Output 4 of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Technical Assistance (TA) on Building Coastal Resilience through Nature Based and Integrated Solutions.

The project will be undertaken in selected high opportunity sites across the four countries, with the ambition to further replicate across the region, contributing to ADB's longer-term TA goal of (by 2030): $100 million of funding mobilised, with 600,000 people benefitting from improved livelihood opportunities as a result, and 200,000 people benefitting from the coastal resilience service (e.g. against storms) that coral reefs bring.

This multi-stakeholder project aims to identify, recommend and demonstrate the applicability of coral reef finance, insurance and risk management models and approaches in targeted, high-opportunity sites in four countries namely Fiji, Indonesia, Philippines, and Solomon Islands, towards increasing the climate resilience of coastal businesses, communities and their livelihoods. The project will include targeted research, assessment, preparation and knowledge sharing towards delivering technical and policy advice for the implementation of innovative coral reef financing and insurance model(s). As such, the project will focus on:

Asian Development Bank (ADB) proposes to provide a corporate loan to ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. Ltd. and its subsidiaries (ECOM) to support ECOM’s short term liquidity needs to ensure continuation of ECOM’s operations in Asia throughout the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

The loan will support smallholder farmers from whom ECOM directly source raw materials in the project countries. Disruptions to agricultural supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted smallholder farmers as local markets close down and smaller traders cease buying.

The impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods of female farmers is disproportionately harsh, given their limited access to land, credit, and inputs. ECOM’s role as a sustainable buyer of agricultural products at scale will provide timely support to smallholder farmers’ livelihoods, particularly for female farmers.

As part of the loan, there will be a package of technical assistance to use the loan in support of smallholder farmers development through input provision, technology development, and training. The Asian Development Bank has contracted Landell Mills (LM) to implement the technical assistance.

The technical assistance (TA) aims to:

Specific objectives of the contract are to reinforce the EU’s strategic communication goals and increase understanding, awareness and appreciation of the EU; and to reinforce the EU’s role as Nigeria’s strategic partner in development.

The activities carried out under the contract span a range of cross-cutting thematic areas, including education and science, political dialogue, culture, economic diplomacy and gender.

​The overall objective of the project is to foster trust and mutual understanding between the EU and Jamaica by strengthening the EU’s ability to meaningfully engage with different local audiences, stakeholders, influencers and potential partners and develop new partnerships to support advancing EU policy priorities in the country.

Specific objectives of the contract are to increase awareness and showcase the EU added value on the EU specific programmes, projects and initiatives in Jamaica; promote the EU as a strong and reliable partner in good and bad times; engage with Jamaica’s citizens, multipliers, influencers and partners to foster understanding of EU values, objectives, and actions and build trust by developing networks and new alliances.

The specific target groups for the contract the Jamaican public, political leaders, academics and think tanks, youth, media and influencers, civil society and community groups, private sector and economic agents, and cultural operators.

Tajikistan is heavily reliant on agriculture for employment and subsistence; agriculture accounts for 20% of the national GDP and 30% of exports. About 51% of the population, and 69% of female employment, is engaged in the sector, although women are disproportionately employed in agricultural labor rather than managerial positions and therefore have limited access to decision making in the sector. Tajikistan has abundant water resources, with an annual water availability of 7,649 cubic meters per capita. However. its mountainous geography limits the total arable land area to just 7% of the total land area. Subsequently, the country is heavily dependent on imported food and agricultural commodities.

The government’s approach to national economic and social development is outlined in the National Development Strategy 2030, where it looks to transition from “an agrarian-industrial based economy” to an “industrial-agrarian based economy.” From now until 2030, dramatic growth in the service sector and industrial employment is anticipated. These two sectors are expected to employ 75%–80% of the labor force by 2030, with agriculture’s share shrinking to 20%–25%, or about half of the 2016 level. To facilitate this shift, agriculture must become vastly more efficient and productive to provide increased output with a greatly reduced labor force. This transition will require a more efficient irrigated agriculture sector. More than 90% of agriculture production in Tajikistan is from irrigated lands, while irrigation withdrawals constitute about 85% of national water resource use.

The country is drained by two transboundary rivers: the Amu Darya in the south and the Syr Darya in the north. The Vakhsh river is a major tributary of the Amu Darya contributing about 29% of its total flow. The Vakhsh River Basin is key to (irrigated) agricultural production in Tajikistan, and the Yovon scheme is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the basin. The Yovon scheme engineering infrastructure comprises: (i) Main-Branch Canals and associated structures, (ii) Pumping Systems, (iii) Secondary-Tertiary Distribution Systems, (iv) Drainage Systems, (v) Escape/ spill mudflow channels, (vi) Inspection-Farm Roads, and (vii) Field systems.

