Loading...
Newsletter Archive
The newsletter is sent on the first Monday of the month to all Console users.
Want to get the monthly Accountability Console Newsletter without a Console account? Sign up here.
If you would like to see the full article archive, please click here.
September 2025
AI, IFIs, and Community Harm
AI’s rapid advancement is driving an unprecedented investment in data centers, with companies spending over $364 billion last year to meet the growing computational demands needed for agentic AI. These centers…
August 2025
When the Sacred Is Bulldozed
Cultural heritage harm is increasingly acknowledged in accountability processes—but rarely repaired. This article draws on three emblematic cases from Jharkhand (India), Samoa, and Côte d'Ivoire, along with da…
July 2025
Strengthening IAMs: Lessons from Palm Oil Accountability
Drawing on a landmark case from West Kalimantan, Indonesia, Stanford student Michelle Kalu examines how Indigenous communities challenged land grabs by palm oil giant Wilmar, backed by International Finance Co…
June 2025
The hidden harms of road projects
Drawing on data from 1,648 complaints in the Console database, Stanford student Leily Rossi explores why road infrastructure projects are the most complained about sub-sector, surpassing even energy and extrac…
May 2025
The EBRD in Sub-Saharan Africa: Expanding Horizons, Expanding Harm?
The EBRD is celebrating its expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa and Iraq at next week’s Annual Meetings. However, the Bank should recognize that expanding operations requires increased attention to preventing an…
April 2025
When IAMs fail women: Gendered harm needs gendered justice
In this month’s edition of the Console newsletter, Research Associate Lama Almoayed explores how Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs) routinely fail to recognize or address the gendered nature of harm.…
March 2025
Against the wind: Resistance, rights, and reckoning in Mexico's Isthmus
Twelve years ago, a formal complaint contributed to stopping what would have been Latin America's largest wind farm in Mexico's Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The complaint led to new documentation and protocols at t…
February 2025
IFC's Performance Standards Need Community-Led Accountability
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is planning to update its Performance Standards, the environmental and social rules governing its investments. However, a critical gap remains in how the IFC evaluat…
January 2025
2024 Round-Up
Happy New Year! We’re grateful to our subscribers and readers for supporting our ongoing efforts toward greater accountability and community-centered development. Since launching the Console Newsletter in 20…
December 2024
The ADB's Accountability Mechanism: An Uphill Battle for Communities
This month’s newsletter examines the barriers faced by communities attempting to access the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Accountability Mechanism (AM). It explores how restrictive eligibility criteria, opa…
November 2024
The World Bank's climate mission: new risks on the horizon?
Since incorporating climate action into its mission, the World Bank faces new challenges balancing climate goals with human rights and accountability. In this month’s newsletter, we examine how the Bank is imp…
October 2024
Why Every IAM Should Have The Power to Self-Initiate Investigations
In this month’s newsletter, Senior Policy Associate Gregory Berry and Policy Associate Leo Lou explore the practice of IAMs initiating compliance investigations without a complaint filed by an impacted perso…
September 2024
New Export Feature to Download Complaint Data
We’re excited to announce a major upgrade to the Console’s export functionality! You can now reliably export large volumes of complaint data with our new asynchronous feature. Integrated with the existing se…
August 2024
How the Largest Multilateral Development Bank Finances Conflict
In light of the recent International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, this month’s newsletter explores the European Investment Bank's (EIB) financial investme…
July 2024
Who Pays When Banks Assess Risks Inaccurately?
