Information Disclosure & Grievance Mechanisms of the New Development Bank

The document examines the New Development Bank's (NDB) approach to information disclosure and grievance redressal for infrastructure projects in the global South, with a focus on South Africa. It highlights a systemic lack of public access to critical project documentation, including risk assessments, management plans, and the Country Partnership Plan. While the NDB's Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) delegates implementation and grievance redressal to clients, the document argues that this creates gaps in accountability and transparency.

• There is a significant lack of public transparency regarding project preparation and risk assessment; specifically, project applications, detailed risk assessment processes, screening deliberations, and the reasons for project classification decisions are not available to the public.
• Under the NDB's Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), the responsibility for implementing environmental and social assessments, consultations, disclosure, and grievance redressal lies with the client rather than the bank, leaving it unclear how the NDB monitors the fairness of these grievance mechanisms.
• Critical project-specific management plans intended to avoid or compensate for adverse impacts—such as those required for Category A projects like the Durban Container Terminal Berth Reconstruction Project—are not made public.
• Several high-level strategic and financial documents are not publicly accessible, including the Country Partnership Plan (CPP), Financial and Economic Analysis of Projects (FEA), and records of decision-making; notably, the CPP is developed without a public participation process.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2021). Information Disclosure & Grievance Mechanisms of the New Development Bank. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/oxfam-ndb-exec-summary-web.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. Information Disclosure & Grievance Mechanisms of the New Development Bank. 2021. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/oxfam-ndb-exec-summary-web.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=Information Disclosure & Grievance Mechanisms of the New Development Bank |date=March 2021 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/oxfam-ndb-exec-summary-web.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centreforenvironmentalrights2021information, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{Information Disclosure \& Grievance Mechanisms of the New Development Bank}}, institution = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/oxfam-ndb-exec-summary-web.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }