Panel Takes Part in Workshops for Civil Society in Brazil on the Operations of Independent Accountability Mechanisms

The Inspection Panel in early September helped organize and participated in two virtual workshops for civil society and community representatives in Brazil on the operations of independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) at international financial institutions.

Camila Jorge do Amaral, an Inspection Panel consultant who worked on two recent cases in Brazil, represented the Panel at the workshops on September 3 and 10. The workshops were organized with the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman and the IAMs of the Inter-American Development Bank, Green Climate Fund and United Nations Development Programme as well as seven civil society organizations active in Brazil: International Accountability Project, International Rivers, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA), the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (INESC),  Conectas Human Rights, Socio-environmental Institute (ISA) and the Migration Observatory in São Paulo.

Approximately 50 people took part in each workshop. At the September 3 workshop, IAM representatives explained the work of the mechanisms and discussed how communities can file complaints with them, the process followed by the IAMs after receiving a complaint, examples of previous IAM cases and how the mechanisms try to address reprisals against complainants. Later in the workshop, civil society representatives discussed their experiences in dealing with the mechanisms.

Civil society representatives led discussions at the September 10 workshop on the institutional limitations and challenges faced by the IAMs, international agreements on socio-environmental accountability and human rights, and an early warning system that aims to ensure that communities and non-governmental organizations have access to information about projects to be financed by development banks.

The workshops are the latest in a series of virtual outreach events for civil society that the Panel has taken part in since members and staff began working from home during COVID-19 pandemic. In late August, the Panel made a presentation to the Movement for Community-led Development. Previously, the Panel conducted virtual sessions in Southern and West Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. It also participated jointly with other IAMs in virtual workshops in Central and South America.

Please contact the Inspection Panel at ipanel@worldbank.org if you are interested in taking part in a virtual workshop.

The Panel will resume in-person workshops as the pandemic eases and the World Bank permits mission travel.