The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB) is a multilateral development bank that finances business and development activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. It has 48 member countries within and outside the region, and is made up of the IDB, which finances public sector projects, and IDB Invest, which provides financing to the private sector.
The IDB Group has a mission to improve the quality of life in Latin America and the Caribbean, and it has the power to support the realization of human rights with its financing. Too often, however, the institution finances projects that lack meaningful participation of local communities, generate conflict, and violate human rights.
In September 2020, the IDB Group updated their social and environmental policy frameworks. The revision was an important process, because these policies have a big impact not only for the communities directly impacted by IDB investments, but because they also influence standards for both the public and private sectors throughout the region.
Throughout the IDB’s revision of its safeguards, Coalition member Bank Information Centre and other CSOs have advocated for policies that promote more inclusive, sustainable development. With the IDB’s recent approval of its final Policy, the group of CSOs recognize the achievements and the improvements made, while continuing to urge the IDB to provide guidance on comprehensive post-approval and implementation processes that will benefit people and the environment.
For more information on the IDB safeguards revisions, please check out the Bank Information Centre website. You can also check a comprehensive analysis of the new ESPF and the individual Environmental and Social Performance Standards here.
You can register with IDB here to participate in consultations. For more information on how to monitor and help shape specific IDB projects, contact Gonzalo Roza, FUNDEPS.
Resources:
- Research IDB projects (public sector)
- Research IDB Invest projects (private sector)
- File a complaint regarding an IDB-financed project
- Find your country representative on the IDB Board of Executive Directors
- New IDB environmental and social safeguards (September 2020)
- Website for the IDB safeguards review
- Website for the IDB Invest policy review
- Website for the IDB Access to Information Policy review
- Blog on the revision of the IDB Access to Information Policy, Bank Information Center, January 2020
- Recommendations to strengthen the process for the IDB Invest Safeguard review, December 2019
- Comments and Recommendations on IDB Invest’s Access to Information Policy Implementation Guidelines, December 2019
- Recommendations from the Coalition for Human Rights in Development Secretariat on the IDB Invest safeguards policy draft, October 2019
- Collective recommendations on the draft safeguards policy of IDB Invest, October 2019
- Blog: The IDB Invest Policy Review: Why does it matter and how you can engage?, Bank Information Center, September 2019
- Press conference and Public forum organized by civil society during the IDB annual meeting, july 2019
- Letter on the revision and update of the IDB Group safeguards policies, May 2019
- Infografías informativas sobres los proyectos problemáticos del BID Invest, Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad, 2019
- Comments on IDB Invest’s draft access to information policy, September 2018
- Letter to IDB re: Civil society participation spaces, June 2017
- Response from IDB re: Civil society letter on participation spaces, July 2017 (Spanish only)
- Letter to IDB re: Alliance for Prosperity, June 2017 (Spanish only)