What has to be in a grievance log?

At minimum: a unique reference, the date received as distinct from the date entered, the channel, the complainant and their PAP reference, the category, the complaint in the complainant's own words, who it was assigned to, the target response date, what was investigated, the decision, the remedy actually provided, the date the complainant was told, whether they accepted it, and the closure date. A log without decisions and outcomes is a receipt book.

How long should a project have to respond to a grievance?

Whatever period the mechanism publicly commits to — commonly acknowledgement within a few days and resolution within 30 days for straightforward cases, with a longer stated period for those needing investigation. The specific number matters less than that it is disclosed, tracked and reported against, including the cases that exceed it.

Should safeguarding and GBV complaints go in the same log?

No. Cases involving gender-based violence, sexual exploitation or abuse must be handled through a separate confidential channel with restricted access and survivor-centred referral. A safeguarding complaint sitting in a general log that field staff can read has endangered the person who made it. This template carries a flag field so such cases can be counted without being described.

Can complaints be anonymous?

Yes, and a mechanism that refuses them will not hear about the most serious issues — particularly staff or contractor conduct. Anonymous complaints should be logged, investigated as far as possible, and the outcome published in a form the community can see, since there is no individual to inform.

What does a lender look at in a grievance log?

Trends more than individual cases: complaints by category and location, the share lodged by women, the ageing tail of open cases, the proportion closed with the complainant's acceptance, and whether any category is recurring in a way that indicates a design defect rather than isolated problems. A log with very few complaints is read as a mechanism nobody can reach, not as a project without issues.

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Grievance Log Template for a Resettlement Project (GRM)

A grievance register structure for a resettlement grievance redress mechanism — 26 fields covering intake, assignment, investigation, decision, remedy and closure.

26 fields · intake to closure · with the audit reason for each

What separates a working mechanism from a logbook

Resettlement generates more complaints than any other safeguard issue, for a straightforward reason: displacement produces individually identifiable harms to identifiable people who know exactly who caused them.

Most projects record those complaints. Far fewer close them, tell the complainant what was decided, or record whether the complainant accepted it. Those three fields are the difference between a mechanism and an archive, and they are the ones an auditor samples.

Four fields people leave out, and what each costs

Date received, separate from date entered. Without both, the response clock starts whenever someone got round to typing it in — and the gap between the two is itself a finding.
Sex of complainant. If women are lodging a small fraction of complaints, the mechanism is not reaching them. You cannot see that without the field.
Complainant response to the outcome. Closure without acceptance is a legitimate outcome, but it should be visible rather than recorded as resolution.
PAP reference. A grievance about a valuation should be readable against the valuation it concerns. Two disconnected systems means neither can answer a question about the other.

Report the tail, not the average

An average resolution time of eleven days looks excellent and can conceal fourteen cases open for eight months — which will be exactly the cases involving the most vulnerable complainants, because those are the hardest to resolve and the least likely to be chased.

Report the count open beyond the stated period, by category and location. Clustering by location is what reveals a systematic problem; clustering by category is what tells you it is a design defect rather than a handling one.

Questions

What has to be in a grievance log?: At minimum: a unique reference, the date received as distinct from the date entered, the channel, the complainant and their PAP reference, the category, the complaint in the complainant's own words, who it was assigned to, the target response date, what was investigated, the decision, the remedy actually provided, the date the complainant was told, whether they accepted it, and the closure date. A log without decisions and outcomes is a receipt book.
How long should a project have to respond to a grievance?: Whatever period the mechanism publicly commits to — commonly acknowledgement within a few days and resolution within 30 days for straightforward cases, with a longer stated period for those needing investigation. The specific number matters less than that it is disclosed, tracked and reported against, including the cases that exceed it.
Should safeguarding and GBV complaints go in the same log?: No. Cases involving gender-based violence, sexual exploitation or abuse must be handled through a separate confidential channel with restricted access and survivor-centred referral. A safeguarding complaint sitting in a general log that field staff can read has endangered the person who made it. This template carries a flag field so such cases can be counted without being described.
Can complaints be anonymous?: Yes, and a mechanism that refuses them will not hear about the most serious issues — particularly staff or contractor conduct. Anonymous complaints should be logged, investigated as far as possible, and the outcome published in a form the community can see, since there is no individual to inform.
What does a lender look at in a grievance log?: Trends more than individual cases: complaints by category and location, the share lodged by women, the ageing tail of open cases, the proportion closed with the complainant's acceptance, and whether any category is recurring in a way that indicates a design defect rather than isolated problems. A log with very few complaints is read as a mechanism nobody can reach, not as a project without issues.

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The software behind this

SmartLARMS keeps this as a live record, not a spreadsheet

A template is a starting point. The version that survives a completion audit is one where every change is attributed to a person and a date, and where the numbers reconcile to what was actually paid.

Talk to us → olules@smartlarms.com