Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) play a central role in shaping development pathways across Latin America, financing infrastructure, extractive activities, and policy reforms intended to support economic growth. However, these investments frequently generate significant social and environmental risks for Indigenous Peoples, afrodescendants and traditional communities, including impacts on land tenure, forests, and biodiversity, as well as shortcomings in transparency, access to information, and meaningful participation.
Our Latin America Program works alongside civil society organizations (CSOs) and community partners across the region to monitor and influence MDBs, with a primary focus on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank Group. Through technical support, capacity building, and strategic advocacy, we support partners in engaging directly with MDBs and asserting their role in shaping the policies and projects that affect their territories and livelihoods. A core focus of our work is strengthening the implementation of environmental and social safeguards and promoting development approaches that are rights-based and environmentally sustainable.
Our program builds the capacity of CSOs and local communities throughout Latin America to engage meaningfully with MDBs. We provide information, strategic guidance, and support for advocacy efforts so that communities affected by MDB-financed projects can monitor implementation, raise concerns, and influence decision-making processes. Given the scale of MDB investment in infrastructure, extractive industries, and land-use related projects, we work with partners to expose gaps between MDB commitments and practice and to advance stronger standards on land rights, access to information, and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC).
BIC works closely with regional and national CSO networks, Indigenous organizations, afrodescendant groups, and community-based organizations across Latin America to strengthen collective advocacy toward MDBs. BIC is a key member of the IDB Working Group, a coalition of regional and international organizations advocating for reforms in IDB policies and practices and for expanded, meaningful engagement between the IDB and civil society. Through these partnerships, we promote greater transparency, accountability, and civil society participation in MDB operations.
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