Rehabilitation & Resettlement | R&R

Any green-field project or a brown-field project taking place on land taken from the landowners cause people to be displaced from their land & homes & in also their livelihood in the process. The displacement causes major unrest & instability in any project in case things do not take peacefully & amicably.

The disturbance can become a critical issue & the project may be stalled forever. It causes huge loss to the company not only financially but leads to loss of investment or project finance from the investor, brand image, confidence of stakeholders, loss of business & on top of all may give rise to legal complications.

It thus becomes inevitable for the companies to adhere to all the national policies & legal requirements for resettlement & rehabilitation, prepare a resettlement & rehabilitation plan, compensate the project displaced people as per the entitled matrix, implement & monitor the plan, establish the grievance mechanism procedures & engagement strategy.

A Resettlement Action Plan or Resettlement Plan (RP) is a comprehensive framework that includes inventory & entitlements for the Project Affected Person (PAP). It includes the concerned infrastructure development project and its consequent impacts in terms of losses incurred.

Preparation of an RP includes the development of an inventory of losses and presents an adequate mitigation strategy in the form of entitlements for those adversely affected, as per the extent to which they are affected.

Apart from this, in-depth institutional arrangements, budgets, and monitoring & evaluation mechanisms are also laid out in the RP.

It has its following benefits:

• Establish the relationship between PAP, larger community, other stakeholders and project developers
• Provides a platform to express the needs and desires of local people and enhances the social acceptability of the project
• Provides appropriate compensation to the landholders
• Minimize displacement related risks

A Resettlement Action Plan generally includes budgets, and monitoring & evaluation mechanisms. It may include  the following points on general:

• identification of project impacts and affected populations
• legal framework for land acquisition and compensation
• compensation framework
• description of resettlement assistance and restoration of livelihood activities
• detailed budget
• implementation schedule
• description of organizational responsibilities
• framework for public consultation, participation, and development planning
• description of provisions for the redress of grievances
• framework for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting

As a Rehabilitation and Resettlement Consulting company, Consultivo conducts different kinds of Baseline Socio Economic Surveys ( SES). It identifies & calculates the number of Project Affected Persons (PAP), the number of families, income, livelihood source & methods, literacy rate, demography, language, calculation of total assets, natural resources including flora & fauna, infrastructure, facilities, cultural aspects etc.

The baseline forms the key input for outlining the Resettlement & Rehabilitation plan (RP) for the Project Affected People (PAP) & Project Displaced Family (PDF).

They also serve as the basis and benchmarks for subsequent evaluation of the programmes.

Read more on Baseline Survey

Consultivo conducts independent monitoring of the Resettlement & Rehabilitation Plan (R&R Plan) by measuring & auditing the implementation of R & R activities against the plan. The monitoring process includes but not limited to the following:

• Verification of the entitlement matrix
• Payment of compensation
• Disbursement of entitlements as per the plan
• Assessment of relocation of PAP & PDF
• Allocation of housing
• Inspection of infrastructure & other facilities as per the plan
• Verification of Livelihood generation & employment activities
• Collection of information on Public Consultation & meetings
• Implementation of the Grievance Mechanism
• Verification of grievances & its redressal

Read more on Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E)