§ 10605 — Safeguards And Accountability

(a) The Foundation shall develop, and incorporate into any agreement for support provided by the Foundation, appropriate safeguards, policies, and guidelines, consistent with United States law and best practices and standards for environmental and social safeguards. (1) The Secretary, or the Secretary’s designee, shall establish a transparent and independent accountability mechanism, consistent with best practices, which shall provide— (A) a compliance review function that assesses whether Foundation-supported projects adhere to the requirements developed pursuant to subsection (a); (B) a dispute resolution function for resolving and remedying concerns between complainants and project implementers regarding the impacts of specific Foundation-supported projects with respect to such standards; and (C) an advisory function that reports to the Board on projects, policies, and practices. (2) The accountability mechanism shall— (A) report annually to the Board and the appropriate congressional committees regarding the Foundation’s compliance with best practices and standards in accordance with paragraph (1)(A) and the nature and resolution of any complaint; (i) have permanent staff, led by an independent accountability official, to conduct compliance reviews and dispute resolutions and perform advisory functions; and (ii) maintain a roster of experts to serve such roles, to the extent needed; and (C) hold a public comment period lasting not fewer than 60 days regarding the initial design of the accountability mechanism. (c) The Foundation shall establish an ombudsman position at a senior level of executive staff as a confidential, neutral source of information and assistance to anyone affected by the activities of the Foundation. (d) The Secretary shall, periodically, but not less frequent than annually, review assistance provided by the Foundation for the purpose of implementing section 10602(b) of this title to ensure consistency with the provisions under section 2378d of this title.