Significant upgrades need to be made to some of the scheme’s infrastructure – the remote main system flow monitoring has totally failed, and most of the gates can no longer be easily operated, even manually. The secondary and tertiary systems are arguably in an even worse condition.

The technical assistance (TA) on Support to Operation and Maintenance and Financial Sustainability of Water Resources Infrastructure is attached to the Climate and Disaster Resilient Irrigation and Drainage Modernization in the Vakhsh River Basin Project. The project financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) will modernize prioritized components of the Yovon system. It will increase the capacities of the Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation (ALRI) and water users’ associations (WUAs) on infrastructure management and water use efficiency. Women farmers will be targeted in all activities. The project will also increase climate and disaster resilience, water and agricultural productivity, and farmer’s incomes through two outputs: (i) climate adaptive and gender-responsive management and operation of I&D systems strengthened, and (ii) policy strengthened for sustainable water management.

The scope of TA work comprises the development, testing and operationalization of a digital asset and financial management system (AFMS) for the Yovon unit of ALRI and the relevant ALRI unit at the headquarters and to train the ALRI staff in managing the system. The AFMS should include all infrastructural elements of the system from intake to drainage and outlets and comprises all financial flows at local, provincial, and central level including operation, maintenance and repair, and replacement budgets as well as subsidies and payments for services by different groups or organizations. The AFMS will also be used for WUAs where necessary with the support of the Union of WUAs, and/or the Yovon unit of ALRI.

The TA team and three individual consultants hired directly by ADB will coordinate their activities with ALRI and with the Project Implementation Group (PIG) of the Climate and Disaster Resilient Irrigation and Drainage Modernization in the Vakhsh River Basin Project, and will work together with the project implementation consultant (PIC) on relevant technical, institutional, and financial issues.

In addition, the TA consultant team contract will include a provision of supporting studies and survey sub-contracts, which will be engaged and supervised by the TA consultant team. Results and findings of the supporting studies and surveys will be incorporated and/or consolidated in the TA consultant team’s outputs. Expected surveys and data provision include:

(i) Detailed GPS-based irrigation asset survey of the Yovon unit project area;

(i) Provision of asset data in georeferenced GIS format with detailed GIS metadata; and

(ii) Provision of asset financial details and parameters for financial asset management.

The purpose of this evaluation is to analyze the performance of the project “Protected Areas and Climate Change Resilience” during its implementation period, from 06/13/2016 to 08/12/2022. This will be achieved through an in-depth and as exhaustive as possible examination of the level and quality of the achievement of results with regard to these objectives and the national and regional context (performance of the program with a focus on gender and human rights). The evaluation also makes it possible to take the measure of certain impacts, to assess the relevance of the approaches applied and the durability of the expected effects, as well as to note certain possible related effects.

Evaluation aims to resolve particular questions (introduced by the evaluation questions) following a systematic and objective process whose aim is to provide information on what works and what does not work, what favors or hinders achievement of the specific objective. The knowledge thus capitalized makes it possible to contribute to improving the effectiveness of aid for development, in direct connection with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as to integrate lessons learned, conclusions and recommendations. experience to guide future interventions.

Water is critical to the Afghanistan economic recovery. Water-dependent sectors (mainly agriculture) account for at least 27 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and agriculture remains the primary source of livelihoods for 70 percent of the population. But Afghanistan is experiencing a water crisis because of decades of underinvestment in water infrastructure and services and weak sector institutions. A national drought was officially declared in June 2021, with 79 percent of the households reporting insufficient water for their daily needs. Groundwater and surface water levels are depleted following two consecutive drought years.

Water supply and sanitation services in Afghanistan are inadequate and the country is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 to “ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by 2030. Only 67 percent of Afghanistan’s population has access to basic drinking water services, dropping to just 33 percent in rural regions. Only 43 percent of Afghans have access to basic sanitation services. Poor water and sanitation services in the three largest cities of Afghanistan – Kabul, Kandahar and Herat – are a particular concern due to these cities’ high share of the country’s urban population (66 percent). At present, all three water systems are exclusively supplied from groundwater, requiring energy intensive pumping. The remainder of the population which is not connected to the piped network also relies predominantly on groundwater, tapping into the unconfined shallow aquifers with private wells. Moreover, water quality is a considerable concern as the shallow aquifers are subject to contamination from surface drainage and untreated wastewater. Wastewater collection is non-existent.

