Equipping Businesses with Environmental and Social Safeguards knowledge for a clean and safe environment

FInES project recently conducted training sessions for Board Members from the commercial banks, development finance institutions and microfinance institutions in Environmental and Social Safeguards as one way of ensuring compliance to the environmental and social safeguards policies.

The trainings aimed at enhancing understanding of the importance of having the environmental and social safeguards plans among the commercial banks, micro financial institutions and SACCOs.
According the Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist, Chisomo Gunda, FInES project involves MSMEs who are doing various businesses and hence the need to ensure that the environmental and social safeguards plans are being adhered to when doing businesses.

“There was need to engage Board of Governors of Commercial Banks, Microfinancing Institutions and SACCOs to orient them about Environmental and Social Safeguards as it was discovered that as much as they were entrusted with custodianship of the ESMS documents in their respective organizations, they did not understand what the Environmental and Social Safeguards were about” Gunda explained.
The training targeted Board Chairs, Chairs for Risk Management and Credit Committees of the Board.