Development financial institutions (DFIs) assign risk categories to investment projects to gauge potential harm to local communities and the environment. These risk categorizations are crucial because they tri…
June 2024
Development Banks Must Prevent Forced Displacement
In the June issue of the newsletter, Stanford student Aleena Anand explores complaints to IAMs involving involuntary resettlement, noting two patterns: 1) breached resettlement agreements and 2) forced displa…
May 2024
Upholding Banks' Biodiversity Responsibilities
This month’s newsletter comes to you appropriately nestled between International Mother Earth Day and International Day for Biological Diversity; three years into the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restora…
April 2024
The State of Remedy at the EBRD
In this month’s newsletter, Policy Associate Megan Pearson examines the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's (EBRD) approach to remedy, shedding light on both the existing remedy gap in practic…
March 2024
Accountability in Energy Transition Minerals (ETMs) Projects
The rush to mine energy transition minerals (ETMs), vital for the shift to renewable energy, raises concerns about accountability in a sector already rife with social and environmental issues, disproportionate…
February 2024
Charting the path of every single complaint
In this month's newsletter, Senior Research Associate Megumi Tsutsui walks us through a flowchart that follows the path of every complaint submitted to an independent accountability mechanism (IAM) that made i…
January 2024
2023 Round Up
Happy New Year! We want to thank our subscribers and readers for supporting our collective efforts toward greater accountability and community centered development. In 2021, we launched our Console Newsletter …
December 2023
Climate Finance: Is it doing more harm than good?
With COP28 taking place this week, Research Associate Lama Almoayed examines the crucial role played by financial institutions in the climate crisis. Drawing insights from interviews with communities in Li…
November 2023
Lessons for IDB's Strategy Review
In this month’s edition of the Console newsletter, Policy Fellow Brooke Behrmann looks at what can be learned from MICI complaints, to ensure the IDB’s Institutional Strategy for 2024-2030 prioritizes improv…
October 2023
How Do Corporations Influence World Bank Lending?
In the September issue of the newsletter, Research Intern Irmak Ersoz explores the role of multinational corporations in World Bank lending and the manner in which corporate influence over loan disbursements c…
September 2023
Why Cant We Compare Complaints?
In this month's newsletter, Research Director Samer Araabi makes the case for developing a shared complaint vocabulary across the growing number of Independent Accountability Mechanisms, what steps can be take…
August 2023
Making IAMs Accessible for All Communities
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Communities Fellow Sara Jaramillo examines the vital role civil society organizations play in supporting communities throughout and enhancing the accessibil…
July 2023
The New Complaint Climate
In April, after months of gathering data from complaint registries and annual statements, the Console finally updated its complaint data through 2022. In this month's edition of the Console newsletter, Researc…
June 2023
Lessons from a Community Struggle in Armenia
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Associate Lama Almoayed delves into the case of the Amulsar gold mine project in Armenia. Drawing on interviews with community members, the article e…
May 2023
How Financial Intermediaries Obscure Accountability
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Associate Lama Almoayed sheds light on the accountability gap caused by the flow of development finance through financial intermediaries, such as nat…
April 2023
Why Do Multilateral Development Banks Finance Repeat Offenders?
In this month’s edition of the Console Newsletter, Communities Fellow Sara Jaramillo examines why multilateral development banks (MDBs) continue to empower clients that have a clear history of violating safegu…
March 2023
Data Doesn’t Support IFC/MIGA’s Remedy Proposal
On February 21, IFC/MIGA published a “Proposed Approach to Remedial Action” that failed to introduce any meaningful changes to current policies. Strangely, the proposal also didn’t present any data to back up …
February 2023
Are Complaints Delivering Remedy?
For the past year, Accountability Counsel has been working with the Yale Law School Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic to determine the types of outcomes and remedies that result from IAM complaint p…
January 2023
2022 Round Up
Happy New Year! This year we want to thank our subscribers and readers for supporting our collective efforts toward greater accountability and community centered development. We launched the Accountability Con…
December 2022
Understanding Community Harm Part 7: “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied" - Labor
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Fellow Anthony Williams continues our series in understanding community harm through their article about labor issues in complaints to IAMs. Represen…
November 2022
How Should IAMs Choose Mediators?
