Unit 5: Improving accountability in safeguarding
5.4 Community-based complaints mechanism
Complaint handling is essential for safeguarding and is a key area of beneficiary accountability.
An organisation might have a detailed and comprehensive complaints policy and process, but unless it is readily accessible to affected people it is not fit for purpose. There is a need to build bottom-up participation in the design of accountability processes that are culturally, age and gender appropriate if SEAH reporting is to increase.
Community members need an accessible mechanism to raise concerns when they occur or are suspected. A community-based complaints mechanism (CBCM) is an approach that is grounded in community input. This means that it is culturally and gender sensitive, and contextually appropriate. It has a number of roles as shown in the diagram below.
Whilst CBCMs are primarily about good programme management and not specific to SEAH, an increase in SEAH reporting could be a powerful way to gauge the success of a CBCM. We know that SEAH is happening, and an increase in SEAH reporting would mean that the CBCM is accessible and working for the most vulnerable and at risk.
Similarly, a lack of SEAH reporting doesn’t mean that there is no SEAH happening. It could mean that the mechanism currently in place isn’t sufficiently accessible and/or sufficiently rooted in the community and/or trusted by the community with the fear of reporting still high.
A CBCM is preferable to individual organisations having their own complaints procedures. Whilst the latter approach provides accountability for the organisation, it is likely to be confusing to affected people who may have contact with many organisations, each with their own complaints mechanism. This could seriously undermine SEAH reporting.
Collaboration between participating agencies, including the host government, to build a CBCM that is particularly sensitive to safeguarding reporting is best practice and establishes clarity and support for making complaints.
If you are interested in reading more about Community-based complaints mechanisms, read the following document:
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Activity 5.8 Case study – creating a CBCM Read the following case study which explores the creation of a community-based complaints mechanism (CBCM). Note in your learning journal what next steps you would take within the confines of confidentiality and procedural fairness. Your organisation meets with different representatives of the local community to discuss how to establish a CBCM. The feedback and complaints mechanisms were kept as simple as possible and produced through several consultations. They established many different channels for reporting, including a confidential email address, short messaging service (SMS), and a suggestion box for those unfamiliar with online technology. Once a feedback or complaints report is made, it is triaged (reviewed and prioritised) and action by the organisation is initiated by the safeguarding committee. You are the safeguarding focal person for your organisation and have received two safeguarding reports over the past month regarding the misconduct of your staff. The safeguarding committee is still discussing next steps. However, you are experiencing a lot of pressure from various stakeholders to disclose information. The Subjects of Complaint (the persons who have been complained about) want to know who made the complaint. Survivors and their families want to know what has been done about the reports and have various ideas on how to ‘punish’ the staff members being complained about. The government partners hear about it and want the complainant to come forward to make a police report. The donors have been informed and want to get more involved with the investigation. |
