Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) | Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI)

Accountability Counsel has advocated for the Inter-American Development Bank Group’s Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI in Spanish) to be an accessible and robust accountability office for communities in Latin America and the Caribbean to seek redress for harm caused by IDB projects. We have actively engaged in reviews of the office’s policies and other activities to ensure that the office and the larger IDB Group accountability framework are effective.

Advocating for Fairness and Impartiality in Consultation Phase Processes

MICI’s consultation phase facilitates a voluntary dispute resolution process for parties, including complainants, the IDB, and the client, to address community grievances about a project and reach a mutually agreeable solution. In March 2018, Accountability Counsel submitted comments on draft consultation phase guidelines, which were developed by MICI to standardize its approach to the consultation phase according to its policy requirements, and ensure ethical, transparent, and effective case management. Drawing from our extensive experience in dispute resolution processes around the world, we also provided input during an in-person civil society dialogue meeting on the draft guidelines with MICI. MICI released the final version of the guidelines in April 2018, and the document incorporated much of our input. For example, the guidelines now reflect that during a consultation phase process, parties should receive impartial and fair treatment as opposed to equal treatment. With the context of asymmetrical power relations between the parties, as is often the case for such processes, equal treatment may not guarantee a fair process.

Promoting the Independence of the External Consultative Group

In response to the recommendations in the publication, Glass Half Full? The State of Accountability in Development Finance, which we co-authored with 10 of our partners, MICI committed to creating an external consultative group (Grupo Consultivo Externo in Spanish or GCE) in 2016 to better reflect an understanding of the people impacted by the IDB in MICI in decision-making. In August 2016, we provided input on the GCE’s operating procedures. We successfully advocated for the removal of IDB staff as potential GCE members, contributing to the effectiveness and independence of the GCE and MICI. The list of the current GCE members can be found on MICI’s website. 

Ensuring Robust Access to Information and Safeguards

Accountability Counsel has advocated for greater accountability through a number of policy reviews that have taken place at the IDB in recent years. Since 2019, the IDB has completed or undertaken reviews of the IDB and IDB Invest Access to Information policies, the IDB Invest Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy, and the IDB Environmental and Social Policy Framework.

Working with partners, we have worked to translate our community case experience in Colombia, where provisions of the IDB’s access to information policy limited the communities’ ability to fully understand MICI’s findings and what took place during the course of the project, into policy change during the access to information policy review process for both the IDB and IDB Invest, the private-sector arm of the IDB Group. Working with several partners, including International Accountability Project and FUNDEPS, we have contributed to multiple submissions on the IDB Invest policy review, as well one for the first phase of the IDB policy review. In addition, we participated in multiple in-person consultations on the policies in Washington, D.C. The final IDB Invest policy, approved by the board of directors in June 2019, reflects some of our recommendations, though the bank still needs to narrow and more clearly delineate which information the bank can keep confidential. The next phase of the IDB policy review is expected to begin later this year.

Accountability Counsel also joined civil society partners in calling for stronger environmental and social safeguards for IDB financing during the reviews of both the IDB Invest Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy (Sustainability Policy) and the IDB Environmental and Social Policy Framework (ESPF). In multiple joint submissions on both policies, we joined civil society organizations from around Latin America to call for robust environmental safeguards, a strong commitment to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and additional standards for stakeholder engagement and gender equality, among other recommendations. The submissions also called for the bank to more clearly highlight MICI’s role in handling complaints arising from possible non-compliance with these policies, clarify the circumstances under which MICI is available, and promote greater dissemination of MICI information during the consultation phases of a project. The final Sustainability Policy was approved in April 2020 and the final ESPF in September. The ESPF review in particular saw recommended improvements that will improve accessibility to MICI for local communities.

We will continue to work with partners to ensure strong safeguards and that communities have the information they need to raise their voices concerning IDB projects.

See here for more information on Accountability Counsel’s advocacy to the IDB.