An IFC client since 1998, the Azito Energie Thermal Power Plant, located in Azito Village, supplies 35 percent of Côte d’Ivoire’s energy needs. As a host to this plant, the village received substantial financial resources—€3 million—as land use compensation, which would be used to benefit the whole community. The transfer of these resources by Azito Energie also represented an opportunity for the company to contribute to local development and improve social infrastructure, access to basic services, and income generating activities for villagers.

IFC was invited to collaborate with Azito Energie and the village on strengthening the village’s capacity to effectively invest these financial resources in local development. To do so, IFC proposed using the community scorecard (CSC) process because of the methodology’s value in engaging all stakeholder groups within the village.

Multiple CSCs were conducted, targeting:

• Village leaders and community representatives
• Health center and women cooperative’s representatives
• Implementation partners
• Azito Energie’s CSR and community engagement teams

The scorecards helped to identify community development priorities, review progress, and assess the village’s leadership and governance.