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Panel Teams with Other Accountability Mechanisms for CSO Workshops in Kiev, Bogotá

On November 8 and 9, the Inspection Panel and five Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) of different international financial institutions (IFIs) held a workshop in Kiev for more than 80 civil society representatives from Ukraine and eight other countries. Panel member Jan Mattsson and Senior Operations Officer Serge Selwan explained the work of the Inspection Panel and presented a case study of the Panel’s investigation into a complaint about the World Bank’s Kenya Electricity Expansion Project. The workshop, organized with the CEE Bankwatch Network, was attended by civil society representatives from Ukraine, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Greece and Moldova. In addition to the Panel and Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the IAM at the International Finance Corporation/Multilateral Investment Guarantee Corporation, representatives from IAMs at the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Black Sea Trade & Investment Bank took part in the event.

On December 5, the Panel and two other IAMs joined more than 50 representatives of civil society from Colombia for an all-day workshop in Bogotá. The workshop started with an overview of the operations of the IFIs and their mechanisms in Colombia by the civil society organization (CSO) Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad. Panel Chairman Gonzalo Castro de la Mata and his counterparts at the CAO and MICI of the Inter-American Development Bank made presentations on their operations and how civil society can access these mechanisms. Complainants from Colombia presented on their experiences engaging with the IAMs. In the afternoon, the Universidad de los Andes presented on the accountability trends in Colombia. Small group discussions between IAM and CSO representatives followed, with Chairman Castro de la Mata and two members of the Panel’s Secretariat, Tamara Milsztajn and Jordan Burns, taking part. Asociación Ambiente y Sociedad and another CSO, Grupo Regional sobre Financiamiento y Infraestructura, worked with the IAMs to organize the workshop.