Challenges, lessons, and prospects for operationalizing regional projects in Asia

Challenges, Lessons, and Prospects for Operationalizing Regional Projects in Asia: Legal and Institutional Aspects is part of the World Bank Studies series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank's ongoing research and to stimulate public discourse. For the past decade and a half, international development organisations have been making continual efforts to finance multi-country projects with regional goals. Despite their efforts, the structure of intervention through such projects has not been easy to design and implement. Experience shows that one of the reasons for this is the lack of clarity in the enabling legal framework and tools, both within the client countries as well as the development organisations. Against this backdrop, this study is born of a need for more precise and comprehensive information about the legal and institutional aspects involved in designing regional projects. Based essentially on desk research and with limited field consultation, it attempts to discuss - primarily from legal and institutional perspectives - the tools, prospects, and opportunities for designing and implementing regional projects. Paying particular focus on the emerging practice of the World Bank, and with a special reference to the Asia region, the study reviews the framework for regional projects in which international development organisations operate, the problems they face, and the possibilities they provide for countries that rely on international financing for their development. Challenges, Lessons, and Prospects for Operationalizing Regional Projects in Asia: Legal and Institutional Aspects outlines the general structures of regional projects and discusses the World Bank approach toward regional projects, the importance of political will and commitment, the general legal structures for regional projects, the uniqueness and challenges for Asia, and makes some proposals for consideration in developing regional projects. The study will be of particular interest to development professionals working in the context of regional projects and anyone interested in how legal and institutional structures impact project development.