Accountability Mechanism - Headline

AM Joins 14th Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAM) Annual Meeting. CRP Chair Dingding Tang, former SPF Jitu Shah, and Senior Facilitation Specialist Sushma Ko-tagiri represented ADB in the 14th IAM Annual Meeting hosted by the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank in Thessaloniki, Greece from 28 to 30 August 2017. More than 60 representatives from 22 international financial institutions (IFIs) participated in this meeting. Forty representatives from civil society organizations/ non-government organi-zations (CSOs/NGOs) participated in the side event. The meeting reviewed progress by each one of the IAM members, and discussed some important issues among the IAM members, such as retaliation issue, coordination of the compliance review on co-financed projects and the cost and benefit analysis, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of the accountability mechanism and the implementa-tion of remedial actions. All members agreed to enhance the role of the IAM Secretariat and to do more lessons sharing among the IAM members.

James Warren Evans appointed as new SPF, effective 18 September 2017. Mr. Evans has more than 33 years of work experience in multilateral development banks and as a

consultant in private organizations and other international organi-zations. Before joining the World Bank in 2003, Mr. Evans worked with ADB for more than 15 years progressing through various lev-els of responsibility primarily within the environment sector. This included serving as Director for the Environment and Social Safe-guards Division where he led the strengthening of the bank’s safe-guard compliance system so that environmental and social im-pacts were avoided or mitigated in ADB-funded projects, and oversaw networks and committees on safeguard issues. At the World Bank, he served as Environment Director and Senior Advi-

sor where he led a team responsible for establishing several innovative environment and climate finance mechanisms including the Climate Investment Funds. He also served as an advisor for the design of the Green Climate Fund. Mr. Evans is a national of the United States. He has a Doctorate degree in Industrial Ecol-ogy from Erasmus University, The Netherlands, and a Master’s degree in Environmental Health Engineering from the University of Kansas, USA. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Ecology from Kansas State University, USA.

Left and right photos: Participants to the 14th IAM Annual Meeting

Accountability Mechanism

Website

Complaint Receiving Officer

Registry

OCRP Complaints Registry

OSPF Complaints Registry

AM Links

ADB’s Accountability Mechanism

(AM) provides a forum where

people adversely affected by

ADB-assisted projects can voice

and seek solutions to their prob-

lems and report alleged noncom-

pliance with ADB’s operational

policies and procedures. It con-

sists of two separate but comple-

mentary functions: problem solv-

ing function and compliance re-

view function. The AM’s objec-

tive is to be accountable to peo-

ple for ADB-assisted projects as a

last resort mechanism.

Volume 1, Issue No. 11, September 2017

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Office of the Special Project Facilitator (OSPF) — Problem Solving Function

Update on Eligible Complaints

TA Nos. 8481 and 7387-SAM: Promoting Economic Use of Customary Land, and Grant No. 0392-SAM: Samoa AgriBusiness Support Project. This complaint was found eligible on 29 September 2014 and an initial remedial action plan was developed following a series of discussions with stakeholders which resulted in the implementation of the project’s consultation and communication strategy. To date, a total of 220 villages (84 in Savaii and 136 in Upolu) have been covered in the public consul-tations. Two remaining public consultations (community and banking sector) are expected to be held in the next months to complete the schedule of public meetings that are a key part of the consultation strategy. Once completed, the operations department (OD) is expected to produce (i) a final report on the consultations undertaken and (ii) an assessment on how meaningful the consultations were. The monitoring and evaluation component, part of the communications strategy that the OSPF helped develop, will also assist in the analysis of the data. Once these two remaining actions are completed, the OSPF will prepare a final report on the implementation of all remedial actions and its results. The OSPF is expected to close the com-plaint by end of 2017. Consideration is being given to convening a final workshop to discuss lessons learned before closing the complaint.

Loan No. 3063-GEO: MFF-Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program-Tranche 3 (Section 2, Part B of the Tbilisi-Rustavi Urban Road Link). The OSPF received the complaint on 28 April 2016 from 13 residents of a two-storey building affected by the project. The OSPF checked the implementation of recommended action on this complaint, piggybacking on a mission to check the eligibility of a new complaint on the same project. The mission conducted one-on-one interviews with some of the com-plainants to get their view on the OSPF process. The OSPF noted that a few of the complainants have not claimed compensation amounts deposited with the court and are currently still residing in the complainants’ building. The OSPF offered support to help remaining residents by providing information on other residential options in the neighborhood. The OSPF is keeping the complaint open until this remaining issue is resolved.

Eligible Complaint regarding Loan 2752-ARM: Sustainable Urban Development Investment Program-Tranche 1. The complaint relates to claims of damaging impacts of the road construction to the complainants’ house as well as continuing noise and vibra-tion conditions due to road operation. After reviewing relevant project-related documents, and video-conference with com-plainants and the OD concerned, the SPF concluded that the complaint is eligible for the problem-solving process. The OSPF will conduct a detailed review and assessment of the complaint in the field to facilitate a mutually agreeable approach to resolve the complaint.

Participants during the consultation workshops conducted in Samoa. Two more similar consultations will be completed in the last quarter of the year

New Complaints Received

The OSPF received a total of six complaints in a span of three months, from July to September 2017. Four of these complaints came from Central and West Asia and two from South Asia. Complainants raised issues on land acquisition, land and property valuation, compensation, and loss of business. Two complaints, summarized below, were determined eligible for OSPF problem solving. Four of the six complaints were deemed ineligible since efforts by the ODs concerned are already underway or planned to re-solve the issues. Complainants, in any case, were advised to bring their complaints back to the SPF should they find their con-cerns unaddressed.

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Complaint regarding Loan No. 3063-GEO: MFF-Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program-Tranche 3 (Section 2, Tbilisi-Rustavi Urban Road Link). The complaint was submitted by two complainants-representatives with thirty other signatories. They are concerned about the road construction being very close to their residential building, which is sixty years old with weak structural condition and water logging and no maintenance. Complainants fear that the building will not be able to with-stand the vibration due to the road construction, resulting in likely harm not only to their properties but also to their lives (e.g. noise, dust, and health impacts). They also claim lack of information, participation, and consultation. To fully evaluate the eligibility of this complaint, an OSPF assessment was undertaken. The OSPF reviewed project documents, interviewed relevant stakeholders, and organized a multi-stakeholder meeting at the project area. Because of the similarities of this complaint to two complaints submitted to the CRP and on which proposed remedial actions are being undertaken, the SPF proposed, and it was agreed, that this complaint should be included in the proposed action plan for the two earlier com-plaints with the CRP.

Office of the Special Project Facilitator (OSPF) — Problem Solving Function

SPF leading the interview in the field, and ex-

plaining OSPF’s function and what the problem

solving is all about

Additional structures that residents built in the

building

SPF facilitating meeting with complainants and

the government with observers from ADB Geor-

gia Resident Mission

Vietnam: Case Study on Central Mekong Delta Region Connectivity Project. A case study that will identify lessons learned from complaint handling and problem solving processes in the Central Mekong Delta Region Connectivity Project is being prepared. The OSPF aims to analyze and document the various approaches adopted by the project including project-specific grievance redress mechanism in the interest of packaging the study in a reader-friendly knowledge product. Field assessment is expected to commence by next month and the package completed in the first quarter of 2018.

OSPF Case Study

Eligible Complaint regarding Loan Nos. 2892-3, Grant No. 0303, and TA No. 8167-SRI: Clean Energy and Network Efficiency Improvement Project. The complaint was submitted by eight complainants representing 50 households with about 189 individ-uals to be affected by the Polpitiya Pannipitiya 220kV transmission line being implemented by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB). Complainants claim that the alignment of the transmission line through their village, Magammana, differs from the ap-proved path and that there is no environmental study for the new alignment. Complainants also allege that they were not con-sulted or informed about the project. After assessing the interviews conducted with complainants and the OD concerned, and the review of documents received from both, the OSPF deemed this complaint eligible for problem-solving. The OSPF will conduct a detailed review and assess-ment of the complaint in the field in order to propose workable solutions that stakeholders can accept to resolve the com-plaint.

New Complaints Received (continuation)

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Office of the Compliance Review Panel — Compliance Review Function

Monitoring of Implementation of Board Decisions on Eligible Complaints

Loan Nos. 2288 and 2602 and Grant No. 0187-CAM: Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Rehabilitation of the Railway in Cam-bodia Project. On 21 July, the South East Asia Department (SERD) submitted its 12th quarterly progress report on the imple-mentation of remedial actions to Board Compliance Review Committee (BCRC) and the CRP summarizing the borrower’s and ADB Management’s efforts at addressing the recommendations of the CRP in its compliance review report. The CRP fielded its 3rd monitoring mission to Cambodia for the project from 24 to 29 September. The mission visited project resettlement sites in Phnom Penh, Battambang, and Poipet and met with affected persons in those sites. The CRP also met with the complainants and the NGO representing them, and Credit Union Foundation Australia (CUFA), the NGO that implements programs relating to the remedial actions. The 3rd CRP annual monitoring report will be submitted to the ADB Board of Directors (Board) by the end of October.

Consultation meeting with project-affected people

in Phnom Penh

KSPC power plant

September 2017. As this is the CRP’s 5th monitoring mission for the project, the mission met with KSPC officials; the complain-ants and their representatives; and other project-affected per-sons to ascertain their views about the outcome of the compli-ance review and monitoring processes. The mission also visited the air quality monitoring equipment at the Naga City Hall com-pound and at the Naga City Sports Complex. To ascertain sus-tainability of operation of these pieces of equipment and under-stand how the Philippine government will put these pieces of equipment to good use, the CRP also met with Head of the Air Quality Monitoring Unit of the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Re-sources at its head office in Quezon City. The 5th annual monitoring report will be submitted to the Board by the end of October.

Consultation meeting with CUFA in Phnom Penh Water supply system in Battambang resettlement

site

Air quality monitoring

station in Naga City

Air quality monitoring

equipment within the

station in Naga City

Loan No. 2612-PHI: Visayas Base-Load Power Development Project. The CRP fielded a project site visit to Naga, Cebu on 20–21

Loan No. 2419-IND: Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project. The CRP forwarded its second annual monitoring report to the BCRC on 7 August for comments. The report was subsequently cleared by BCRC on 14 August and was circulated to the Board for infor-mation on 17 August. Said report is now publicly available at the CRP website. In September, the CRP made follow-up consultations with Private Sector Operations Department (PSOD) on issues related to (i) air quality and health monitoring and (ii) thermal mapping from satellite imagery.

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Initial Assessment on Loan 2972-PAK: Power Distribution Enhancement Investment Program-Tranche 3. On 15 August 2017, a complaint was transmitted by the CRO to the CRP on the above project. Per paragraph 178 of the AM Policy, the CRP initially assessed the complaint and considered it not within the mandate of the compliance review function. While the complaint has the essential details, it cannot be processed any further by the CRP as the complainants have not made prior efforts to have the complaint addressed by the CWRD, not even at the resident mission. Accordingly, the CRP forwarded this complaint to CWRD for it to address the issues raised by the complainants using an appropriate approach. The CRP will follow up the efforts made by the OD concerned, CWRD.

New Complaint Received

Collaboration with Other Institutions on the Accountability Mechanism

Office of the Compliance Review Panel — Compliance Review Function

Informal Consultation Meeting between CRP with the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) in Shanghai, PRC. By invitation of the Vice President of NDB, Mr. Zhu Xian, CRP Chair Dingding Tang visited NDB on 5 September 2017 and held an informal consultation meeting on the practice of ADB’s compliance review with senior staff of the NDB, namely Mr. Srinivas Yanaman-dra, Chief for Compliance Unit; Mr. Yury Surkov, Director General, Department of Project Policy and Implementation; Mr. Shao-hua Wu, Director General, Department of Project Financing; Mr. Roman Novozhilov, Chief Officer, Department of Policy and Project Implementation. During the meeting, D. Tang briefed NDB officials about ADB’s AM, introduced the mandate of the CRP, and the practice and key lessons learned from its compliance review cases. NDB staff also provided an update on the de-velopment of its safeguard policies its planning on the safeguard compliance management to its investment projects. Both the CRP and the Compliance Unit of NDB agreed to enhance such informal consultation and the lessons-sharing in the future. The NDB senior staff who attended the meeting expressed that they will re-consider its institutional framework regarding safeguard compliance, particularly, the mandate of the Compliance Unit.

Dingding Tang with Shaohua Wu, Director General, Department of

Project Financing, NDB

Yury Surkov, Director General, Department of Project Policy

and Implementation, Dingding Tang, Srinivas Yanamandra,

Chief for Compliance Unit, and Shaohua Wu, NDB

Monitoring of Implementation of Board Decisions on Eligible Complaints (Continuation)

Loan No. 3063-GEO: MFF-Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program-Tranche 3. Following the decision of the Board in March on the CRP’s final report on the compliance review of the above project, formal and informal consultations were held several times between the CRP and the Central and West Asia Department (CWRD) on the next steps; attendant studies/reports were drafted; and the remedial actions were prepared. The CRP commends the ADB Management for proactively work-ing with the Government of Georgia in moving the project despite internal processes relating to the compliance review. On 30 June, the Board approved the remedial action plan for the project which will be the basis for the CRP’s annual monitoring of remedial actions in the next three years. The CRP reviewed the following draft documents from CWRD and provided inputs to CWRD for their consideration and incorporation into the remedial actions: (i) Proposed Methodology for Targeted Consultation with Project Affected Persons in the Residential Buildings in Ponichala, Tbilisi; (ii) study of river ecology of Mtkvari River; (iii) noise modelling of Tbilisi-Rustavi Highway section 2; and (iv) ambient vibration survey and dynamic identification of residential building in Ponichala, Tbilisi.

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Other OCRP Activities

Office of the Compliance Review Panel — Compliance Review Function

CRP Members Visit to Manila, 18-22 September. The OCRP welcomed CRP Members Arntraud Hartmann and newly-appointed CRP member Ajay Achyutrao Deshpande in Manila from 18 to 22 September 2017. The CRP held consultation meetings with the PSOD and other OD staff as part of the CRP’s monitoring of the remedial actions on the Cambodia’s GMS Rehabilitation Railway Project, Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project in India, Georgia’s Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program-Tranche 3, and Philippines’ Visayas Base-Load Power Development Project.

OCRP’s Jojo Miranda, OCRP Advisor Munawar Alam, and

CRP’s Arntraud Hartmann, CRP Chair and OCRP Head

Dingding Tang, CRP’s Ajay Deshpande, and OCRP’s Julie

Villanueva

Effectiveness. The first workshop under this TA was held in Dhaka on 17 and 18 July 2017. Around 60 participants composed of ADB Bangladesh Resident Mis-sion staff; project partners from government; and NGOs participated in the two-day brainstorming session on the guide booklets and brochure on compliance review. The next workshop, which will gather comments on the draft guide booklets, will be held on 5 October at the ADB Headquarters, and in Tbilisi and Baku on 24 Oc-tober and 26 October, respectively.

Small-Scale Technical Assistance on Strengthening Policy Compliance Awareness for Good Governance and Development

Participants during the TA workshop held in Dhaka

from 17 to 18 July 2017

The CRP: Arntraud Hartmann, Dingding Tang, and

Ajay Achyutrao Deshpande

Evaluation Week as one of the panelists at the first plenary session of the event on environmental and social safeguards, chaired by Mr. Marvin Taylor-Dormond, Director General, Independent Evaluation Department, ADB. During the panel discussion, D. Tang discussed the key mandates of ADB’s Accountability Mecha-nism, in particular; the roles of the CRP; and the lessons learned from previous compliance review cases, roles and contribution of the compliance review prac-tice on the improvement of ADB’s development effectiveness, and the imple-menting performance of safeguard policies; as well as the capacity building of ADB’s developing member countries (DMCs) in terms safeguard policy reform and the implementation of such safeguard policies on its financial projects fund-ed by international financial institutions including ADB and the World Bank. This event is co-organized by ADB and the Government of the People’s Republic of China. More than 200 participants from 20 countries and 10 international organi-zations participated in this event.

The panelists during the session on environmental

and social safeguards, 2017 Asia Evaluation Week

Collaboration with Other Institutions on the Accountability Mechanism (Continuation)

2017 Asia Evaluation Week in Hangzhou, PRC. On 4 September 2017, CRP Chair Dingding Tang participated at the 2017 Asia

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AM Outreach and Inreach

2017 which was attended by at least 80 persons from government, NGOs, and private banks, as well as staff from the Sri Lanka Resident Mission. The AM team visited the ongoing bus rapid transit (BRT) project in Dhaka from where recent com-plaints were made to the ADB’s AM.

Participants during the AM outreach in Sri Lanka

Upcoming AM Outreach in Uzbekistan. The OCRP will field a mission to Tashkent on 19 and 20 October 2017 to conduct an outreach on the AM. The target audience includes project directors, staff of executing and implementing agencies, and CSOs/NGOs.

CRP Presentation on National Green Tribunal of India (NGT): Case study of environmental court and tribunal. CRP's Ajay

Knowledge Sharing on Engaging CSOs and NGOs in the Pacific. On 13 September 2017, Sushma Kotagiri and Munawar Alam jointly presented the AM to ADB CSO Anchors and project officers from the Pacific Department (PARD) through a videoconfer-ence. The AM presentation highlighted the two offices’ experience in handling complaints, the lessons learned, and the num-ber of complaints received in the region. The learning event aimed to build the capacity of ADB field officers in the Pacific to engage more effectively with CSOs and NGOs, and strengthen the development effectiveness of ADB-assisted programs and services.

Other OCRP Activities (Continuation)

Achyutrao Deshpande, also a former member of NGT, presented on 22 September 2017 the role played by NGT in ensuring both sustainable development and strict compliance with country-specific environmental laws. The presentation focused on the paradigm change in the enforcement and compli-ance levels since the establishment of a specialized court comprising judicial and expert members, with a focus on the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle. Indian ED Mr. Kshatrapati Shivaji participated in the activity.

Participants to Mr. Deshpande’s talk on the NGT

Office of the Compliance Review Panel — Compliance Review Function

Accountability Mechanism Outreach in Sri Lanka. The AM team conducted an outreach mission in Sri Lanka on 20 and 21 July

Safeguards Training and Induction Program for Staff, and Orientation for the Board. Former SPF Jitu Shah and OCRP’s Munawar Alam acted as resource persons during the training on Environment and Social Safeguards in ADB Operations (Introductory Course) held on 13 July 2017, while OSPF’s Sushma Kotagiri and Mr. Alam presented in another safeguards train-ing held on 11 September 2017. On 11 August 2017, Ms. Kotagiri and OCRP’s Jojo Miranda presented on the AM at the Induc-tion Program attended by about 40 new ADB staff from the headquarters and resident missions. A total of 69 staff, 24 of whom from resident missions, participated in the three events. OCRP and OSPF likewise made a presentation on the AM during the Orientation Program for Board Members held on 18 Sep-tember 2017.

SLRM CD delivering the opening remarks

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Updates from the Complaint Receiving Officer (CRO) In 2017 (as of 30 September), the CRO received 36 complaints, 12 of which were forwarded as follows:

Ten complaints regarding the following were forwarded to the SPF:

Georgia: Sustainable Urban Transport Investment Program-Tranche 3, Project No. 42414-043 (three complaints) (Apr 10, Jul 10, Aug 14)

Sri Lanka: Green Power Development and Energy Efficiency Improvement Investment Program MFF and Tranche 1, Project Nos. 47037-003 to -004 (Jan 31)

Sri Lanka: Greater Colombo Water and Wastewater Management Improvement Investment Program-Tranche 3, Project No. 45148-008 (Mar 24)

Sri Lanka: Greater Colombo Wastewater Management Project, Project No. 36173-013 (Apr 19)

Sri Lanka: Clean Energy and Network Efficiency Improvement Project, Project No. 43576-013 (Aug 16)

Nepal: Decentralized Rural Infrastructure and Livelihood Project-Additional Financing, Project No. 38426-023 (Aug 22)

Georgia: Batumi Bypass Road Project, Project No. 50064-001 (Aug 24)

Armenia: Sustainable Urban Development Investment Program-Tranche 1, Project No. 42417-023 (Sept 5)

Two complaints regarding the following were forwarded to the CRP Chair:

India: Rajasthan Renewable Energy Transmission Investment Program-Tranche 2, Project No. 45224-004 (Jun 27)

Pakistan: Power Distribution Enhancement Investment Program-Tranche 3, Project No. 38456-034 (Aug 15) (see Year 2017 in Figure 1).

Figure 1: Annual Complaints Received by the CRO, and Forwarded to the SPF or CRP

Note: One of the three complaints forwarded to the CRP in 2017 was received by the CRO in the previous year.

Figures 3 and 4: Location of 12 Complaints Received and Forwarded to the SPF or CRP in Year 2017 Figure 2: Sector of 12 Complaints Received and Forwarded to the SPF or CRP in Year 2017

In terms of sector, six are in transport, four in energy, and two in water and other urban infrastructure services (see Figure 2),

and in terms of location, complaints are equally from Central and West Asia and South Asia (see Figures 3 and 4).

Note: The remaining 24 complaints consist of one more complaint regarding the Sri Lanka: Clean Energy and Network Efficiency Improvement Project, Project

No. 43576-013 that will be forwarded to the SPF after Q3; five incomplete AM-related complaints; three complaints alleging harm caused by Georgia: Adja-

ristsqali Hydropower Project, Project No. 47919-014, that were sent to the OD and copied to the AM, as clarified by the NGO staff who delivered the complaints

to the resident mission; and 15 clearly excluded complaints mostly regarding procurement or corruption. See CRO’s Complaints Registry.