Information Disclosure & Grievance Mechanisms of the New Development Bank

This briefing paper, commissioned by Oxfam South Africa and authored by the Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), examines the information disclosure and grievance mechanisms of the New Development Bank (NDB), specifically focusing on its operations in South Africa. The document analyzes the NDB's reliance on 'country systems' for project implementation and the resulting challenges for public transparency and accountability.

• The NDB utilizes a risk-based framework to screen projects, categorizing them as A, B, C, or F1. Category A projects are those likely to have "significant adverse environmental and social impacts that are irreversible, diverse, or unprecedented."
• The NDB's operational strategy emphasizes the use of national systems over external standards, stating that using existing country systems is the "best way to strengthen a country’s own capacity and achieve better long-term development results."
• There is a significant lack of public transparency regarding project-level details; specifically, project applications, detailed risk assessment processes, screening deliberations, and management plans for environmental and social impacts are not publicly available.
• The NDB delegates the responsibility for implementing grievance redress mechanisms, consultations, and disclosure to the project clients. The CER notes it is "unclear how the NDB monitors the implementation of a fair grievance mechanism" when this is the client's responsibility.
• The NDB's Africa Regional Center (ARC) has indicated that the bank is not subject to South African legislation, including the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA), claiming it is "neither a public or private entity".
• The NDB's Country Partnership Plan (CPP) for South Africa, which includes strategic approaches and project pipelines, is not subject to a public participation process and the CER has been unable to locate the document or its supporting studies.
• The NDB has approved 9 projects for South Africa (8 in South Africa and 1 in Lesotho) with an estimated value of USD 3.2 billion. This includes a USD 1 billion loan secured in July 2020 for COVID-19 emergency response.
• The NDB's Information Disclosure Policy (IDP) provides a formal process for requesting information, including a 30-working-day response window and an appeal process via the Corporate Secretary for denied requests.

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-full-report-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-full-report-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-full-report-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-full-report-web.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }