Follow the Money Tools & Training
As demand for our Follow the Money investigations and advocacy support has increased over the years, it has become clear that to meet this demand and to achieve our long-term goals, we need to invest in growing the wider community of advocates who are employing Follow the Money methods in their work. In particular, we need to ensure that Follow the Money methods and tools are accessible to advocates who are from and who are working with frontline communities directly impacted by harmful corporate and development projects.
With this in mind, we have developed a range of online tools and resources to support Follow the Money research and advocacy. In 2023, we launched our Follow the Money training and mentorship program for grassroots human rights and environmental advocates.
Follow the Money Website
Our Following the Money to Justice website provides a step-by-step guide to our research and advocacy methods, and houses a growing suite of online research tools that give users easy access to financial information and records they can use in their investment and supply chain research.
In May 2022, we hosted a series of webinars to show community advocates how to use this resource, which you can view here.
Online Research Tools
Some of the tools we use dig up critical information the actors behind irresponsible investment projects are subscription-only financial databases. The cost to access these databases keeps important information hidden and helps to shield corporate actors from accountability.
That is why we are developing our own suite of tools that will be free to use and provide public access to the same information, to the extent possible. So far, we have launched the Development Bank Investment Tracker (DeBIT), to help users find information on projects backed by the major development finance institutions; the Shareholder Tracker, for researching the shareholders of publicly listed companies; and the Palm Oil Tracker (“PalmWatch”), which helps users map palm oil supply chains. We are also developing tools that track Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investments, and commercial bank loans. Learn more here.
Training and Mentorship Program
In 2023, following an initial pilot project in 2022, we launched our Follow the Money to Justice training and strategic support mentorship program, aiming to foster a global community of Follow the Money practitioners to help address the overwhelming demand for this work.
The program curriculum is informed and supported by the wide array of guides, tools and resources we have developed over the years to share lessons we have learned from conducting hundreds of investigations and from accompanying dozens of communities in their pursuit of remedy, compensation and justice. When designing and selecting participants for our trainings, we prioritize groups whose goals align with our strategic focus on advancing a rapid and rights-based transition away from fossil fuels. That includes groups working to stop new fossil fuel development and those advocating for human rights protections in renewable energy and transition mineral supply chains.
Participants engage closely with our team for several months, including through online webinars and two week-long in-person workshops. Following this training, we continue to offer participants strategic support as they implement Follow the Money approaches with their colleagues. We also aim to foster communication and collaboration among the organizations trained, through group messaging platforms such as Slack.
So far we have offered these trainings regionally in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and plan to offer more soon.