Voltalia is committed to maintaining open, transparent, and respectful communication with all people and organizations affected by or interested in the Project.
The purpose of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) is to explain how Voltalia will share the information, listen to feedback, and engage with stakeholders throughout the life of the Project. The SEP follows Albanian legal requirements and aligns with international good practice, including standards of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Effective stakeholder engagement helps ensure that:
- Communities and other stakeholders receive clear and timely information about the Project.
- Stakeholders have opportunities to ask questions, raise concerns, and provide feedback.
- Potential environmental and social impacts are identified and addressed.
- Trust and positive relationships are bult and maintained throughout the Project.
- Expectations regarding Project activities and benefits are managed in a transparent and realistic manner.
Stakeholders include:
- Local communities and residents.
- Landowners and land users.
- Local authorities and government institutions.
- Business and service providers.
- Community organizations and other interested groups.
- Any individuals or organizations that may be affected or have any interest in the Project.
Voltalia will use a range of communication and engagement methods, including:
- Public meetings and consultations.
- Meetings with local authorities and community representatives.
- Information disclosure through reports, notices, and the Project website.
- Direct communication with affected people when necessary.
- A grievance mechanism that allows stakeholders to submit questions, concerns, or complaints.
- Voltalia encourages all interested stakeholders to participate in the engagement process and share their views. Community feedback is an important part of ensuring the Project is developed and operated responsibly and transparently.
Stakeholder Engagement Report
This Stakeholder Engagement Report (SER) presents a summary of the Stakeholder Engagement Process for the Project. The SER will be updated periodically according to the engagements planed in the SEP to ensure all communication with stakeholders is logged and tracked. Thus, this SER will continue to summarise engagement and outcomes of the engagement that will be undertaken during construction and operation phases.
Public information calendar
Public meetings are held all along the project life to present project information to a large audience of stakeholders, and in particular communities. Those meetings allow the group of stakeholders to provide their comments and opinions and to raise questions to the developer so he can answer and build truthful relationships with neighboring communities.
December 2020 – February 2021:
Meetings with communities to collect social data – 363.
30 March 2021:
Public Hearing, in the village of Ndërnenas, Libofshë, Fier.
October – December 2021:
Engagement with communities impacted by Karavasta Transmission Line to Fier substation – 200 households & 650 parcels surveyed.
March 2022 – April 2022:
Disclosure and presentation of the Guideline to Land Acquisition Compensation to the Project Affected Households.
Grievance Mechanism Voltalia
The aim of the Grievance Mechanism procedure is to receive grievances and ensure adequate response to all complaints and appeals by stakeholders including local population affected by the Project. The Company will manage and handle complaints and grievances. They will receive, register, communicate with the competent department and supervise responses on complaints and requests of the interested parties. Voltalia has established a grievance mechanism to be aware of and respond to stakeholders’ concerns and to facilitate a resolution for stakeholders’ grievances.
The grievance mechanism will address concerns promptly and effectively, using an understandable and transparent process that is culturally appropriate and readily accessible to all segments of the affected parties, at no cost and without retribution. The mechanism includes an independent, objective appeal mechanism, which will not impede access to judicial or administrative remedies.
The process requires the following steps:
- Identification;
- Registration and categorization;
- Acknowledgement;
- Investigation/response;
- Communication of the response and request for stakeholder’s feedback;
- Close-out.
In order to ensure that the grievance mechanism is inclusive and culturally appropriate stakeholders have several methods of communication available to them to report a grievance.
These stands for:
- Verbally: Verbal grievances are directed to an expert and/or company representative, who will fill out grievance form with all required details and pass it over to the Grievance Manager;
- In writing: Stakeholders can submit by completing a grievance form which is available at the project website, and upload it back after completing, or more conveniently, they can be submitting their concern by email at karavasta@voltalia.com
- Phone number: 0684027034
In this way it is important to ensure that these grievances are accepted, investigated and in a short time to be resolved and able to resolve all the open grievances to the community.
Grievance Form
Please CLICK HERE to file a grievance, and don’t hesitate to leave your contact details to be called back by our team.
