The Boards of five International Accredited Entities of the GCF have appointed new leaders to their Accountability Mechanisms (Grievance Redress Mechanisms – GRMs) over the last year.  

Most recently, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) appointed Andrea Repetto Vargas as the new Director of its accountability mechanism, the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (ICIM, or MICI).  The IRM has a staff member who worked with MICI before, and so the IRM hopes that this creates an even greater opportunity to collaborate with MICI in the LAC region. The IRM has also participated in joint outreach programmes with MICI.  Ms. Repetto Vargas, a citizen of Chile, has been a Specialist Ombudsman at the World Bank Group since 2010.  Prior to her work at the World Bank Group, she was a Human Rights Specialist at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the Organisation of American States.  Ms. Repetto Vargas holds a degree in legal and social science from the Universidad Diego Portales in Chile and a LL.M. degree in international and comparative law from George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C.

Prior to that the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, appointed Janine Ferretti as Vice President, Compliance Advisor Ombudsperson (CAO).  The CAO is the IFC’s accountability mechanism.  The IRM has collaborated with the CAO in outreach activities and in developing good practice notes for the Independent Accountability Mechanism Network.  Ms. Ferretti, a Canadian and US national, is an environmental and social expert with over 16 years of experience in policymaking, design, and implementation of development operations for both the private and public sectors. Ms. Ferretti previously worked at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as the first Chief of Environmental and Social Safeguards. She is currently a Professor of the Practice of Global Development Policy, Pardee School of Global Studies, at Boston University.

The African Development Bank (AfDB) appointed David J. Simpson as the Director, Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU/BCRM).  The IRM has collaborated with the CRMU/BCRM on how best to deliver outreach events and hopes to collaborate on SEAH trainings for staff.  Mr. Simpson heads the Independent Review Mechanism, which is the accountability mechanism of the Bank.  Mr. Simpson, a Canadian national, brings to the Bank over twenty-five years of broad-based experience in accountability innovations, collaborative governance, grievance mechanisms, sustainability standards, stakeholder engagement and social compliance auditing & assurance – working with public, private and civil society sector organizations.  He served as the Interim Head of the Project Complaint Mechanism at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).  He is the former Director of Sustainability Standards at the international non-profit think-tank accountability.  Mr. Simpson holds a Master’s degree in International Social and Economic Development from the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) appointed Victoria Márquez-Mees its first Chief Accountability Officer responsible for leading the Bank’s new Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM). The EBRD has a significant share of the GCF’s portfolio of funding, and as such, the IRM hopes to collaborate with IPAM in the future.   Ms. Márquez-Mees is a national of Mexico. Before joining the EBRD, she served from 2015 as the Director of the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI) of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Before that she served as its Executive Secretary. From 2016 to 2019, complementary to her IDB function, she served as the first secretary of the Independent Accountability Mechanisms Network (IAMnet). She has held various positions at the Carlos Slim Health Institute, the Mexican Ministry of Health, and the British Council in Mexico. She graduated with honours in Economics from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico, has a master’s degree in the same field from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom, and conducted research at the London School of Economics and Political Science as a Chevening Scholar.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) appointed Gina Barbieri as its new Ombudsperson. Prior to her new appointment, Ms. Barbieri was the Principal Ombudsperson of the International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsperson (CAO), which regularly collaborates with the IRM on a number of projects.  Ms. Barbieri is a South African human rights lawyer with 20 years of professional experience in solving environmental and social conflicts.  She is an international mediator accredited by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and the International Mediation Institute (IMI).  She is also a co-founder of the African Institute for Mediation, served as the Deputy Head of the Africa Center for Dispute Settlement and was a member of the steering committee for the establishment of the African Mediation Association.  Ms. Barbieri obtained an LL.B. from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

The Independent Redress Mechanism (IRM) of the GCF welcomes all of these leaders to their new posts, and wishes them well.