01.12.2021
AIM-Progress journey towards an effective Grievance Mechanism: Grievance Mechanism Responsible Sourcing Journey

The development of the Grievance Mechanism Responsible Sourcing Journey (GM RSJ) is in full swing, and AIM-Progress is seeking feedback on the draft. This framework aims to allow members to embed an efficient grievance mechanism in line with the UNGPs. It seeks to provide a blueprint to help members accelerate the development and implementation of their grievance mechanisms to provide remedy and prevent future adverse impact through systemic remediation, and continuous improvement. All interested and relevant stakeholders are invited to provide their feedback on the draft during the consultation period, which will close on January 14th.

 

Grievance mechanisms & the AIM-Progress Human rights roadmap

 

In 2020, AIM-Progress revised its strategy to focus on positive impact to people and supporting members to respect the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights (UNGPs). A key element of the UNGP framework is the access to remedy, with grievance mechanisms playing a key role in enabling this process. An effective grievance mechanism provides companies with a process for systematically receiving, investigating, and responding to rightsholder complaints and implementing remedy to solve them. Grievance mechanisms should sit within a broader stakeholder engagement approach, offering multiple opportunities for rightsholders to raise concerns and/or provide feedback. 

The GM RSJ framework forms part of AIM-Progress’ human rights roadmap and the GM Working Group activities. Through the Grievance Mechanism dedicated Working Group, members are supported in:

AIM-Progress members have been implementing a range of grievance tools in their operations and supply chains; however, it is recognized that current approaches and tools may not be effective in all contexts when considering the geographic and sectoral diversity that members operate.

 

Grievance Mechanism Responsible Sourcing Journey (GM RSJ)

 

As a first step to help its members, AIM-Progress GM Working Group has developed a detailed Grievance Mechanism (GM) maturity framework and a self-assessment tool using various guidance documentation, standards and benchmarks and updated by TwentyFifty following a consultation of the AIM-Progress Advisory Board. The framework is based on the high-level AIM-Progress Responsible Sourcing Journey (RSJ). The objective of the framework is to support members in implementing an efficient grievance mechanism in line with the UNGPs. The framework is divided in 4 steps:

  1. Building the governance of the grievance mechanism, including within your own operations and engagement within your supply chain
  2. Establishing the grievance mechanism, including developing and communicating the mechanism
  3. Implementing the grievance mechanism, including establishing the operating procedure, implementing remediation and its monitoring
  4. Evaluating the grievance mechanism and integrating learnings

Each step includes a short introduction establishing the scope, the relevant UNGP effectiveness criteria covered and their definitions. There are four levels of maturity within each step: Launched, Established, Integrated and Leadership. Criteria within the first maturity level (Launched) have been designed as steppingstones to get started on the journey and are listed in order of priority. The criteria across each maturity levels are cumulative, meaning that they build on one another; therefore a maturity level can only be met if the criteria within the previous levels have been covered.

 

Open consultation

 

The final GM RSJ will be an open-source document. It can be used by any company (e.g. brand and supplier company) who intend to continuously improve their grievance mechanisms. Furthermore, this framework may be used as a benchmarking tool against implementation progress.

 

The draft GM RSJ for public consultation is open for the next three weeks. Stakeholders are invited to submit their comments via the online questionnaire by January 14th. Through this process we seek multi stakeholder input to better understand how different organisations intend to use the framework. We will review the feedback and integrate this into the final framework and assessment tool. AIM-Progress aims to introduce the final improved GM RSJ towards the end of February 2022. 

 

Two other documents are being produced to complement this framework that can be used in conjunction.

Please feel free to share this request with relevant stakeholders.

 

About AIM-Progress:

AIM-PROGRESS is a global initiative of fast-moving consumer goods manufacturers and their common suppliers, joining forces to drive positive change in their supply chains. AIM-Progress works in a pre-competitive environment with 45+ members from a diverse set of international brands and suppliers linked through the commonality of their supply chains​. Our mission is to positively impact people’s lives and ensure respect for human rights, while delivering value to our members and their supply chains. This is done across four areas: our human rights priorities and respective Working Groups, our Regional Hubs, the Mutual Recognition work stream to create synergies in approaches, and the Capability Building work stream to equip our members with the knowledge and ability to execute strong responsible and sustainable sourcing programmes.

 

For more information please contact: Yael Fattal, Project Manager,  AIM-Progress: Yael.fattal@aim.be

 

 

 

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