NGOs should readily and rapidly receive stakeholders’ views on their work, impact and behaviour. They should provide adequate response to the complaints received, including information on actions to redress an unsatisfactory situation.

Complaints mechanisms should be in place to enable communities to provide feedback. It’s important to consider issues of accessibility and the differing abilities of various groups to engage with such mechanisms. Communities need to be clear on the purpose and how to use complaint mechanisms, and to understand what kind of response they can expect to to their queries.

Participatory tools for complaints and resolution include:

• Suggestion box – to enable people to share concerns, complain about injustices and make suggestions anonymously.
• Community scorecard - to enable people to assess and feed back on government or NGO programmes, services or facilities.

References

• ActionAid Accountability Charter, ActionAid International, 2013.
• Emergency Preparedness and Response Handbook, ActionAid, Nov 2014, Ref. 7.1.3