A guide to the AfDB's Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM)

This safeguard requires AfDB Group’s client (the borrower) to identify, assess and manage environmental and social risks associated with a project. It establishes a mitigation hierarchy, instructing borrowers to anticipate, avoid, minimize and mitigate risks and impacts to acceptable levels, and compensate for or offset significant residual impacts if necessary.  

This safeguard protects workers rights, prioritizing health and safety at work. It requires borrowers to ensure safe labor and working conditions, prohibits forced or child labor in bank-financed projects, and establishes a grievance mechanism for project workers, including sub-contracted workers. 

This safeguard outlines the requirements for resource efficiency and pollution prevention throughout the project life cycle, following good international industry practice. Borrowers must promote sustainable resource use, minimize pollution, estimate greenhouse gas emissions where possible, and adhere to guidelines and standards.  

This safeguard focuses on health, safety and security risks for project-affected communities. It emphasizes the borrower’s responsibility to minimize such risks, especially for vulnerable people. It also acknowledges that threats to human security may include reprisal risks. 

This safeguard aims to prevent forced displacement whenever possible or minimize its impact when unavoidable after exploring alternative project designs. It defines the types of involuntary displacement that can occur and outlines a process for developing a resettlement action plan to mitigate adverse impacts in projects with potential involuntary resettlement effects. 

This safeguard requires borrowers to safeguard biodiversity and habitats, employing a mitigation hierarchy and precautionary approach in project design and implementation. It also emphasizes supporting local communities, including indigenous peoples, and promoting inclusive economic development by integrating conservation needs with development priorities. 

This safeguard instructs borrowers to identify vulnerable groups, particularly highly vulnerable rural minorities like indigenous people, early in the bank’s operations and engage with them in a meaningful way considering their specific needs. Projects impacting highly vulnerable rural minorities can only proceed with their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC). Ongoing dialogue and information sharing must be maintained throughout the project’s life cycle. 

This standard requires borrowers to safeguard cultural heritage from negative project impacts, promote its preservation, and consider it as a crucial aspect of sustainable development. It emphasizes meaningful stakeholder consultation and ensuring equitable sharing of benefits derived from cultural heritage use. 

This safeguard notes that when the AfDB provides funds to a financial intermediary (who then on-lends those funds), that intermediary must have environmental and social systems in place, and create a management system for the project. It also requires the financial intermediary to engage with stakeholders, disclose the environmental and social management system on their website, and permit the AfDB to disclose it on their website. 

This safeguard aims to create a structured way to engage with stakeholders during the project cycle. Borrowers must identify all stakeholders, including vulnerable groups, provide clear and timely information, and conduct meaningful consultations free from manipulation or discrimination. A stakeholder engagement plan should be developed to inform and involve stakeholders in project risks and impacts, and offer a process to address grievances, including project grievance mechanisms and the IRM. 

This safeguard encompasses the process for determining a project’s environmental and social category and establishing corresponding assessment needs. It covers aspects such as its scope, classification, employment of environmental and social assessments, management plans, climate change vulnerability assessment, public consultation, effects on communities, treatment of vulnerable groups, and grievance procedures. 

This safeguard summarizes the bank’s policy on involuntary resettlement while incorporating improvements for practical implementation. The safeguard requires providing compensation at full replacement cost, reiterating the importance of resettlement that improves standards of living, income-earning capacity and overall means of livelihood. It also emphasizes the need to avoid marginalization of project-affected people based on factors like gender and age. 

This safeguard aims to conserve biological diversity and promote sustainable use of natural resources. The safeguard reflects the importance of biodiversity on the African continent, highlighting the importance of respecting, preserving and maintaining knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities. Additionally, it protects and promotes the customary use of biological resources in line with conservation and sustainable use demands. 

This safeguard addresses the impact of pollution, waste and hazardous materials. It introduces vulnerability analysis and greenhouse gas emission monitoring, while also outlining a framework for possible reduction or compensatory measures. 

This safeguard establishes the requirements for borrowers of the bank concerning workers’ conditions, workers’ rights, and protection of workers from abuse or exploitation. It covers workers’ organizations, occupational health and safety, and avoidance of child or forced labor.