Notes from the Civil Society Policy Forum session on 24 March.
Guatemala
Accountability
Analysis
IFC and MIGA must ‘walk the accountability walk’ on the road mapped by independent review
Implementation in full of the independent review of IFC, MIGA and CAO is essential if institutions are to meet persistent accountability and remedy gaps.
Rights
News
IFC denies responsibility for community harms following CAO’s Guatemala dam investigation
IFC denies responsibility for harms to the community in dam case despite investigation findings.
Rights
News
CAO released damning audit of IFC hydro project in Guatemala
CAO audit finds IFC failed to identify gaps in project’s social and environmental assessment, while communities impacted by the project face impacts on water source, livelihoods and levels of violence.
Social services
Analysis
GFF falls short on family planning
Investments by the World Bank-hosted Global Financing Facility (GFF) do not reflect the family planning priorities identified by developing countries and local communities. The GFF also continues to suffer from a lack of transparency and meaningful civil society participation, raising doubts about the new mechanism’s effectiveness.
Environment
Analysis
Forest Investment Program (FIP)
Challenges in measuring progress were noted for the Forest Investment Program (FIP), in particular greenhouse gas accounting. Investment plans for Mozambique and Ivory Coast have been approved. Questions were raised over the reasoning for a commercial teak plantation project in Ghana.
Environment
Analysis
Climate Investment Funds Monitor 14
New edition of the Bretton Woods Project's biannual Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) Monitor, including an update on the Green Climate Fund, published to coincide with the World Bank-hosted CIFs trust fund committee meetings.
Environment
Analysis
Climate Investment Funds Monitor 13
New edition of the Bretton Woods Project's biannual Climate Investment Fund (CIFs) Monitor, published to coincide with the World Bank-hosted CIFs trust fund committee meetings.
Environment
Analysis
Forest Investment Program (FIP)
Six new countries were invited to join the Forest Investment Program (FIP), with a further nine invited to develop investment plans, despite insufficient funds. Potential support for oil palm plantations in Democratic Republic of Congo and industrial logging in Indonesia and Peru were questioned.
Rights
Analysis
Risky business: IFC reluctant to disclose information on high-risk subprojects
Civil society continues to pressure IFC on disclosure of high risk subprojects, as it responds to a critical report detailing the human rights consequences of its investments.
Accountability
Analysis
Moving beyond aspirations? IFC still unable to determine the impact of its financial intermediaries investments
A new monitoring report by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman concludes that the IFC still lacks a mechanism to determine whether its financial intermediaries investments do no harm or have a positive development impact
Infrastructure
News
Guatemala to pay reparations for World Bank funded Chixoy dam
The Guatemalan government has agreed to pay around $155 million in reparations to local indigenous communities who suffered human rights abuses as a result of the construction of the World Bank funded Chixoy dam
