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Are you concerned about the environmental or social impacts of a project financed by the IDB Group?

November 15, 2022 por Eva Heiss - Laura N. Rojas Sánchez Leave a Comment


Find out how and to whom you can express your concerns about potential environmental or social impacts of an IDB Group-financed project.

*Emilia, a representative of a community in El Salvador, was concerned about the potential impacts of an IDB-financed road construction project that required her and others in her community to be resettled. There was a lot of uncertainty about the new housing location and the options available to families. The most concerned ones were the community’s women, as many are solely responsible for their families and cannot afford high rents. In addition, they depend on nearby schools so their children can receive primary education.

*Carlos is an employee of an agricultural production company in Paraguay. The company significantly expanded its production thanks to a loan from IDB Invest. Carlos realizes this also means rethinking personal protective equipment (PPE) to increase safety measures for the workers. For example, they will need more robust and comfortable masks and metal boots beside the helmet and vests they already have.

What options do Emilia and Carlos have?

IDB Invest, IDB, and IDB Lab are the three institutions that constitute the IDB Group. They all have robust environmental and social policies and performance standards that borrowers and clients apply to their projects. The objective is to avoid, reduce, mitigate, or compensate for the potential environmental and social impacts that may occur during the construction or operation of the projects.

One requirement is the participation of stakeholders and communities affected by the projects. This participation should start early to inform the project’s design. In addition, it must include communication channels to receive present or future complaints or claims related to IDB Group projects.

Interested people, such as Emilia and Carlos, can resolve their claims in three ways:

  1. Grievance mechanisms directly managed by the project.
  2. Directly contacting IDB Invest’s Management Grievance Mechanism (MGM) or the IDB Grievance Protocol.
  3. As a last resort, by going to the MICI, the IDB Group’s independent office for environmental and social complaints.

Emilia filed a grievance with the project’s grievance mechanism on behalf of the community, which immediately gave her an appointment to hear her concerns. After two meetings with the executing agency, Emilia was frustrated because she felt they were not considering the importance of the schools in the area for the mothers of families. Because of this, she decided to go to the IDB office to file her grievance. The project team talked with Emilia about her concerns and called several meetings with the executing agency to discuss them. In this way, they were able to jointly build concrete solutions and agree on an action plan that considered the needs of women in the community.

On the other hand, Carlos mentioned his concern to his boss, who asked him to seek solutions with the company’s Human Resources Department. After some attempts to dialogue that from his point of view were unsuccessful, Carlos decided to submit his claim to IDB Invest through the form he found on the website. IDB Invest’s grievance mechanism (MGM) accepted his complaint. The labor safety requirements of the IDB Invest Sustainability Policy were reviewed in several meetings between the IDB Invest technical team and the company. It was concluded that it was necessary to acquire new personal protection equipment. This new equipment should provide safety and also be comfortable for long-term use. Carlos was satisfied with IDB Invest’s response, and the company appreciated that these issues had been raised to improve the working conditions of its employees.

Where can I find information on the projects financed by the IDB and IDB Invest?

Information on IDB Group projects is subject to transparency standards and, therefore, is public.

If you want to find information on IDB projects, visit: https://www.iadb.org/en/projects

If you want to find information about IDB Invest projects, visit: https://www.idbinvest.org/en/projects

How to contact us?

If you have a grievance that you want to send directly to the IDB Group, we have online forms for IDB Invest and the IDB for you to register your grievance. In addition, you can write to [email protected] for an IDB Invest project or [email protected] in the case of IDB projects. If you prefer, you can communicate by letter or telephone.

To consider

In case you are not satisfied with the response of the IDB Group after reasonable attempts to agree on a solution, we can work together to continue the dialogue. If you prefer, you can present your grievance to the MICI, the independent office that impartially receives grievances about environmental and social issues. You can also withdraw your grievance at any stage of the process. Remember that you can always get involved through the project’s stakeholder engagement activities.

During these processes, we are attentive to analyzing any situation that could put people’s life, health or safety, or the environment at risk. Likewise, we assure you that we will keep your personal information confidential if you need it.

We invite you to consult the step-by-step of these processes here for IDB Invest and here for IDB.

*Fictional cases.


Filed Under: Cambio Climático

Eva Heiss

Eva Heiss is a lead environmental and social risk specialist at IDB Invest, which finances private sector projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. In her role she is dedicated, among others, to managing environmental, social and governance grievances and risk analysis at the portfolio level. Prior to joining IDB Invest, she worked at MICI, the IDB Group's accountability office, where she worked on strategic outreach, conflict analysis and the generation of lessons learned. She has experience in multi-sectoral sustainable development initiatives, both in the non-governmental, multilateral and private sector. Eva has a Master's degree in Climate Change and Development from the University of Sussex in England and a Diploma in Management and International Trade from the University of Applied Sciences in Germany, in addition to training in environmental and social conflict mediation.

Laura N. Rojas Sánchez

Laura is the Environmental and Social Sustainability Advisor to the Vice presidency of Knowledge and Sectors at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), where she coordinates IDB efforts to mainstream sustainability in all aspects of the Bank’s work. Recently, she led the drafting of the new IDB´s Environmental and Social Policy Framework. She is also the main author of the IDB’s Sector Framework Document on the Environment and Biodiversity, and, over the las 13 years, has led multiple operations in energy, infrastructure, and environment at the IDB. Laura holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics (LSE), a Master’s degree in Environmental Economics and Natural Resources from Universidad de los Andes/University of Maryland, and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia.

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This blog is a space to reflect about the challenges, opportunities and the progress made by Latin American and Caribbean countries on the path towards the region’s sustainable development.

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