What can local residents do when urban infrastructure projects impact their businesses and homes? How can an indigenous community protect its ancestral lands, affected by the construction of a dam? What rights protect these individuals, and how can they assert them? The grievance mechanisms of eight major international organisations will answer these and other questions in a live online presentation on 10 December.
Latin America and the Caribbean receive billions of dollars from international organisations every year for projects that aim to transform lives and promote development. However, these projects can also have unintended negative impacts on local communities, from displacing entire populations to causing family income loss and even harming the ancestral heritage of indigenous communities.
When this happens, which rights protect these individuals? How can they voice their concerns? The independent accountability mechanisms of eight international institutions will answer these questions in the webinar "Right to Complain," aimed at explaining to local communities what these mechanisms are, how they can help affected individuals, and which steps must be taken to file a complaint.
On 10 December, the experts from the following accountability mechanisms will be available to answer any questions: the World Bank Group and the IDB Group in Washington; the United Nations Development Program in New York; the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg; the Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados; Canada FinDev in Ottawa; and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in Beijing.
The 45-minute webinar is free and open to all those interested in learning how to exercise their rights when facing projects that may impact their communities.
To participate, simply register at any of these links:
This event will be held in Spanish. A Portuguese version for institutions funding projects in Brazil will be held in early 2025.
This event is organised by the following Independent Accountability Mechanisms:
- Accountability Mechanism (AM), Inspection Panel (IPN), and Dispute Resolution Service (DRS) of the World Bank.
- Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) -MIGA.
- Complaints Mechanism (CM) of the European Investment Bank.
- Independent Accountability Mechanism of FinDev Canada.
- Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI) of the IDB Group (IDB, IDB Invest y IDB Lab).