Reliable year-round water resources are crucial for farmers as agricultural sector is an extremely important sector in the economy. It makes up more than a quarter of the country's GDP, but even more importantly it is a major source of employment. Despite the importance of the sector to the economy, only 32 percent of the arable land irrigated (2.5 million ha out of 7.8 million ha in 2020). More than 15% of Afghanistan’s irrigated land gets water from traditional underground systems such as Karezes (Qanats) , springs and shallow wells (locally called as Arhads).

Even though most of the domestic and other livelihood needs in urban and rural Afghanistan are being met through utilization of groundwater resources, knowledge on groundwater issues in Afghanistan is sparse as data availability and use remains scattered and limited. However, while uncertainties remain because of the paucity of data, available information suggests a significant potential for groundwater utilization in Afghanistan and could be an important resource as an adaptation mechanism to variable surface water availability due to climate change if managed properly. Given its high potential, detailed study and planning of these resources in combination with appropriate regulation and control mechanisms are needed for its sustainable management.

Budget support was the main modality of EU assistance to Morocco between 2013 and 2022. This modality allows both to increase the government's budgetary room for manoeuvre, and to strengthen the practices of dialogue between the EU and the Moroccan administration, as well as within this administration itself, which can suffer from its compartmentalization.

The action concerned by this project is part of the EU-Morocco green partnership, the first partnership signed within the framework of the EU Green Pact. The objective is enhanced cooperation and dialogue to advance the energy transition, protect the environment and stimulate the green economy. This directly follows the joint political declaration adopted in June 2019 by the EU-Morocco Association Council, which underlined the importance of prioritizing cooperation in the fields of energy, the fight against global warming, the protection of environment and promoting the green economy.

The livestock sector in the northern part of Cyprus plays an important role in the country's economy, providing employment opportunities for local people and contributing to the agricultural sector's GDP. Agriculture and livestock farming are among the main economic activities, with the sector including animal husbandry, milk production, meat production, and poultry production. Livestock farming is mainly practiced in rural areas, and the sector provides employment opportunities for farmers, herders, and other agricultural workers. The agriculture sector is an important driver for the Turkish Cypriot economy; the sector has significant linkages to other economic sectors, such as food processing and tourism. Manufacturing, which includes agri-food processing, produces predominantly dairy products and therefore relies heavily on domestic milk production.

However, despite its potential for growth and development, there are several challenges facing the livestock sector in the northern part of Cyprus. The primary challenges are limited resources such as water for irrigation, high costs of imported animal feed, lack of infrastructure and proper animal shelters, and high mortality rate of the new-born animals. Additionally, low levels of rainfall, high temperatures and increasing periods of drought put enormous pressure on the sector’s performance. In addition, there is a need for a more robust regulatory environment to ensure animal welfare, quality control, and food safety standards. This will require investment in regulatory institutions, inspection systems, and infrastructure to improve the sector's competitiveness in the global market. The European Union's involvement in animal health programmes in the northern part of Cyprus is part of a broader effort to counter such challenges, thereby improving the overall health and welfare of animals and promoting sustainable agriculture in the region.

On 12 April 2021, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/591 (4) entered a name in the register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications in respect of ‘Χαλλούμι’ (Halloumi)/‘Hellim’ (PDO). This protected designation of origin covers the whole island of Cyprus including the northern part of Cyprus. Pending the reunification of Cyprus, the prohibition under Article 4(9) of Regulation (EC) No 866/2004 for the animal products is lifted for the product, allowing the movement of the Halloumi/‘Hellim’ across the green line based on the fulfilment of certain conditions. The first and the most important of these conditions that should be fulfilled is that the animal health status in the northern part of Cyprus has to be established favourably according to internationally agreed standards of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) for all the diseases potentially transmissible through trade in the product. According to Annex III of (EU) 2021/586, there is a requirement on the status of bovine tuberculosis, bovine brucellosis and ovine and caprine brucellosis.

So far, significant support has been provided under the Aid Programme in the area of animal health, in the form of services and supplies, as well as through the TAIEX instrument in aligning the local legal texts with the EU standards. From 2006 to 2019, a total of €555 million has been allocated under the Aid Regulation from which more than €15 million has been assigned to increase the performance of the livestock sector, especially in animal husbandry and animal health. In addition to the grants given to livestock farmers (especially milk and dairy products producers), veterinary ‘services’ were also provided for the purpose of controlling and eventually eradicating infectious animal diseases and zoonotic diseases.

This contract aims to contribute to the promotion of the rural and economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community and the favourable animal health status of the area. The specific objective is to contribute to:

The purposes of this contract are to support the EU Delegation in:

Implementing its public diplomacy programme: