External Review of IFC/MIGA E&S Accountability, including CAOs Role and Effectiveness Report and Recommendations

Starting in the 1990s, communities and civil society organizations (CSOs) advocating for environmental protection and social justice started to question the impacts of private investment projects in developing countries, arguing that they failed to pay sufficient attention to environmental and social (E&S) Safeguards Policies. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) and later the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the two private sector arms, of the World Bank Group, became major targets of CSO activism. After some resistance and substantial internal debate, IFC responded positively to the push for investing in and lending to clients in an environmentally and socially responsible way.