A Guide to Designing and Implementing Grievance Mechanisms for ...

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14 and involving the community in project monitoring. Stakeholder engagement can prevent conflicts by building rapport, positive relationships, and trust between the company and a community. Grievance resolution mechanisms are one component of an effective stakeholder engagement program. One of the most effective forms of prevention a company can encourage is the active participation of employees at all levels in their host community’s civic, social, or religious life (see box 1.7). Such participation can provide a means to build positive personal relationships, establish connections with community groups and leaders, promote open and informal communication and information exchange, and demonstrate concern by the company and its employees for the community’s well-being. It can also offer informal access to information about community concerns and provide early warnings about any conflicts in the making. Such alerts are valuable; they give the company plenty of time to prepare an adequate response and address escalating tensions. Sometimes, prevention through well-formulated stakeholder engagement can be seen as an unnecessary frill in project development. Companies are often reluctant to make necessary expenditures of effort, funds, time, and personnel when it is not clear that they are needed. Neglecting prevention, however, is often detrimental to both companies and communities. Prevention is good management, and benefits typically outweigh costs. Box 1.7. The Importance of Community Engagement to Avoid Conflicts “Community engagement is a core strategy to know what our problems are before a grievance arises. Our local staff is involved in local chambers of commerce, church organizations, festival committees, and many other civic activities. [We] also have a foundation—with local people on the board—and they decide where community development funds go. The most proactive mechanisms have been active locally in civic life.” —A company vice president in charge of community relations How Grievance Mechanisms Fit into the Larger Context of Project Accountability In addition to being part of an effective stakeholder engagement program, grievance mechanisms also fit into the larger world of corporate accountability that goes beyond the project level. Grievance mechanisms often are used as a first resort. If the grievance cannot be resolved, the complainant may refer to an external party such as the court system or an independent recourse mechanism such as the CAO to hear the case. Various accountability mechanisms exist at the industry, national, regional, and international level. 5 Nonproject–level accountability mechanisms do have limitations, however: • The judiciary—often the institution of choice for resolving conflicts in some countries— is not trusted by either companies or communities in many parts of the world. • Traditional systems of justice may be preferred by some community members; however, project developers may not fully understand or trust these forums. It is unlikely that companies would be willing to abide by their process or decisions.
• Independent recourse mechanisms, such as the CAO or the World Bank’s Inspection Panel, can play a valuable role, but are available to complainants only when the financial institution has an interest in the project, and are often subject to several other jurisdictional limitations. Nonproject recourse mechanisms present a reasonable alternative in some circumstances, but do not replace a working project-level grievance mechanism. 15
Page 1 and 2: ADVISORY NOTE A Guide to Designing
Page 3 and 4: ADVISORY NOTE A Guide to Designing
Page 5 and 6: v 1 5 7 17 21 27 29 33 51 57 61 63
Page 7 and 8: Foreword Grievance mechanisms are i
Page 9 and 10: Executive Summary Grievance mechani
Page 11 and 12: Incorporate a variety of grievance
Page 13: Part I. Overview A locally based gr
Page 16 and 17: 8 Box 1.2. Community Expectations W
Page 18 and 19: 10 These models also encounter many
Page 20 and 21: 12 Box 1.5. A Company’s “Social
Page 25 and 26: Chapter 2. Understanding Grievance
Page 29 and 30: Chapter 3. Initiating a Grievance M
Page 31 and 32: • Survey existing dispute resolut
Page 33: Once the information has been gathe
Page 37 and 38: Chapter 4. Define Scope and Determi
Page 39: Discussions about the purpose of th
Page 42 and 43: 34 Figure 5.1. A Grievance Mechanis
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Page 48 and 49: 40 party without decision-making au
Page 50 and 51: 42 Arbitration. Arbitration is a pr
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Appendix B. Interview Questions The
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The Way People Access and Use the C
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Notes 1 The focus of this guide is
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Customary approaches for grievance
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Stakeholder engagement - An umbrell
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Foreign Affairs and International T
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Ruggie, J. 2008. Promotion and Prot
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Compliance Advisor/Ombudsman 2121 P
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