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A presentation by Johan Frijns at TBLI CONFERENCE EUROPE 2008.
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Johan Frijns, [email protected]
Effectively Engaging with Banks
some BankTrack experiences
TBLI conference AmsterdamNovember 14 2008
Outline
- What is BankTrack?
- How do we do things
- Engaging with banks;
CSR policy development
Equator Principles
Dealing with Dodgy Deals
- Some lessons
BankTrack:Worldwide NGO network
28 members and partners
Collective tool to monitor investments and activities of
commercial banks
Consultation and dialogue where possible..
Stir up troublewhen needed!
What we are not
“The People / Civil Society”
“The Environmental Movement”
“The NGOs”
“Local stakeholders / Affected Communities”
“free consultants”
We only speak on behalf of:
Ourselves, (mandated by members of our members, or because of NGO legitimate role of change agents in the market of ideas)
Project affected communities and local partners, only when explicitly mandated by them
1. Engaging on CSR policies
Analysis of credit policies of 45 banks, benchmark against best practices
Based on ongoing dialogue with banksFollow up; involvement in specific policy developments
Bank profiles, online engagement
- Contribute to public scrutiny
- One stop shop for banks to check NGO thinking and expectations
- Option for banks to directly review and publicly comment on postings
(fostering accountability of NGOs towards banks)
2. NGO - Equator Principles banks Dialogue
• String of meetings between NGOs and Equator banks, ongoing since 2004, low frequency
• Legitimacy for banks, access for NGOs, provided basis is right.
• Good cooperation during IFC Safeguard policies review; shared interest in clear standards, even when differences about scope and content.
• Better governance, slightly more transparency, expanded scope
• Current focus on expansion of scope of Principles, inclusion of new issues (climate change!) and implementation on the ground
3. Dealing with Dodgy Deals
3. Dealing with Dodgy DealsEquator Principles require stakeholder engagement for large impact projects
“Free, Prior Informed Consultation”“Culturally appropriate, own language”“Consent when engaging with indigenous communities”
Communities need to have influence on outcomes SEIA and resulting Action Plan
Grievance mechanism in place for dealing with violations of Action Plan
Little information on how this works in practice, but secrecy is huge obstacle
BankTrack engaged with banks in “discussions” on individual deals; provide information, access to communities, free consultation on material risks
Do’s and Dont’s when engaging with NGOs
Do’s
Be transparent; dialogue requires openness; share what needs to be shared to talk straight. (and yes, we’ve heard about client confidentiality)
Be transparent etc
Put up the resources; to meaningfully engage with NGOs needs a serious investment in people and time
Engage in a process with a beginning and an end, keep NGOs informed on what you did with the information/input/ promise/commitment.
Do’s and Dont’s when engaging with NGOs
Dont’s
Tick box mentality; “Friday afternoon; let’s do that NGO/consultation/outreach thingie”
“Which of all these NGO would agree with us on this? Lets go see them” (if it feels comfortable you probably talk with the wrong people)
Talking to BankTrack is no substitute to consultation with local stakeholders; go and meet them on the beaches!
Limit NGO engagement to those folks sitting in the basement, meanwhile continue business as usual
Do’s and Dont’s when engaging with banks
- sloppy preparation, poor data
- disregarding the essence of them being a bank
- no mandate, no local stakeholder consultation
- ignore outcomes of process, continue campaigning regardless of whatever
www.banktrack.org