Blog

As the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) meets today for its first in-person annual meeting in four years, civil society groups are questioning the bank’s track record on accountability.

Last week, hundreds of public development banks met in Cartagena, Colombia for the 4th annual Finance in Common summit to discuss how PDBs can advance the Sustainable Development Goals and address climate change and other global crises. This FIC summit proposed to develop “concrete actions to make finance more sustainable, equitable, and inclusive,” yet the conversations largely left out the very people most affected by its members’ financing – local communities.

The lack of a shared “complaint vocabulary” across the various IAMs hampers community comprehension, broader public engagement, and system-wide analysis. As the number of complaints grows, so does the need for a standardized method to assess, categorize, and report complaints.

Civil society organizations play a crucial role in supporting communities throughout, and improving the accessibility of IAM complaint processes. Insights from preliminary research on this topic show the impact representation can have on the success of a complaint, and identify potential policy changes to make IAMs more accessible for communities.

The World Bank Group is evolving its mission to confront a “crisis of development” precipitated by climate change, biodiversity loss, pandemic risks, rising fragility and conflict, and global economic distress. By its very definition, the Evolution Roadmap it has offered for public consultation is evidence enough that this is intended to be a conscious evolution. But as it vies to lead on climate finance, its crisis of accountability jeopardizes a just and inclusive transition that leaves no one behind, especially those it aims to serve. Accountability Counsel, supported by 22 civil society organizations from across the globe, have presented the bank with an Evolution to Accountability Roadmap, outlining necessary reforms to govern its evolution and ensure that communities impacted by WBG financing remain at the center of its broadened mission.

Members of the CSO Working Group on the African Development Bank (AfDB) recently published Understanding the AfDB: A Guide for CSOs and Communities. We hope that this toolkit will help civil society organizations and communities effectively engage in the AfDB’s activities and hold the bank accountable to its development mission and for the impacts of its projects.

The Console now includes all complaint data though 2022. Has anything substantively changed since January 2020?

As of May 2023, people impacted by the mining industry have a new forum to raise environmental and social concerns. The new mechanism, called the Mediation and Consultation Mechanism for the Mining Industry and Mineral Value Chain, is also the first grievance mechanism applicable to many Chinese corporations engaged in…

In recent days, Ugandan communities signed an agreement in defense of their community, their land, and their livelihoods. The Kawaala community has faced agonizing threats to their wellbeing and livelihoods since the Government sought to evict them at the height of the pandemic. With our support, those communities fought for safety and just compensation, culminating in the agreement signed with the Kampala Capital City Authority.

At last, the European Parliament has approved its negotiating position on the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, completing an important step toward ensuring that corporate actors across all sectors of the economy, from finance to extraction, production, and distribution, operate with respect for human rights and planetary ecology. Read more about several notable improvements that stand to make the final law successful.

As the EBRD reviews its Environmental and Social Policy, the case of the controversial Amulsar gold mine project in Armenia presents valuable lessons that can shape future policies.

The Asian Development Bank is finally reviewing its Accountability Mechanism policy. The review is long due and must follow a process that is independent, transparent, and consults project affected communities and civil society organizations.

The African Development Bank has released the final version of its updated Integrated Safeguards System (ISS). If well implemented, the new safeguards could go a long way in preventing harm to communities. However, the policy still does not guarantee remedy for harms that do occur. 

Various transparency and accountability challenges arise when development finance institutions use financial intermediaries, such as national and regional banks, without proper safeguards.

When faced with clients who have repeatedly failed to uphold threshold social and environmental policies, MDBs must make clear that any new funding is contingent on actively protecting communities from facing the risk of repeating past harms.

Accountability Counsel, along with other civil society organizations, expresses alarm over a recent announcement by the World Bank Accountability Mechanism that its final operating procedures would not apply to all of its cases.

We are in year five of a groundbreaking remedy agreement in Haiti, and while significant progress has been made, critical gaps require more time and a concerted push to see the agreement’s implementation over the finish line.

This week, Accountability Counsel and several civil society partners in Asia submitted recommendations for the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights’ forthcoming report on development finance institutions and human rights.

On February 21, IFC/MIGA published a “Proposed Approach to Remedial Action” that failed to introduce any meaningful changes to current policies. Strangely, the proposal also didn’t present any data to back up its claim that existing practices are sufficient for enabling remedy. This article analyzes publicly available data from cases to IFC/MICA’s accountability mechanism to determine that current practices are in fact inadequate and should be reformed.

Our extraordinary founder, Natalie Bridgeman Fields, has made the difficult decision to resign as Executive Director of Accountability Counsel. Natalie is a powerful force, and we will miss her inspiring, values-centered leadership and her relentless commitment to speak truth to power.