Name		NGO	Sub-region
Co-Conveners
Mr Jit Ram Lama		NFN	South Asia
Mr Saroeun Soeung (Focal Point)		CCC	South East Asia
Mr Hideki Wakabayashi		JANIC	North East Asia
Steering Committee Members
Primary Member	Alternate Member	Organization	Sub-region
Mr Jit Ram Lama	Ms Bhawana Bhatta	NFN	South Asia
Mr Zia Ur Rahman	Ms Maryam Amjad	PDA	South Asia
Mr Saroeun Soeung	Ms El Sotheary	CCC	South East Asia
Mr Sugeng Bahagijo	Mr. Mugiyanto SIPIN	INFID	South East Asia
Mr Hideki Wakabayashi	Mr Aoi Horiuchi	JANIC	North East Asia
Ms. Jaeun Shin	Ms. Hanui Lee	KCOC	North East Asia
Advisors and Founding ADA Members
Mr. Anselmo LEE (S. Korea) Mr. Harsh Jaitli (India)
Secretariat
Dr (Ms) Jyotsna Mohan, Coordinator

Preamble and History of ADA

Preamble

We, the members of Asia Development Alliance, hereby called ADA, have founded this association of the society to bring transformative political, economic & social change to achieve a fair and sustainable world for all. Our primary goal is creating a peaceful community in Asia and beyond by promoting all human rights, especially rights of association and expression through inclusive and participatory decision making process by safeguarding the rights of all, across all genders, classes, races and ethnicities to influence governance institutions and processes by recognising the intersecting nature and impact of these diversities in their impact on development

We shall unify and organise ourselves to work with all stakeholders of development across various countries and voicing the struggles that has remained unheard at national, regional and global levels and various platforms through our stories of change towards creating the greater progressive community

History/ Background

The Asia Development Alliance (ADA) is a not for profit and non-governmental regional civil society platform in Asia, established on 2 February 2013 at the founding assembly in Bangkok, Thailand. The founding assembly was initiated by four national CSO/NGO platforms – VANI (India), CCC (Cambodia), Code-NGO (Philippines) and KCOC (Korea) – with the support from Forus, CIVICUS Affinity Group of National Associations (AGNA) and Good Neighbours International (GNI) in partnership with Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) Asia to represent the national CSO platforms in Asia and serve as key connector to governments, UN organisations and other stakeholders and to create a strong enabling environment for civil society organisations and the rights of citizens for action and participation.

As a legitimate catalyst and representative of the voice of the CSOs from across Asia, ADA works to strengthen the capacities of civil society to ensure the effective and efficient participation of civil society actors in official negotiations. ADA also advocates for an enabling environment for civil society organisations in the context of continued shrinking civic space to influence public policy at the national, regional and international level.

Vision, Mission, and Goal

Vision

ADA envisions strong national CSO platforms in all the countries of Asia being representatives of ‘inclusive voice’ and where the citizens enjoy all human rights’ addressing power imbalance to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and achieving social justice, peace and democracy.

Mission

ADA shall the mandate to:

• Facilitate, Collaborate and Capacitate national platforms to promote and advance justice, equality and peace at all levels of society towards promoting civic space, right to association and expression and safeguarding the rights of all and including people in the decision making process.
• Communicate, Advocate and Influence national, regional and global policy makers/decision makers to towards transformative political, economic and social change

Goal

ADA together with its members aims to strengthen the capacity of national CSO platforms of Asia to enhance and influence public policies and effectiveness and impact of civic engagement and advocacy for inclusive participation in decision making process and promoting transparent and accountable governance.

Governance and Management

Asia Development Alliance (ADA) shall be governed by its members as general body and governance body as steering committee, and managed by secretariat.

General Body of ADA

General Body Defined

General body of ADA shall consist of all members.

Duties and Functions of the General Body

1. To approve ADA’s constitution and its amendment
2. To approve ADA’s strategic plan and budget
3. To elect the steering committee of ADA amongst its members and hold SC accountable
4. To be responsible for overall vision and thrust of ADA
5. To consider any of the issues brought forward, which shall be determined to be decided or turned down by simple majority after voting.

