Safeguards
Social and Environmental Safeguards or Standards are increasingly used by development banks, conservation or funding institutions/agencies to ensure that potential social and environmental risks of the activities they support have been duly considered from the time of planning through to the time after implementation has finished.

Social and Environmental Safeguards or Standards are increasingly used by development banks, conservation or funding institutions/agencies to ensure that potential social and environmental risks of the activities they support have been duly considered from the time of planning through to the time after implementation has finished. Only if such risks get identified at an early stage of planning can they be avoided, or where this is impossible, mitigated and managed. 

While the safeguards and standards of different agencies are increasingly harmonized (e.g. several agencies are using the performance standards of the IFC as guidance), some differences remain and countries are sometimes faced with the challenge of having to adhere to different standards in one and the same process. 

AAE associated consultants jointly provide thorough expertise in the application and harmonization of different sets of social and environmental safeguards and standards, including GCF/IFC, UNFCCC Cancun, UNDP, UNEP, GEF, AF, amongst others. As needed, specific thematic experts are included into our tailor-made teams, such as legal or gender experts.


Services Offered

  • Development of methodologies to assess risks and benefits of activities in line with more than one set of safeguards/standards;
  • Identification of potential risks and benefits of planned activities or policies under development (e.g. through Social and Environmental Strategic Assessment), including through in-depth stakeholder engagement;
  • Analysis of existing Policies, Laws and Regulations against safeguards requirements, identification of gaps and ways to close such gaps;
  • Incorporation of risk and gender assessment findings into processes (e.g. policies under development) and outputs;
  • Preparation of Environmental and Social Management Frameworks and Plans, in line with expectations from different donor agencies (e.g. as part of GCF full proposals);
  • Development of Safeguards Information Systems.