In 1998 World Bank Group President James Wolfensohn created the position of the Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman (CAO) for the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA). The purpose of the CAO is “to assist the IFC and MIGA to address complaints of people affected by projects in a manner that is fair, objective and constructive.”
This Handbook is designed to guide project-affected people presenting complaints to the CAO. It also gives a brief introduction to the role of the IFC and MIGA and the function of the CAO’s office. Because the CAO’s office is relatively new, there has not yet been much practical experience with bringing complaints to the CAO. As a result, this Handbook is still a discussion draft, and we welcome any comments or suggestions on how to improve it.