DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY
The definitions below can be helpful for understanding the Grievance Mechanism.
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Complaint or Grievance: Complaints or grievances are an expression of dissatisfaction or discontent
stemming from a real or perceived impact of a company’s business activities. Complaints can range
from commonly occurring, relatively minor problems to more entrenched or serious ones that have
the potential to become a source of significant resentment. When people present a complaint to the
company, they generally expect to receive a specific response or resolution. The terms complaint and
grievance are used interchangeably in this document, without presuming differences in scale,
complexity or seriousness.
Claim: An expression of dissatisfaction that explicitly or implicitly includes a request for action by a
complainant. This more or less explicitly requested action, can be a reparation for damage suffered
and/or a corrective action. In the context of the Regional Solar Park (RSP) project, a claim is any
contention by a stakeholder about the said project in relation to the damage caused during the
implementation of the activities with a view to restoring the right and/or repairing it.
Complaint: A complaint or grievance is defined as an expression of dissatisfaction with the level or
quality of an action or inaction, directly or indirectly expressing dissatisfaction to an individual or group
of people with the implementation of a project. Grievances are directly related to project activities.
Beneficiaries and other stakeholders, mainly affected people, have the right to complain if agreed
standards and/or agreements are not respected or in case of a negative impact of the project
interventions. Any complaint received requires a response. The structure that receives it has the duty
to respond to the complainant(s) within a known time frame. Collection tools and a typology of
complaints are defined and managed by the responsible structure. A complaint is also an expression
of dissatisfaction that relates to the actions of the project or on the part of an individual, a group of
individuals or an organization that is detrimental to the project and that directly or indirectly causes
anguish to the beneficiary(ies).
Concern: Concerns are questions, requests for information, or general perceptions unrelated to a
specific impact or incident. If not addressed to the satisfaction of the complainant, concerns may
become complaints. Although concerns do not have to be registered as a formal complaint, they should
be noted in an appropriate management system so that emerging trends can be identified and
addressed before they escalate.
Conflict/Dispute: This is the observation of opposition between two or more people or entities who
have differing ideas or opinions and where the expectations of some are often at odds with the
expectations of others. Conflict is charged with emotions such as anger, frustration, fear, sadness,
resentment, disgust. Sometimes it can be made of aggression and violence.
Closed Complaint: A complaint that has been received and for which no further action is required
(for which the proposed solutions have been implemented).
Entreaties: Requests in terms of wishes expressed by the populations affected by the project. Although
not constituting complaints, grievances should be treated with particular care.
