Independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) play a critical role in helping people and communities who believe they have been affected by projects funded by international finance institutions. Civil society organizations (CSOs) facilitate access to IAMs, providing communities with information about what IAMs do and how to navigate a compliance and dispute resolution process. Strong relationships between IAMs and CSOs are crucial for increasing accountability.  

In an impressive display of global collaboration, nine IAMs hosted an outreach workshop on 12-13 June for 31 representatives from CSOs in 7 countries in the Eastern Africa region. CSOs from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia joined an outreach workshop in Nairobi titled “Strengthening Accountability & Access to Remedy for Project-Affected Communities.” The gathering was attended in person by 20 IAM staff, with further participation online. Mark Goldsmith, Chairperson of the Inspection Panel; William Romans, Head of Operations, Dispute Resolution Service; Carissa Western, Dispute Resolution Expert; and Jennine Meyer, Senior External Affairs Officer, attended on behalf of the World Bank Accountability Mechanism. 

The workshop was initiated by the Outreach Working Group of the Independent Accountability Mechanism Network (IAMnet), a partnership of practitioners that builds institutional capacity on accountability and compliance and dispute resolution for improved corporate governance and development impact. Participating IAMs and the lead CSO, the International Accountability Project, held weekly calls for several months to jointly determine the workshop’s agenda. The resulting workshop provided an introduction to IAMs—who they are, what they do, why they exist—and explored how they can work better with CSOs to help communities understand the compliance and dispute resolution options available to them.  

IAMs shared case studies to illustrate how they work, and CSOs with experience in filing cases offered tips to CSOs new to the process. Participants also discussed the issues communities face with threats and reprisals and what can—and cannot—be done to reduce risks. Both IAMs and CSOs asked one another lots of questions about what they do and how they work. 

For IAMs, outreach workshops are fundamental to raising awareness of their work, given the challenges in reaching communities affected by the projects of their parent institutions. Partnerships with CSOs are critical, as they serve as bridges to communities, offering the advice and technical capacity that communities often require to file complaints. To reach communities, therefore, IAMs must reach CSOs first. The Nairobi workshop was an important step in raising the profile of accountability work in the Eastern African region.  

The Complaints Mechanism of the European Investment Bank served as the lead IAM organizer and sponsor, with additional support from the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (IFC/MIGA). The World Bank Accountability Mechanism participated in the workshop along with the Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM) of the African Development Bank Group, the Independent Accountability Mechanism of the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. (DFC), the Complaints-resolution, Evaluation and Integrity Unit (CEIU) of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Independent Accountability Mechanism of FinDev Canada, the Office of the Independent Complaint Mechanism (IKI ICM) of Internationale Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI), and the Independent Complaints Mechanism of Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG), the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), and the Société de Promotion et de Participation pour la Coopération Economique (PROPARCO).