General Body Meeting

1. The meeting of the general body shall be held at least once in a year (onsite meeting or online based on financial availability and quorum of the meeting). A notice for convening such a general body meeting shall be issued to all the members by email at least one month in advance by Chair of the Steering Committee. Procedure of General Assembly shall be developed in detail and put it as Annex 1.
2. The quorum in the general meeting will be one third (1/3) of the total ADA members.
3. Special General body meeting may be convened with a clear notice before 15 days proposed/suggested by two third (2/3) of SC members and/or one fourth (1/4) of total ADA members.
4. Voting: Each member shall have one vote. Decision shall be based on 50+1. In case of equality of votes, the chair of SC shall have the right to case an extra vote.

Steering Committee

Definition of Steering Committee

The first Steering Committee is the governing body of ADA and shall consists of the person whose names are given in the memorandum of association. The first Steering Committee shall hold office until new elections are held.

Composition

1. The SC shall consist of 7-9 persons elected by ADA members to represent ADA members in all sub-regions- South Asia, Southeast Asia, North Asia and Central Asia on fairly basis principle or not more than 3 representatives to be elected from each sub-region.
2. ADA will thrive to have 50 percent of the SC members consist of women or LGBTIQ community

Terms of Office:

1. The elected Steering Committee shall elect/appoint a Chair, two Vice-chairs, Treasurer, Auditor, and member-at-large from among itself for a period of 2 years with 1/3rd of them to be resigning voluntarily after one year, to give space to the new members and then the SC works normally and finish their terms.
2. The ordinary term of the Steering Committee shall be 2 years after which election will be held. In case, the election does not take place after 2 years for any reason whatsoever the office bearers of the previous shall continue to act as such for a period of maximum one year thereafter.
3. The Coordinator is appointed by the Steering Committee as an ex-officio member of the Steering Committee.
4. One SC member can get his/her new terms renewed for maximum one more term, should she/he shows willingness and approved by the rest of the SC.
5. The maximum stretch for a Steering committee member in the Steering Committee shall be of 4 years (2 terms) and the person is liable for re- nomination only after 4 years of completing his/her two terms.
6. Specific roles and responsibilities of the Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Auditor will be defined in a separate document as Annex: 3.

Casual Vacancies

1. Any steering committee member may resign from the duty by giving notice in writing to the chair and/or vice -chairs of the Steering committee with a copy to the other steering committee and the ADA secretariat office and his/her resignation shall take effect from the date of its acceptance by the Steering Committee.
2. In this case, the Steering Committee shall have the power to appoint any member of the network who has duration of membership of at least 3 years to fill the vacancy for the remaining term.

Elections

1. Elections shall be held once in a 2 years. No member shall be eligible to cast his/ her vote in any election if he/ she is in arise of his/ her subscription or other shall be questioned/ audited in the general body meeting of the society.
2. Voting in all elections of the society be through secret ballot (either paper or online based). Detail procedure of election and related SC will be developed in annex 2.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee shall be responsible for making necessary amendments in the memorandum of association or by- laws or constitution or name or location of the ADA with a majority of 3/5. They shall

1. Approve ADA annual work-plan, budget, and reports
2. Pass the financial audit report
3. Be responsible for the fund raising in coordination with the secretariat
4. Connect the secretariat to the potential funders/donors
5. Support/ guide the secretariat in writing/bidding for funding proposal
6. Invest the funds of the ADA to strategize future plans and programs and activities to be pursued by the ADA
7. Recruit/appoint and remove Coordinator, and provide leadership, guidance, and manage performance of the Coordinator
8. Approve new members of ADA as per the regulations of the society
9. Recruit and/appoint Advisors to support Steering Committee. Term of Reference for Advisors can be found in Annex 4.
10. Form (if necessary) and Chair of Sub-Committees. The Term of Reference for sub-committees will be developed and approved by the SC.

Secretariat of ADA

The Secretariat shall consist of Coordinator, Program Unit and Finance and Admin Unit.

