Background: Last year, the FCPF allocated an additional $200,000 to each REDD Country Participant (as part of Readiness Preparation Grants) to strengthen national feedback and grievance redress mechanisms that form part of a country's REDD+ institutional arrangements as per the FCPF's Common Approach.

• Resolution on Enhancing Capacity for Dispute Resolution: Resolution PC/Electronic/2012/1
• FMT Note FMT Note 2011-12 on Enhancing Capacity for Dispute Resolution: (English, French, Spanish) 

New guidance material available:  A draft toolbox with guidance material is now available to support countries in identifying and managing risks and conflict that may arise during the REDD+ readiness phase or during later implementation of REDD+ programs.

The tool kit includes:

• A set of Questions to Consider to help countries evaluate existing national and local institutions or procedures that address grievances. The set of questions also help to identify priority actions to improve existing mechanisms.
• A short 6-page Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) Manual that can serve as a starting point to put in place basic procedures and systems to answer questions and manage grievances.
• A draft Guidance Note that proposes an approach to strengthening grievance capacity in the Readiness phase.

Differentiation of potential grievances during the Readiness preparation stage and Carbon Fund operation stage: It is important to understand that the nature of grievances usually differs during the REDD+ readiness phase and the later implementation of REDD+ programs. Accordingly, potential grievances and disputes require a different approach during the Readiness preparation stage and the Carbon Fund operation stage:

• During the Readiness preparation phase, numerous questions, inquiries, and grievances usually arise about the REDD+ Readiness strategy and the process of developing it (i.e. process of consultation and participation processes). The consultative part of the Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) should help to identify issues and stakeholders and provide a forum for discussion. During the Readiness preparation phase , effective mechanisms and capacity will need to be put in place to address grievances that may arise during the Carbon Fund operation stage.
• During the Carbon Fund operation stage, grievances are likely to arise around the implementation of REDD+ policies and mechanisms on the ground.  Grievances may relate to rules for benefit sharing, resource and tenure rights, implementation of territorial planning, etc. These types of disputes should be addressed by the grievance mechanisms that have either been designed or strengthened during the Readiness stage.

Next steps towards a final set of guidance material: The FCPF FMT, with support from the World Bank’s Dispute Resolution and Prevention team, and UNDP are currently in the process of improving and updating these guidelines so that they can serve as Joint FCPF/UNDP Guidelines on Dispute Resolution and Grievance Redress.

Experiences thus far:

• A first workshop with representatives from 7 countries in Africa was held in Kenya in December 2012. Experiences from this workshop can be found here.
• Experiences of integrating grievance redress into national systems in Mexico in the context of the FCPF and the Forest Investment Program (FIP) can be found here.