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DEFINITION OF CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY The definitions below can be helpful for understanding the Grievance Mechanism. 1 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.