Accountability Counsel amplifies the voices of communities around the world to protect their human rights and environment. As advocates for people harmed by internationally financed projects, we employ community driven and policy level strategies to access justice.
Impact
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Communities Supported50
Our impact includes redesigned projects that now reflect community needs, harm stopped and prevented to defend water resources, and agreements resulting in compensation.
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Policy Influenced66
We advocate for the world's 66 accountability offices to be independent, transparent, fair, and effective. We have improved policy and practice at development institutions, U.N. agencies, and within the OECD.
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Complaints Tracked1,604
We created and run the Accountability Console, a comprehensive database of community complaints filed with independent accountability mechanisms about the impacts of internationally financed projects.
News
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27 January, 2023DFIs Are Not Transparent and This Hurts Local Communities
This week, Publish What You Fund, launched its first DFI Transparency Index, the culmination of years of work to ensure that development finance institutions (DFIs) are transparent to stakeholders. The overwhelming conclusion of this year’s Index is that DFIs are largely not transparent, and this needs to improve. We have seen the devastating impacts of the lack of disclosure of information of DFI activities to affected communities and call on DFIs to respond to the Index by increasing their transparency and accountability to those most affected by their activities. -
24 January, 2023What’s rest got to do with it? The confessions of a recovering workaholic
This year marks seven years of my work in the human rights space. Throughout these years, my work has been fulfilling in so many ways – and I have also struggled so much with regard to rest, recovery, and unplugging. -
23 January, 2023A Welcome Update for the United Nations Development Programme’s (Sort of) Independent Accountability Mechanism
A confounding trend of institutional defensiveness against Independent Accountability Mechanisms means that every review of an IAM policy risks resulting in weakened rather than improved tools for accountability. With this in mind, Accountability Counsel and endorsing organizations wrote to the United Nations Development Programme’s Social and Environmental Compliance Unit to commend certain proposed updates to its operational guidelines, as well as to challenge fundamental issues that stand to undermine its effectiveness for communities and the UNDP alike. -
19 January, 2023Accountability Counsel and Inclusive Development International advise on new Chinese-led accountability mechanism for the mining sector
As the first mechanism of its kind established by a Chinese industry association, the Responsible Critical Mineral Initiative’s new accountability mechanism has the potential to be a significant advancement in the corporate accountability landscape. -
17 January, 2023Who decides what is effective in Effective Altruism?
In the weeks following the FTX collapse, some of the scrutiny has turned to Effective Altruism – but instead of asking whether to condemn or support the movement, the more crucial question is one that applies far beyond: who defines what effective giving is in the first place?
