All of the development financing lenders have standards that private and sovereign state borrowers must embrace. We helped the European Investment Bank (EIB) systematically consider the principles and practices of the FAO Voluntary Guidelines for the Governance of Tenure (VGGT) in its borrower performance standards and due diligence processes.
We examined how and to what extent these principles could be incorporated into EIB’s standards and due diligence procedures. As well, we incorporated EIB’s Group Strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment’s within the standards from a perspective of land access and tenure security. Drawing from consultations with civil society, peer lenders, and internal strategy document we helped integrate resettlement, gender equality, and free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) standards into the EIB framework.