This note, part of the RAI Knowledge Into Action series, provides guidance to
governments on how to screen and select prospective
investment projects to ensure they maximize the social,
economic, and environmental benefits while minimizing the
risks. It provides investors information on what can be
expected in cases of good screening practice. The acceptance
of investors that later fail financially or have poor social
and environmental outcomes has had damaging impacts on many
countries as well as communities. Screening investors is a
critical component of a country’s policy framework to
mitigate those risks and to improve the likelihood that
investments will have a positive effect on sustainable
development priorities. This note summarizes available
resources on how to screen agricultural investments and
calls on donors, international organizations, and civil
society to develop more. It is complemented by
note 7: tools
for screening investors , which provides a detailed toolkit
that can be adapted to host countries’ individual circumstances.