Virgon Africa supports a wide range of local, regional and international clients with Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) services on major development proposals such as power stations, dams, mining, roads, industrial projects, and oil and gas, among others. In addition to the legislation, guidelines and policies at a country level, Virgon Africa has wide experience working with the frameworks adopted by international funding institutions including the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC), African Development Bank (AfDB), and International Fund for Agricultural development (IFAD), among others. We work closely with project teams to identify potential environmental and social risks/impacts, and develop inclusive, pragmatic and affordable strategies that avoid, mitigate and/or offset significant impacts and risks. Virgon Africa’s ability to merge technical and regulatory knowledge with extensive practical experience guarantee regulatory approval, international funding, value addition to the environmental social and governance (ESG) performance, and social license to operate.

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) incorporates environmental, health and social considerations into the development of public policies, plans, programmes and other strategic decisions. Compared with the Environmental Impact and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), SEA provides recommendations at a strategic level and allows a better control over interactions or cumulative effects. SEA provides a framework to efficiently and effectively target ESIA for specific projects. SEA helps our clients

• to incorporate environmental and other sustainability objectives in the formulation of policies, plans and programmes,
• to gather and analyse the information necessary for sound decision-making, including input from relevant stakeholders,
• to evaluate likely significant environmental and health effects of strategic options and proposed actions,
• to set conditions for environmentally sound implementation of strategic decisions.

Our comprehensive SEA services are designed to guide plans, policies, and programmes towards an understanding of their potential impacts on the environment and health as required by national and international regulations. With our multi-disciplinary and experienced team, we are able to conduct all stages of an SEA from screening, baseline data collection, scoping, options appraisal and development of alternatives/mitigation to environmental report production, consultation and monitoring. Our SEA activities cover new infrastructure developments and extensions, multi-intervention programs, and cumulative impacts of linked projects.

The purpose of the Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) is to ensure that social and environmental impacts, risks and liabilities identified during the ESIA process are effectively managed during the construction, operation and closure of the proposed project. The ESMP specifies the mitigation and management measures to which the Proponent is committed and shows how the Project will mobilize organizational capacity and resources to implement these measures. At Virgon Africa, our dedicated team of professionals work with our clients to develop an ESMP, guided by national and international standards. As it is a ‘living document’, we work with our clients to regularly review and update the ESMP in response to changes in legislation and any other guidelines and practices subscribed to, as well as changes in project design and local context.

We support our clients in the development of other Safeguard Instruments such as

• Stakeholder Engagement Plan
• Grievance Mechanism
• Resettlement Action Plan for Project Affected Persons
• Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan
• Occupational Health, Safety and Security Plan
• Decommissioning Plan

Environmental and social compliance monitoring is a legal requirement. Environmental and social compliance monitoring involves the assessment of the quality of the environment to control the risk of pollution from the facility. At Virgon Africa, we support our clients in tracking and addressing changes in the biophysical and social environment during project implementation. Our environmental and social monitoring focuses on the following

• Industrial effluents
• Surface water bodies – including those receiving industrial discharges
• Groundwater – due to industrial contaminants seeping into the soil and reaching aquifers
• Ambient air
• Particulate matter (dust, aerosols)
• Occupational health and safety

Environmental and social compliance auditing is an independent evaluation of an organization’s health, safety, social and environment (HSSE) legal requirements intended to identify compliance and management system implementation gaps and propose feasible corrective actions. At Virgon Africa, we conduct compliance audits in accordance with the national laws, regulations as well as international standards such as the Environment Management System Auditing as required by ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 19011:2018 Standards.

Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) has emerged as an international human rights standard that derives from the collective rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination and to their lands, territories and other properties. The increasing cases of forced displacement and demands for land for developmental projects calls for strengthening the principle of free, prior and informed consent across sectors. FPIC allows Indigenous Peoples to provide or withhold/ withdraw consent, at any point, regarding projects impacting their territories. FPIC allows Indigenous Peoples to engage in negotiations to shape the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of projects. At Virgon Africa, we recognize that negotiating FPIC is a process. We plan and lead FPIC processes that include informing the affected persons about planned activities and their impacts – both positive and negative, verifying that the information provided has been understood, before explicit consent can be negotiated. If people refuse, we respect their decision. FPIC focuses on harmonizing and equalizing relationships between groups of different power and means.