Kenya: Securing remedy and accountability for survivors of child sex abuse

Inclusive Development International first got involved in this case because we were appalled at the unprecedented attack on the independence of the CAO—a mechanism that has been instrumental in so many of our cases, where we are supporting communities harmed by IFC investments around the world to pursue remedy and accountability. We also saw an opportunity in the CAO process, despite its flaws, for survivors of abuse at Bridge schools to get redress. And we know that the way the World Bank board responds to this egregious case of Bank complicity in harm will set a precedent for whether and how it remediates harm in all future cases investigated by the CAO.

After the damning allegations of abuse occurring at Bridge schools and IFC management’s interference in the case came to light, we worked with our global civil society partners to demand accountability  from World Bank president Ajay Banga and the Bank’s board. We insisted on the full and unredacted disclosure of the CAO investigation report, and for IFC management to respond with a plan to provide meaningful remedy for the survivors in Kenya. We also called for an independent investigation of the cover-up and whistleblower protections for the compliance investigator who has faced retaliation for bringing these issues to light. We engaged with US policy makers, including Ranking Member of the U.S. House Financial Services Committee Maxine Waters and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Peter Welch, who sent letters to the US Treasury Department and World Bank president echoing our demands. We helped secure coverage from the Financial Times and New York Times. And we collaborated with Accountability Counsel, Oxfam and local partners in Kenya to reach out to Bridge survivors and support them to communicate their remedy expectations directly to the World Bank board of directors.

Following this high-profile attention to the case, which came as IFC management was developing its response to the investigation, the CAO report was finally published, in early 2024, alongside IFC’s action plan for addressing the CAO’s findings.

World Bank president Banga wrote to bank staff the night before the report and plan were made public, acknowledging the IFC’s responsibility in this case, expressing his commitment to both support the survivors in Kenya and take steps to prevent abuse through the bank’s investment portfolio, and accepting our call for an independent, external investigation of the IFC management cover-up. The US Treasury Department and several other World Bank shareholders have also taken strong positions in favor of providing meaningful redress to the Bridge survivors, informed by robust consultations with the survivors themselves.

IFC’s Management Action Plan was an improvement from earlier drafts, reflecting calls from survivors, alongside Inclusive Development International, our partners and US policymakers, for assurances that they would be consulted on the design of the “remediation program” that IFC proposes to establish in Kenya. This is the first time an IFC Management Action Plan, responding to a CAO investigation into harms caused by an IFC-financed project, has included a commitment to directly fund remedial actions.

Despite these improvements, we have expressed concern that IFC’s plan fails to include financial compensation for the devastating harms the Bridge survivors have suffered, in part due to IFC’s due diligence failures. Rather than working with Bridge International Academies to provide compensation and psychosocial support to the children who were abused while in the care of Bridge schools, as recommended by the CAO, the IFC proposes instead to fund “existing programs” that support survivors of child sexual abuse in Kenya across the board. The only financial support that the IFC proposes to provide to survivors is reimbursement for expenses that would enable them to access these services—such as bus fare or lost wages—on a case-by-case basis. Nonetheless, we remain hopeful that, as the IFC designs this program it will respond directly to the demands of Bridge survivors and heed the U.S. Treasury’s call to “keep all remedy options on the table.”

Inclusive Development International is working with the survivors who submitted complaints to support them in engaging with IFC management and to ensure that the remedies they are seeking are in fact delivered through IFC’s Management Action Plan.

We also welcomed President Banga heeding our call for an independent, external investigation of allegations of IFC management interference in the CAO investigation of IFC’s investments in Bridge International Academies. Along with our partners, we wrote a letter to the World Bank Directors containing recommendations for the scope and design of the investigation, and urging that it is both thorough and independent. We called on the Board to ensure that it results in recommendations designed to address ongoing efforts to undermine the independence and integrity of the CAO, including those related to the Bridge investigation, as well as the underlying, systemic problems that enabled IFC’s interference in this process. This includes the use of non-disclosure agreements, management’s participation in the selection process for the CAO Director General, the inadequate application of whistleblower protections at the World Bank Group, and IFC management’s interest in limiting CAO’s authority and ability to independently carry out its work.