Environmental and Social Safeguards

You may not know it, but Tacuarembó, Uruguay is the town where Carlos Gardel, one of the most prominent figures in the history of tango, was born. It is a city full of traditions; in March of every year, many visitors gather in Tacuarembó to celebrate the Feast of the Patria Gaucha. Tacuarembó is also one of the beneficiaries of the Local Development and Subnational … [Read more...] about In Uruguay, sustainable development will do more than improve a bridge

Trinidad and Tobago has achieved almost universal coverage of potable water. According to the 2015 UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Program, 95% of the population uses an improved drinking water source (95% in urban areas and 95% in rural areas). In addition, 92% of the population uses improved sanitation facilities referring to flush toilets. Despite these improvements, the … [Read more...] about Wastewater Education is Taking Trinidad by Storm

On October 18th and 19th 2016, Haiti reached a milestone in its evolution towards the sustainable management of its natural resources. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)-funded ecological baseline assessment for the Three Bays National Park – a 75,000 hectare coastal marine reserve on Haiti’s North coast, was presented to great acclaim and significant national media … [Read more...] about New data for conservation planning in Haiti

We all agree that we want quality infrastructure, because we know that quality reduces project risks, increases availability and durability over a project’s lifecycle, improves customer experience and as such makes the infrastructure worth the investment. But how can we ensure quality? The IDB –as well as other development banks– uses a suite of safeguard policies to ensure … [Read more...] about Three ways to improve the quality of infrastructure investments

The IDB has made a strong commitment to strengthening and using country systems for both fiduciary and non-fiduciary aspects of Bank loans.  While notable progress has been made in the former, the latter, which include national systems for development effectiveness and environmental and social safeguards, require different approaches.  Notably, and recognizing the diversity of … [Read more...] about Four Things We’ve Learned about Environmental Governance in the Caribbean