This first round of the impact assessment provided initial evidence that Sendou I, co-funded by the AfDB, West African Development Bank (BOAD), Netherlands Development Bank (FMO) and Compagnie Bancaire de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (CBAO), had compromised the livelihoods of more than 1 000 women fishers in the coastal area of Bargny, south of Dakar in Senegal...They have expressed their concerns about the threats the power plant poses to their communities’ fundamental rights and livelihoods, the high risks of pollution and its impact on people’s health, and the destruction of their communities’ cultural heritage...

The research applied an ecofeminist impact assessment framework...This research confirms the correctness of the AfDB’s 23 September 2019 announcement that it will no longer support coal investments. We provide further evidence that the AfDB must meticulously track its financing. The bank needs to guarantee that the private institutions it loans money to do not support coal projects...

On 10 August 2016, two complaints were lodged with the AfDB Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (BCRM) by Senegalese national civil society organisations...A compliance review was conducted in May 2017 by a panel of experts mandated by the AfDB’s BCRM to determine the extent to which the financing of the Sendou I project was in line with the AfDB’s environmental and social policies. The BCRM report produced in May 2018 concluded that “the Sendou Power Plant Project did not fully comply with the safeguard policies, particularly the AfDB’s Involuntary Resettlement Policy and Environmental Assessment Procedures for Private Sector Operations”...

Recommendation: as a most necessary step for accountability and transparency, the AfDB should engage in a full community consultation process which includes the Khelkom women, and not only women selected by the local authorities and the project promoters in Bangny...the AfDB should, without delay, take this minimum and necessary step: develop an adequate women’s rights – with a strong environmental lens – impact assessment and monitoring and evaluation framework for all projects it considers supporting...[Refers to Compagnie d’Electricité du Sénégal (CES), Senelec and Sococim].