Based on our research on the AfDB’s operations, Lumière Synergie Développement (LSD), a founding member of the Coalition of African Civil Society Organizations and a locally-based environmental association, found in 2010 that the project did not comply with the bank’s social and environmental safeguards policies. [1] In fact, the project started without adequate consultation with the local community. It was planned to use an area for the power plant which had been promised to the victims of coastal erosion, however the 1,433 plots of land were expropriated without compensation. In addition, more than 1,000 people, mostly women working in fish processing plants and seasonal workers, were put at risk of losing their workplace and means of livelihood. This was because a safe distance between the power plant and the ovens used to smoke fish could not be maintained as the power plant was too close by. The project would also entail enormous risks to the environment and the health of communities, and it was not in compliance with the Senegalese environmental code (Article L13). [2]

Yet, like the AfDB, the other two development banks, The West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the Dutch Development Bank Nederlandse Financierings-Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO) have environmental and social safeguards policies, whose ultimate goal is to avoid as much as possible any adverse effects, or to minimize social and environmental impacts. Therefore, in partnership with Takkom Jerry, LSD decided to The Sendou power plant is located close to the sea and on a spot where fish are smoked and sold by women of the village. Photo: Franza Drechsel Complaint Filing at International Financial Institutions 31 engage with international financial institutions (IFIs), using their expertise on Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAM).

On 9 May 2016, LSD and Takkom Jerry filed a joint complaint at the Independent Review Mechanisms (IRM) of the African Development Bank, the Dutch Public Development Bank, and the West African Development Bank’s Independent Complaint Mechanisms, for the non-compliance [3] of the Sendou project with their respective environmental and social safeguards policies. Safeguards policies are a set of standards established by multilateral development banks to prevent and/or avoid that their investments and operations harm the environment or human rights. On the other hand, complaint mechanisms such as the AfDB’s IRM are intended to “make available to all those who have suffered damage as a result of a project financed by the Bank Group, an independent mechanism through which they can request the Bank Group to act in accordance with its rules and procedures.” [4]

Read the full article. Turn to page 30.

Aly Sagne

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