In this month’s edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Associate Lama Almoayed looks into the use of mediators by IAMs. Mediators are experts that are hired by IAMs to help facilitate dispute resolution p…
October 2022
When Development Goes Wrong in the MENA - Part 2
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Associate Marisa Lenci provides a look into complaints in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. In the September edition of the newsletter,…
September 2022
When Development Goes Wrong in the MENA - Part 1
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Associate Marisa Lenci provides a look into complaints in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. This article analyzes complaint and project…
August 2022
What Accountability Mechanisms Tell Us About Greenwashing
As environmental consciousness gains broad public appeal, investors are increasingly keen to support “green” projects. However, there are many instances of supposedly eco-friendly projects causing negative env…
July 2022
Infrastructure Complaints in South and Southeast Asia
Last week, several Accountability Counsel staff members presented at a conference organized by the Regional Infrastructure Monitoring Alliance (RIMA), an umbrella organization of civil society groups in South …
June 2022
Understanding Community Harm Part 6: Cultural Heritage
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Fellow Anthony Williams continues our series in understanding community harm through their article about cultural heritage issues in complaints to IA…
May 2022
Understanding Community Harm Part 5: Livelihoods
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Associate Lama Almoayed continues our series in understanding community harm by writing about livelihoods issues. 17% of all complaints to IAMs raise…
April 2022
Do Dispute Resolution Agreements Result in Outcomes?
177 complaints to IAMs have pursued a dispute resolution process in an effort to reach mutually agreeable solutions to issues faced by complainants. Of these, 102 have successfully produced agreements. In this…
March 2022
Why Do Complaints Take So Long?
In the March edition of the Console Newsletter, Research Director Samer Araabi explores trends in the lengths of complaint stages in IAM complaint processes. Understanding the drivers of complaint stage length…
February 2022
Shadow Eligibility
In this month's edition of the Console newsletter, Research Director Samer Araabi explores over a hundred complaints that are found eligible to advance to a substantive stage, but don't. What can we learn abou…
January 2022
2021 Round Up
Happy New Year! We debuted the Console Newsletter in January of last year, using information from over 1,600 complaints about 1,004 projects, spanning 20 IAMs tied to 19 banks. Over the past year the newslette…
December 2021
Visualizing Complaints
In this month's edition of the Console Newsletter, we explore trends and relationships in complaints using the Console's Visualize feature. A look at complaints by regions shows some significant differences th…
November 2021
Harm in the Agribusiness Sector
In our November edition, Policy Associate Gregory Berry and Senior Communities Associate Caitlin Daniel dive into complaints on Agribusiness projects, and argue that banks must confront the history of environ…
October 2021
Understanding Community Harm Part 4: Gender-based Violence
Welcome to the October edition of the monthly Console Newsletter. This month, we continue our series on understanding types of community harm with an article on gender-based violence (GBV) concerns raised in c…
September 2021
Understanding Community Harm Part 3: Displacement
In the September edition of the newsletter, we continue our series on understanding community harm with a deep dive into complaints raising concerns of physical and economic displacement. Displacement issues a…
August 2021
What Do We Know About Unknown Complaints?
Welcome to our August newsletter edition! This month, we explore IAM transparency through the lens of unknown or unreported complaints filed to IAMs. The Accountability Console tracks all complaints filed to a…
July 2021
Exploring Accountability Mechanisms
In this month's edition of the Accountability Console Newsletter, we explore the information available on Independent Accountability Mechanisms in the Console. The IAMs section has information on all the compl…
June 2021
Understanding Community Harm Part 2: Environment
In this month's edition of the Accountability Console Newsletter, we continue our series exploring the types of harm faced by communities from internationally financed projects, with Policy Fellow Belén Carrie…
May 2021
Understanding Community Harm Part 1: Consultation and Due Diligence
In this month's edition of the Accountability Console Newsletter, we begin a new series exploring the types of harm faced by communities from internationally financed projects. Research Intern Piper Goeking st…
April 2021
Investigating Dark Spots in Accountability
In the April edition of the Accountability Console Newsletter, we tackle some big issues that are able to be addressed for the first time using the Console’s data and analytics. Using the Accountability Conso…
March 2021
Eligibility Bottlenecks and the Story of a Complaint
Welcome to the March edition of the Accountability Console Newsletter! This month, AC Research Director Samer Araabi uses the example of Accountability Counsel's Assam Tea case to demonstrate how to connec…
February 2021
The Inaugural Edition
Welcome to the first edition of the monthly Accountability Console newsletter! Each month, we'll send you information on new functionality, research on complaint data, use cases, and spotlights of some of the …