IFC Board Approves Response to CAO Investigation Related to IFC’s Investment in Bridge International Academies in Kenya

Washington, April 7, 2025 — The IFC Board of Executive Directors approved IFC's response to an investigation of IFC’s investment in Bridge International Academies conducted by the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), IFC's independent accountability mechanism.

In 2013 and 2016, IFC invested a total of $13.5 million in equity to support expansion of Bridge, a company that ran a chain of for-profit private schools in Kenya and provided technical assistance to government schools in other African countries. The project was designed to support access to affordable, quality education for children from low-income backgrounds. IFC exited the equity investment in NewGlobe Schools, the parent company of Bridge, in March 2022.

CAO’s investigation responds to a complaint from the East Africa Centre for Human Rights (EACHRights), a Kenyan nongovernmental organization (NGO), on behalf of a group of current and former parents and teachers raising concerns about Bridge’s compliance with Kenyan school registration requirements, labor practices, student safety, and non-acceptance of students with disabilities.

CAO’s investigation report found that that IFC did not satisfy its environmental and social (E&S) requirements under the Sustainability Policy during pre-investment environmental and social due diligence and project supervision. CAO found that while IFC’s supervision of water, sanitation, and food hygiene standards and labor and working conditions risks and impacts improved over the years, its supervision efforts fell short of bringing its client into compliance with the IFC Performance Standards (PS). CAO also found that when exiting its investment, IFC did not work sufficiently with the client to bring the project into compliance with PS1, PS2, and PS4 as they relate to risks and impacts in the areas of labor and working conditions; building design safety, water, sanitation, and hygiene; and school-ground safety and maintenance.

The Board-approved Management Action Plan, developed by IFC after consultation with the complainants, focuses on two areas of sector-level engagement in response to CAO's project-level recommendations:  

• On labor issues, IFC will engage with qualified labor organizations and conduct a country-level workshop to understand and discuss gaps between Performance Standards (PS2 in particular) and Kenyan labor laws, if any, and how these might be addressed in future IFC projects.
• On school safety issues, IFC will support the development of a capacity building program for schools that focuses on physical safety standards and protocols, including mechanisms that facilitate parents and students’ access to existing grievance redress and remediation pathways.

Prior to approval of the Management Action Plan, IFC had already completed steps responding to CAO’s systemic recommendations, including more clearly defining in IFC’s Environmental and Social Review Procedures manual the environmental and social review and process of projects prior to Board approval, as well as supervision activities.

CAO will monitor effective implementation of the actions set out in the Management Action Plan and publish IFC's progress reports on its website and in an annual monitoring report.

More information about this case, including the CAO Investigation Report and IFC Management Action Plan, are available here:

Case webpage - Kenya: Bridge International Academies-01/Kenya
CAO Investigation Report
IFC Management Report and Management Action Plan

About CAO

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent accountability mechanism of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), members of the World Bank Group. CAO's mandate is to address complaints from people affected by IFC and MIGA projects in a manner that is fair, objective, and constructive, improve environmental and social outcomes, and foster accountability and learning to reduce the risk of harm to people and the environment. For more information, visit www.cao-ombudsman.org.