The Unfinished Business of Remedy in Development Finance

On International Women’s Rights Day, we are reminded that development finance must advance women’s and girls’ rights, not undermine them.

For four young women in Kenya, that promise remains unfinished.

Accountability Counsel represents four survivors of child sexual abuse at a school operated by Bridge International Academies. Their complaints before IFC’s Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) were formally merged into the ongoing Bridge-04 process.

The survivors are also engaged in a CEO-initiated investigation by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation Independent  Accountability Mechanism (DFC’s IAM), following the merger of their request into that investigation.

These processes matter. But process alone is not remedy.

IFC: Implementation must begin now

In response to CAO’s findings, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) approved a $12 million Gender-Based Violence and Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse Response and Prevention Program. On paper, the program includes case management, psychosocial support, legal assistance, and socio-economic support, services survivors have explicitly requested.

But approval is not implementation.

Survivors are still waiting for full, effective connection to referral services aligned with their needs. Delays are explained as procedural. Timelines remain unclear. Communication gaps persist. 

IFIs cannot treat gender harm as incidental. When harm occurs in projects they finance, response cannot be slow, bureaucratic, or abstract.

On this International Women’s Rights Day, we call on IFC to:

• Ensure immediate connection of the four survivors to referral services aligned with their stated needs.
• Provide clear timelines and transparent communication to survivors.
• Ensure that financial assistance mechanisms are operational without delay.
• Immediately operationalize the response program.

The unfinished business of remedy is measured in time. Survivors should not have to wait for institutional processes to mature.

DFC: Participation and transparency are non-negotiable

The accountability obligation does not rest with IFC alone.

The DFC’s initiated its own investigation into Bridge. Survivors’ requests were merged into that process. Yet meaningful accountability requires more than investigation.

We call on DFC to:

• Ensure direct, meaningful survivor-centred engagement in the development of its Management Action Plan.
• Commit publicly to survivor-cantered remedy that goes beyond procedural reform.
• Secure Board approval for the publication of the IAM investigation report without delay.
• Ensure a well staffed IAM for the swift movement of this case.

Investigations that remain unpublished do not deliver accountability. Management action plans developed without survivor voice are not rights-based remedy.

From risk management to rights-based remedy

Development finance institutions often speak the language of risk management. But risk management is not remedy.

A feminist approach to development finance demands more:

• Recognition that gendered harm is structural, not incidental.
• Survivor participation in remedy design.
• Financial and psychosocial support delivered without delay.
• Institutional reform that prevents recurrence.

Development finance cannot be a site of gendered harm. It must be a vehicle for rights, dignity, and accountability.

This International Women’s Rights Day, we stand with the four survivors we represent.

The time for commitments has passed. Implementation, transparency, and survivor-cantered remedy must happen now.