Roles and Responsibilities of the Coordinator

The Coordinator shall be responsible:

1. To assist the chair and the treasurer in all the work of ADA related to the program and activities that fulfil the objective of ADA
2. To keep records of the proceedings of the Steering committee and ADA general body
3. To maintain and update the list of ADA members and data pertaining to their activities
4. To do all the correspondence, for and on behalf of ADA and to have custody of records, files etc. of ADA
5. To carry on the day to day work of ADA at the secretariat and to have supervision over the office and its staff
6. To prepare the annual report and submit it to the Steering Committee
7. To publish bulletins, newsletter, reports and other literatures in order to achieve the objectives of ADA as directed by the ADA Steering Committee
8. To submit records before the authorities and fulfil all statutory obligations

To execute various programs and activities to promote the objective of ADA as decided by the Steering Committee

Manual for performance management of the secretariat will be developed in a separate document. It will include roles and responsibilities of program unit and finance and admin unit will be defined in a separate document to be as an annex.

ADA Membership

1. Membership shall be in three categories – Full, Associate member and Observer. Details on membership will be developed in a separate document, annex 3.
2. ADA members shall be national or sub-national multi-sectoral independent civil society platforms or umbrellas in Asia, namely South, Southeast and Northeast Asia as well as Central Asia.
3. The active members of the Forus and CIVICUS, AGNA shall be accepted as associate members of ADA.
4. Criteria for Full, Associate member and observer shall be as follows:

Category	Main Criteria
Full member	National or sub-regional CSO platform with governance structure (Chair, SG/ED, etc.) List of member organizations (multi-sectoral) engaged in projects and activities on SDGs, specially 16 and 17, Full-time paid staff (at least one person) Minimum 2 year of existence
Associate member	National or sub-regional civil society platform or umbrella consisting of several CSOs that do not meet all criteria to be full member as indicated in the above
Observer	Individual CSOs or civil society in countries where there is no ADA member.

National Platform is meant to be a national network of the multiple number of CSOs with a well-established governance structure, secretariat and independent budget and projects on multi-sectoral issues related to SDGs.

National Umbrella is meant to be a loose and light network of CSOs at national level without a well-established governance structure, secretariat and budget.

Filling out the detailed membership application form is subject to approval by the ADA governance board.

ADA PROGRAM

• Capacity Development for its members and partners — Capacity development for empowering civil society on civic space, inclusive participation in decision making, right to association and expression and transparent governance
• Strengthening Membership and outreach to become the resilience platforms and shared voices
• Advocacy on national, regional and global policies issues, including financing, monitoring and Review of national plan, engagement with the UN and the member states through Research and position papers

Resource Mobilization: as funding from Western countries has reduced drastically and South Cooperation[1] has been strengthened which is way beyond providing financial assistance but encouraging multi-stakeholder partnership and skill exchange between and among the global south so ADA role is to create, connect, and influence for resources and technical assistance and partnership within both Western and the global South for the members

The activities of ADA shall include all kinds of activity necessary for the functioning of its objectives as stated above, and in particular of Research reports as may be decided by the committee from time to time to fulfil the objectives of the society.

Resource and Properties and Management

1. Source and Income: ADA shall generate its income from the following sources: subscription, membership fee, donations, special contribution, Grant in Aid, Gifts, local donation.
2. Note: Income of ADA shall be utilities for the attainment of the aims and objectives as mentioned above.
   • By way of receiving and collection any gift subscription and donation either in cash or kind or acquire funds and property moveable or immovable by lawful means and to spend and utilize the same for the fulfilment of all or anyone of the aims and objects of ADA.
   • To seek and accept financial assistance from international/national donors for undertaking development projects and to fulfil the aims and objects of ADA
3. Financial Year: The ADA’s fiscal year shall be from day January 1 to December 31.
4. All resources and properties of ADA will be managed by the separate policies/ guidelines to be developed and approved by the Steering Committee
5. All moneys of ADA shall be deposited and / or invested:
   • In any nationalized Bank or any other Bank or Banks approved by the Steering Committee, in any ADA member’s country.
   • All the accounts in the name of ADA shall be operated by the office manager /finance officer approved by the Steering Committee.

Amendment and Dissolution of Bylaw

1. Amendment

Any amendment to the memorandum and rules and regulations or name or location of the ADA shall be carried out in accordance with the rules and regulations above

2. No Confidence Motion

Any office bearer or a member or Steering Committee may be removed from the office of ADA if no confidence motion is passed against incumbent by at least two thirds majority of General body.

3. Dissolution

ADA shall deem to be dissolved by General body with 4/5th of its majority or the General body through resolution to merge ADA with another society having similar aims and objects but with a 4/5th majority vote of General body.

4. Annual List of Steering Committee

Once in every year a list of the office bearers and members of Steering Committee shall be renewed and share during the Annual General Meeting (AGM)

Annexes

Annex 1:   Procedures of Annual General Body Meeting

1. The Annual General Meeting of ADA shall be held each year on a day, time and place to be fixed by the Steering Committee;
2. The ADA Coordinator shall submit an Annual Report of the proceedings of the Steering Committee, if any, and of the activities together with a Statement of the assets and liabilities of ADA and an abstract of receipts and disbursements during the year, and the Reports of the Auditors, if any;
3. The Steering Committee, whenever they think fit, and shall upon a requisition made in writing and signed by not less than 50% convene a Special General Body Meeting at such place and time not later than two months as they may decide. Any requisition made by the members shall state the objects of the Special Meeting proposed to be called and the Resolutions proposed to be passed thereat, and shall be addressed to the Co-Conveners/Chairs.
4. At all General Body Meetings, only the business of which notice has been given or such questions as naturally arise thereon shall be discussed. Any Member desiring to move a Resolution at the annual General Meeting shall give Notice of the same in writing to the Steering Committee at least thirty days before the date fixed for the General Meeting.
5. A minimum of 20% of the existing number of members should be present at a General Body meeting which shall be the quorum for the meeting.
6. If within fifteen minutes from the time appointed for a General body meeting there is no quorum, the meeting if convened on the Requisition of Members shall stand dissolved, and in any other case, shall stand adjourned to half an hour and will meet on the same day and at the same place.
7. The person presiding at the General Body Meeting may, with the consent of the Meeting, adjourn the same from time to time and from place to place; but no business shall be transacted at any adjourned Meeting other than the business left unfinished at the Meeting form which the adjournment took place.
8. No quorum shall be necessary for any adjourned General Body Meeting.
9. Subject to any restriction that may be imposed by the General Body, to incur all the necessary expenses for the maintenance and carrying out of the objects and intentions of these rules and by-laws of ADA without any discrimination and under no such circumstance any of the funds would be utilized for the benefit of any of the members of the Steering Committee or any persons.

Annex 2:   Procedures of Steering Committee Election

1. For election for ADA Steering Committee the seating Steering Committee members shall appoint an election officer from among the life members of ADA. The election process shall be conducted by the election officer.
2. To qualify for the election, the intending candidate should be a life member of ADA.
3. At least 30 days in advance, the election officer shall post/mail to each member, a list of vacancies for the position of ADA. Office bearers along with blank nomination forms. A member desiring for election shall send his/her nomination paper which shall set out the candidate’s name and address and the office for which the candidate is nominated, be proposed by one member and seconded by another member and duly signed by them and also signed by the candidate signifying his/her willingness for election and to serve as an Steering Committee member, if selected. These nominations must reach the designated election officer not later than two weeks after the deadline of election notice.
4. The election officer shall inform through official emails of the ADA members. If any candidate wishes to withdraw his/her nomination, he/she can do so by informing the election officer, within 15 days of the date of intimation from the election officer.
5. The election to be done through online voting methods.
6. The final decision of the election right shall be held with the election officer in consultation with the seating steering committee members of ADA
7. Steering committee shall meet every month virtually and at least once (or twice) in a face to face meeting.

