How to set up a complaints and feedback mechanism that works

What is a complaints and feedback mechanism?

A complaints and feedback mechanism, sometimes called a CFM or a feedback, complaints and response mechanism, is a safe way for people to raise concerns about your work and a process to deal with them. CHS Alliance guidance describes two parts: the means by which people can complain, and the procedures inside the organisation that follow each case through.

This matters for quality and for trust. People affected by crisis have a right to complain, and your organisation has a duty to respond. The Core Humanitarian Standard says communities should have access to safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints. CHS Alliance has noted that this commitment, number 5, has on average been the lowest-scoring one in CHS verification since the standard was created. Many organisations have channels but do not follow through.

What does an effective mechanism look like?

CHS Alliance guidance lists the main qualities of an effective complaints mechanism:

• Known: people know it exists, how to use it and what to expect.
• Accessible: all groups can use it, in every place you work, in their language.
• Safe and confidential: people are protected from retaliation, and their identity is shared only with the few people who must know.
• Timely: you acknowledge and respond within a stated time.
• Learning-focused: you analyse the cases and change your work.

How do you set one up? A ten-step process

The steps below follow CHS Alliance guidance, which adapted them from Save the Children.

1. Get organisational commitment. Without management support, you cannot act on what you hear. Agree who owns the system and set aside time and budget.
2. Consult the community. Ask which channels people trust and can use. Offer more than one. Include women, older people, children where appropriate, and people with disabilities.
3. Design the process and assign roles. Decide who receives, who logs, who decides and who responds. If you work through partners, agree whose mechanism applies and how feedback about a partner is handled.
4. Set up the channels and train staff. Channels can include hotlines, SMS, help desks at distributions, community meetings, focal points and open-door days.
5. Tell the community. Explain what they can complain about, how, and what will happen next. Repeat this message at every distribution and meeting.
6. Receive and record every case in a logbook or database, with a case number, date, channel, type of issue and the sex and age group of the person, if they agree to share it.
7. Acknowledge the case, verbally or in writing, within a set time.
8. Resolve it. Minor issues, such as a missed item, can be fixed on the spot. Serious misconduct needs senior management and your policy.
9. Respond to the person. Explain what was done. If confidentiality means you cannot share details, say so.
10. Record the response and share the learning. Analyse trends and report them to the team and the community.

How should you classify cases?

Sort cases when they arrive so each one goes to the right person. A simple three-level scheme works for small teams:

Set your own target times and write them in your policy. The important thing is that people hear back, and that serious cases skip the normal queue. Our guide to accountability to affected populations explains the wider system, and the PSEA policy guide covers abuse cases.

What is different in Myanmar?

Context shapes which channels people will use. Some points to check with the community:

• Connectivity and phones. Hotlines and messaging apps help when networks work. Add offline options, such as focal points and help desks.
• Trust and fear. In places where people worry about who is listening, anonymous options, such as a locked box checked by a trusted person, may be safer. Ask what feels safe.
• Language. Staff should be able to receive complaints in the language people speak.
• Remote management. If staff cannot visit, train community focal points or local partners and set up a call-back process.
• Data protection. Store complaint logs securely and keep names out of shared reports.

How do you use the data?

A mechanism that only receives complaints is half finished. Once a month, count the cases by type, location, group and time to resolve. Look for patterns: the same issue at one site, repeated complaints about a delay, or no complaints from women. A very low number of complaints is not always good news; it can mean people do not trust the system or do not know it exists. Check awareness through post-distribution monitoring by asking whether people know how to complain.

Share a short "you said, we did" note with the community. It shows that the system works and encourages more feedback.

How EMPO can help

EMPO is a trusted Yangon-based training and consultancy provider and one of Myanmar's leading names in practical training for NGOs and CSOs, with 1,200+ people trained and 15 partner organisations. Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) and MEAL are among our training topics, delivered online or in person across Myanmar, in English and Burmese. See our training services or contact us to plan a session.

Sources

• Effective complaints mechanisms: setting up systems and responding appropriately — CHS Alliance
• Meeting CHS Commitment 5: five best-practice tips when responding to complaints — CHS Alliance, 2023