ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANUAL

The ESPM Manual provides a comprehensive framework for FSD Africa to manage environmental and social risks and drive intentional positive impact across its intervention lifecycle. It details specific procedures for both grant funding and risk capital investments, including screening, due diligence, and monitoring. A central feature is the Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Framework used by the FSDAi pillar to promote women's economic empowerment. The system employs a risk-based approach, categorizing investments from low to high risk to determine the depth of due diligence required, and mandates strict incident reporting and periodic system reviews every two years.

• FSD Africa utilizes a risk-based categorization system for direct investments, classifying them as High (Category A) for significant adverse risks, Medium (Category B) for limited risks, and Low (Category C) for minimal risks.
• For financial intermediaries (indirect investments), FSD Africa applies three specific categories (FI-1, FI-2, and FI-3) based on the intermediary's portfolio exposure and their existing systems to manage ES risks.
• The FSDAi pillar implements a Gender Lens Investing (GLI) Framework to address gender disparities and promote women's economic empowerment, specifically targeting women as entrepreneurs, leaders, employees, and consumers.
• Grant funding is subject to different impact screening thresholds: interventions above £250,000 running for more than 18 months typically require 'Full Impact Screening', while those under £150,000 are treated as 'small' initiatives with a lighter-touch approach.
• FSD Africa mandates a strict incident reporting timeline, requiring grantees and investees to report major unplanned ES or risk-related events, such as fatalities or bribery, within two days of occurrence.
• The ESPM includes a formal 'Exercise of Remedies' process where FSD Africa may work with a non-compliant partner to restore compliance, or otherwise enforce remedies or exit the investment.
• The organization maintains a dedicated Development Impact Pillar that serves as a cross-cutting function to support all other pillars in implementing impact-related criteria and reporting.
• FSD Africa commits to a periodic review of the ESPM every two years to ensure alignment with emerging trends and best practices.

APA

FSD Africa (2023). ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANUAL. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/FSDA-ESPM-Manual.pdf

Chicago

FSD Africa. ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANUAL. 2023. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/FSDA-ESPM-Manual.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=FSD Africa |title=ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANUAL |date=May 2023 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/FSDA-ESPM-Manual.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{fsdafrica2023environmental, author = {{FSD Africa}}, title = {{ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS MANUAL}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2023}, month = may, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/FSDA-ESPM-Manual.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }