EADN

ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE

Regional Coordinator and Secretariat

Dr. Chia Siow Yue is the founding regional coordinator of the East Asian Development Network (EADN). She was then the director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) in Singapore, which also served as the EADN secretariat. When Dr. Chia retired from ISEAS and moved to the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), the EADN secretariat was relocated to SIIA.

At its 10 October 2003 meeting, the EADN Steering Committee accepted Dr. Chia’s proposal to rotate the EADN regional coordinator and secretariat periodically among the EADN member economies. It was agreed that each regional coordinator and secretariat would henceforth serve a five-year term. The regional coordinator and secretariat would be appointed on a competitive basis. The eligibility criteria and terms of reference were drawn up with the guidance of the Global Development Network (GDN) director. The call for proposals was posted on the EADN and GDN websites, and EADN country coordinators were asked to canvass among their member institutes for possible candidates who would then submit proposals to the EADN secretariat.

Dr. Chalongphob Sussangkarn of the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI) became the second EADN regional coordinator after a selection committee composed of the GDN Director, the EADN Regional Coordinator, and the Asian Development Bank Chief Economist agreed to accept his proposal. The EADN Steering Committee endorsed the new regional coordinator and secretariat appointment at a special meeting on 10 July 2004. The transfer to the TDRI took effect on 01 September 2004.

In July 2010, the coordination of EADN was transferred to Dr. Josef Yap, and the secretariat was moved to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in Manila. Since then, PIDS has been serving as the EADN secretariat. After Dr. Yap, Dr. Gilberto Llanto, Dr. Celia Reyes and, currently, Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr. consecutively served as regional coordinator.

EADN Steering Committee and Country Coordinators

EADN is governed by a Steering Committee composed of the regional coordinator (Chairman) and country coordinators (members). The Steering Committee assists the regional coordinator with the governance of EADN. It also assists the regional coordinator in disseminating information from the EADN secretariat and the GDN, processes applications for EADN membership, and identifies resource persons and researchers for EADN and GDN research projects. The Steering Committee meets once a year during the EADN Annual Forum. Communication and decisionmaking are done through email.

The first country coordinators, who served an indefinite term, were nominated by member institutes of their respective countries during the Second EADN Forum in June 2000. Thereafter, country coordinators nominated their successors.

Current Members of the EADN Steering Committee

Chairman and Regional Coordinator:

Country Coordinators:

Partnership with the GDN

EADN is a regional partner of the GDN, a public international organization supporting high-quality, policy-oriented social science research in developing and transition economies. It helps researchers with financial resources, global networking, and access to information, training, and mentoring (more details at www.gdn.int).

Major activities of the EADN, such as the annual forum and research grants competition, were supported by the GDN. Both are continuing partners in sharing information about opportunities for research grants, regional/global project engagements, and networking.

For several years, EADN was allowed to nominate a representative to serve on the GDN Board of Directors. Nominated by the EADN Steering Committee, the first representative was Dr. Kyung Tae Lee, President of the Korean Institute of International Economic Policy. He served in the GDN until late 2001, when he became the Korean ambassador to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The Steering Committee selected Dr. Chalongphob Sussangkarn, then President of the Thailand Development Research Institute, as the next EADN representative to the GDN. After Dr. Chalongphob’s term ended in December 2005, Dr. Carolina G. Hernandez of the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies-Philippines was chosen as representative for three years. The succeeding representatives were Dr. Mohamed Ariff of the Malaysia Institute of Economic Research and Dr. Tham Siew Yean of the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.