But first, why bother with gathering feedback during emergencies?
Humanitarian organizations and volunteer groups should understand that aid work is crucial to people’s dignified survival. Without proper consultation, we might think that we are doing the right things but actually doing more harm – from donating used underwear to unsystematically airdropping relief items to affected communities. It is therefore important that, even during crisis, aid agencies and individuals strive to enhance the quality of their life-saving efforts and that they strengthen their accountability towards those who they seek to help.
Feedbacks are considered to be contributory to “real-time” evaluation as people are able to influence approaches and strategies while the program is being implemented. Specifically, feedback mechanisms are established to:
- Gauge and improve quality and effectiveness of response efforts,
- Strengthen accountability of aid groups and its partners,
- Encourage meaningful participation from the affected men and women, and boys and girls, and
- Establish stronger relationships with the communities we are working with.
Gathering feedback, therefore, is empowering and should not be considered as just an icing on the cake. It is as important as delivering goods and services to the affected populations.
There are various methods and communication mediums to gather and respond to feedback from partners and stakeholders. In accordance to Sphere (Core Standard 1: People-Centred Humanitarian Response and Core Standard 2: Performance, Transparency, and Learning) and Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP; “Participation” and “Handling complaints” benchmarks) standards, we must ensure that the program participants, who usually belong to marginalized and minority groups, have the opportunity to have their voices heard.
Below are seven examples of feedback mechanisms in an emergency response (the pictures are taken by me and my colleagues in Plan International in various emergency responses in the Philippines. The credits for the photos go to Plan.):
1. Regular community visits – The approach of working closely with the people provides opportunity for the communities to regularly give feedback to the organization’s activities. Aid agencies should work with existing social structures to exact accountability to state actors and strengthen community groups. We should recognize that establishing good relations is key in getting meaningful feedback.
2. Barangay Feedback Committees – As development workers, we believe that humanitarian agencies should not compromise the people’s capacity to help themselves. We support self-help initiatives by helping the affected communities organize barangay feedback committees that will manage feedbacks and provide responses. The committees may be composed of recognized village leaders, sectoral representatives, health workers, program recipients, and other stakeholders as the community may deem necessary.
3. Helpdesks – Helpdesks, complaints desks, or feedback desks should be set-up during distributions and orientations as a regular practice. These provide the affected populations the opportunity to clarify project details that may be unclear to them and immediately address issues specific to the distribution (e.g. poor quality of items, missing items, unclear beneficiary selection criteria, etc.).
4. Suggestion boxes – Feedback desks may have suggestion boxes where people are able to voice out suggestions and comments regarding how your organization conducts orientations, distributions, and even community work.
5. Feedback Surveys – A survey form may ensure that affected populations are involved in improving distribution processes. Disaster-affected children and families may be asked if they have received the right amount of goods, if they feel safe and secure, and if they found difficulty in accessing the distribution sites, among others.
6. SMS and Feedback E-mail Address – We should assume that some of the people in the communities may actually be too afraid or hesitant to approach NGOs in public or the established barangay feedback committees. Since mobile phones and the internet are effective in conveying messages and other information, these may be included in your feedback mechanisms.
7. Project-end Participatory Evaluations – Adapted from the regular exercise of Plan International in its regular program units, participatory assessments check the relevance and effectiveness of the programs against the objectives. A series of community-based reviews may be conducted in partner villages and may be validated and analyzed at the municipal/city and provincial-level. Community and local government partners, including the disaster-affected men, women, boys, and girls assess the programs, identify achievements and failures, and present necessary improvements or adaptations. We understand that community members know what systems are effective for their context.
Featured image may be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152095233491584&set=pb.305413276583.-2207520000.1389319943.&type=3&theater.
RED TORPEDO 