Annex 3:   Specific roles and responsibilities of Chair, Vice-chairs, Treasurer and Auditor

1. Power and Duties of the Chair. The chair shall be responsible:

• For chairing the meetings of the General Body and Steering Committee;
• Guiding the Treasurer and the Executive secretary/coordinator in the discharge of their duties
• Providing overall leadership to the programs and activities of ADA
• Shall have the casting vote if votes are tied
• Can call a meeting if he/she sees the need

1. Roles and Responsibilities of the Treasure: The treasurer shall be responsible:

• To maintain or cause to maintain regular accounts, to prepare annual statements of accounts of ADA and to submit the same to ADA Steering Committee and General Body
• To receive or cause to receive and disburse or cause to disburse amounts and to incur expenditure as per budget estimates approved by the steering committee
• To provide leadership in the fund raising for work to achieve the objective of ADA

Annex 4: Term of Reference of ADA Advisors

Advisor is a voluntary position and is not legally binding and applicable to any member or non-member of ADA depending upon the need and necessity, realised by the ADA Steering Committee. The following roles of advisors are envisaged

1. Advisors are NOT part of the Steering Committee
2. Provide advice to the ADA Steering Committee when requested.
3. Attend the ADA Steering Committee meeting if and when invited
4. Facilitate or advise on resource mobilization for ADA, if requested
5. Attend ADA activities and meetings when invited
6. Represent ADA only after taking due permission from the ADA Steering Committee
7. In case of voting, advisors don’t have the voting power
8. Advisors can only apply for the ADA Steering Committee member’s position, if they are ADA members

List of Current Advisors

Advisors and Founding ADA Members

Mr. Anselmo LEE (S. Korea) Mr. Harsh Jaitli (India)

Annex 5:   Procedures of ADA Membership

1. Why Become ADA Member
   1. Becoming a member is considered to show solidarity to the vision and mission of ADA. Apart from joining various international networks and contribute to its development, direction and actions. More specifically, membership provides a means to:
   2. Access information and resources via a regional network of national NGO platforms across Asia
   3. Access a network that facilitates exchange and cooperation between national NGO platforms various regional and global coalitions
   4. Build joint advocacy common positions on major topics linked to the global agenda and contribute to targeted advocacy at national, regional and international levels, especially on Goal 16 and Goal 16, linking development, democracy and human rights through partnership
   5. Access a digital platform with information, news and exchanges via a website (http://ada2030.org/), emails, and other social networks of ADA
   6. discuss and interact with international players (United Nations agencies, international organizations, foundations, civil society networks, media, etc.);
   7. Take part in thematic working groups;
   8. Having an opportunity to be part of ADA governance structure and decision making
2. Role and responsibility of members
   1. Participate in Annual General Meeting
   2. Participate as a member of General Governance Body and follow the defined roles and responsibilities
   3. Nominate to be the candidate for Steering Committee
   4. Participate as a member of sub-committee
   5. Contribute membership fee annually (annual fee will be defined and agreed by the Steering Committee)

ADA Membership Form

Organizational information
1.    Name of Organization (Full and Acronym in English)
2.    Official language(s)
3.    Post Address including country
4.    Telephone
5.    Fax
6.    Email
7.    Website
8.    Facebook
9.    Year of the Foundation
10. No of member organizations
11. Geographical coverage
12. Sectoral coverage
13. No of the Staff at the Secretariat
14. Annual Budget in USD
15. Main sources of funding
16. Affiliation of International CSO Networks (global and regional)
17. Affiliation of National CSO Networks
18. Status or working relationship with the International Organizations (UN ECOSOC, UNESCAP, ADB, G7, G20, BRICS, etc.)
19. Mission or Objectives

Key contact persons
20. Name, title, e-mail, telephone (mobile), skype of Chairperson or president including terms of mandate
21. Name, title, e-mail, telephone (mobile), skype of CEO, Executive Director or Secretary General including the terms of mandate
22. Name , title, e-mail, telephone (mobile), skype of a person(s) in charge of international relations or advocacy - 1
23. Name , title, e-mail, telephone (mobile), skype of a person(s) in charge of international relations or advocacy – 2
Main Activities
24. Type of Activities
25. Specific Issues and topics addressed by the organization
26. Type of activities about the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
27. Which specific goals or targets is your organization working on?
28. Other useful information or remarks
Please send the updated information to info@ada2030.org