This guide is an action resource for communities affected by projects funded by the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group.

It is designed to help communities understand their rights and entitlements vis-a-vis IFC projects and to decide whether they want to file a complaint with the IFC’s independent grievance mechanism, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), as a part of their advocacy strategy.   The guide includes an introduction to the IFC and the way it supports the private sector, including through direct and indirect lending and equity investments.  It explains the IFC Performance Standards, including who is responsible for implementing them and making sure they are respected on the ground.  Two of the Performance Standards – covering Involuntary Resettlement and Indigenous Peoples – are described in more detail.  Finally, the guide covers what affected communities can do when IFC-supported projects do not comply with the Performance Standards and cause or threaten to cause harm. It discusses various advocacy options, including filing a complaint with the CAO and using its compliance or dispute resolution functions.

The Facilitators’ Manual contains activities and discussions on each topic to help communities use the information that they learn to develop an advocacy strategy to defend their rights.

The guide is currently available in English, French and Vietnamese.

Avoiding Forced Displacement:  A Community Guide to Negotiation and Advocacy is an innovative resource designed by Inclusive Development International in collaboration with Equitable Cambodia.  This four-day training curriculum helps communities to think strategically about how to negotiate with private companies and government authorities seeking to take their land. The guide can also be used to help prepare communities for mediations regarding redress of displacement impacts already suffered, including through dispute resolution processes facilitated by international accountability mechanisms.  The training aims to address the radical power imbalances in these processes by situating negotiation within a broader rights-based advocacy strategy.

Through case studies and interactive exercises, the resource guides facilitators through 12 lessons that teach the fundamental principles of interest-based negotiation and advocacy skills to strengthen the negotiation position and capability of communities facing displacement.

China has become one of the most important sources of foreign investment in the world. Chinese companies play various roles in overseas projects, from research and design, to construction, development and operation. Chinese financial institutions make many overseas projects possible by providing loans, foreign currency, insurance and equity investments.

This investment brings with it potential benefits, but also human rights, social and environmental risks. Communities impacted by Chinese investments, and the civil society groups that seek to support them, often encounter difficulties obtaining project information, communicating with developers and financiers, and raising concerns or complaints. In response to this situation, State institutions and an increasing number of Chinese companies and financiers have begun to adopt environmental and social standards for their overseas investments.

This guide explains the key actors involved in Chinese overseas investment and describes the environmental and social standards and guidelines that apply. The guide also provides practical advice on how to use these standards in advocacy with relevant Chinese actors and institutions. It is hoped that the information and ideas contained here will help community advocates to ensure that the rights of project-affected people are respected and protected, and in cases where harm does occur, that effective remedies are provided.

Follow the Money to Justice – www.followingthemoney.org

This tool is designed for advocates working to support communities whose rights and resources are threatened by irresponsible investment projects.  Building on our 2015 publication, co-produced with IIED, Following the Money:  An advocates guide to securing accountability in agricultural investments, this online resource explains how to mine publicly available information to identify and analyze the companies, investors and other actors behind destructive projects,  It also provides guidance on how to collect evidence, get organized and develop tailored, multi-pronged advocacy strategies to hold these actors accountable.  It draws upon the experiences and lessons learned from community advocates around the world who have successfully challenged harmful investments and shaped development in their regions.

IDI partnered with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to develop an educational tool for campaigners and legal practitioners on how to hold actors involved in agricultural investments accountable for human rights violations and other adverse impacts. The guide helps practitioners to ‘follow the money’ by mapping  investment chains, identifying pressure points along the chains, and using multi-pronged advocacy strategies to influence the design of agricultural projects or to obtain redress for land and human rights violations that have already occurred.  It is informed by experiences and lessons learned from activists and practitioners throughout the world and draws on real life examples of investment projects that have affected local communities and the different strategies used to challenge or change those investments.

In February 2015, IDI and IIED held a workshop in Phnom Penh, Cambodia to test a draft of the guide with community organizers, researchers and advocates working to support communities adversely impacted by agricultural investments in Southeast Asia.  The workshop brought together diverse participants from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and China to share their rich experience using a range of advocacy strategies to secure accountability and help shape this resource.

IDI associates co-developed A Cambodian Guide to Defending Land and Housing Rights, which was published in 2009 by Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia (BABSEA), International Accountability Project (IAP) and Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE). The Guide contains the first resource of its kind for communities threatened with development-induced displacement.  It contains three books important information about the risks of displacement, international and national legal rights and strategies that can be used to defend those rights. The guide was designed and written so that it is accessible to communities, including those who have had limited literacy and access to formal education.   The Facilitator’s Edition includes interactive activities and instructions for facilitators to run training sessions on each topic.  It was written in a spirit of solidarity and with the aim of contributing to the global movement against the injustices of forced displacement.

The Community Guide to the ADB Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards is an action resource for communities facing displacement as a result of ADB-funded projects.   

The ADB updated its Involuntary Resettlement Safeguard Policy in 2009. The key aims of this policy are to avoid and minimize displacement and to ensure that no one is made worse off as a result of a project funded by the ADB. A Community Guide to the ADB Involuntary Resettlement Safeguards seeks to make this policy understandable and accessible to affected communities and to impart the skills necessary for people to monitor the projects that affect them.

The Guide explains local grievance processes, the ADB Accountability Mechanism and other forms of advocacy that local communities can use to defend their rights and hold the ADB accountable if the policy is violated.  An accompanying Facilitators’ Edition includes interactive activities and instructions for facilitators to run training sessions on each topic.

The guide was developed by IDI associates and published by IDI’s predecessor organization, Bridges Across Borders Cambodia, in 2011.  The guide was developed for a Cambodian audience but its lessons are applicable for communities impacted by ADB projects in other countries.