Marking 25 Years of Solutions, Accountability and Learning: Highlights from our 25th Anniversary Event and the World Bank - IMF Spring Meetings 2025
Washington, April 26, 2025 - This past week, CAO marked 25 years of promoting solutions, accountability, and learning with an event at American University, as well as our regular engagements during the World Bank - IMF Spring Meetings.
CAO at 25: Reflecting on 25 Years of Impact:
On Tuesday, April 22, American University hosted an event celebrating “CAO at 25,” featuring two panel discussions that focused on CAO’s innovation and impact over 25 years of operations, and explored what lies ahead for accountability at the World Bank Group. The event featured opening remarks by Professor David Hunter from American University Washington College of Law; Janine Ferretti, CAO Director General; Parameswaran Iyer, Executive Director at the World Bank Group and Chair of the Board’s Committee on Development Effectiveness; and IFC and World Bank Group leadership.
Colleagues from Accountability Counsel, the Center for International Environmental Law, Inclusive Development International, Urgewald, and the Philippines Movement for Climate Justice participated in the event, as well as other independent accountability mechanisms, including the Inter-American Development Bank’s Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI) and the World Bank Inspection Panel.
The panel discussions explored CAO-led innovations in the field of accountability, including CAO’s pioneering dispute resolution work and advisory interventions, which have since been modeled by other accountability mechanisms, as well as innovations in the realm of compliance. The panels reflected on the impact CAO has had on project-affected communities—through over 235 cases in over 60 countries—and discussed the future of accountability at the World Bank Group amidst a shifting global development context and upcoming organizational changes across the Bank Group.
The event featured a special fireside chat among CAO’s current and former leadership with Dame Meg Taylor, the first CAO Vice President; her successor, Osvaldo L. Gratacós; and Janine Ferretti, CAO’s current Director General. The three leaders spoke about their motivation for taking on their respective leadership roles at CAO and decisions they made that had a big impact. They also shared their advice based on insights from their work and their hopes for the future of accountability, emphasizing the importance of independence, integrity, trust, and social justice.
Film Screening: Guardians of Lamu (Kenya), Securing Justice for Forced Displacement from the Siguiri Gold Mine (Guinea)
Accountability Counsel, Inclusive Development International, and Save Lamu co-hosted a film screening highlighting global issues of environmental justice and displacement.
The film Securing Justice for Forced Displacement from the Siguiri Gold Mine highlighted the case of the displacement of an artisanal mining community in Guinea, who, through a CAO-led dispute resolution process and with the support of international advocacy efforts, were able to reach a landmark agreement to address the harms they suffered. Meanwhile, the film Guardians of Lamu featured the story of a community’s successful effort to address the negative effects of the Lamu Coal Power Station and protect their environment and cultural heritage.
CAO’s Civil Society Roundtable
On Wednesday, April 23, we held our quarterly CSO Roundtable with 14 civil society organizations, where we engaged in meaningful conversations that are key to our work and presented an overview of our activities to gather their input.
Participation in the Civil Society Policy Forum: What Do Independent Accountability Mechanism (IAM) Case Outcomes Tell Us About IFIs’ Commitment to Remedy?
CAO also participated in a Civil Society Policy Forum session on the effectiveness of independent accountability mechanisms in facilitating access to remedy based on international financial institutions commitments, held alongside the World Bank Spring Meetings. Safi Lakhani, CAO’s Advisory Environmental and Social Specialist, presented data collected from CAO’s workload related to the implementation of our compliance recommendations and dispute resolution outcomes, and explored the key challenges to the remediation of harm.
