We-forest develops Grievance Readiness Mechanism

We-forest Zambia, an organisation operating in Lavushimanda district in Muchinga Province, has developed a Grievance Readiness Mechanism (GRM) process that will be providing feedback, queries and all grievances in line with its activities in the area. Community Outreach Lead at…

We-forest Zambia, an organisation operating in Lavushimanda district in Muchinga Province, has developed a Grievance Readiness Mechanism (GRM) process that will be providing feedback, queries and all grievances in line with its activities in the area.

Community Outreach Lead at We-forest, Sera Banda, said the GRM has been developed because the organisation noted with concern that no feedback from the community was received on all activities being carried out in the area.

Ms Banda said the GRM will benefit the members of the community and the organisation as it will be able to assist in providing transparency, accountability and fairness among all the stakeholders.

She was speaking yesterday during a special District Development Coordinating Committee (DDCC) meeting organised by We-forest and aimed at orienting DDCC members about the newly introduced GRM.

“This is a very good development for the organisation as it will provide transparency, accountability and fairness amongst stakeholders,” she said.

She further explained that the We-forest GRM will also tackle issues to do with gender inclusiveness, misconduct amongst its staff, unfair implementation of the project’s activities and unfair treatment of community members due to their social status and gender.

Ms Banda further said the grievances will be sent and received via various communication channels such as email and text messages among others and the complaints will undergo a certain process in order to scrutinise them before action is taken accordingly.

Meanwhile, We-forest Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for Lavushimanda, Wongani Longwe, said the organisation has also been implementing a village land use planning aimed at conserving the forest and promoting sustainable livelihood among local communities amidst climate change impacts.

Mr Longwe said the village land use planning has assisted the organisation in sustainably managing and conserving the environment.

“We understand that sometimes livelihood tends to compete with the interest of the environment but amidst climate change impacts, it is important that we continue to conserve the forest,” he said.

He added that the village land use planning is currently benefiting the environment and the community in Lavushimanda.

We-forest is conducting a good number of activities in Lavushimanda, including forest and environmental conservation, bee-keeping and other livelihood alternative activities.