Client Feedback and Response Mechanism
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), San Diego, is committed to placing the people we serve – our clients – at the center of our response. We aim to be responsive to our client’s priorities, preferences, and feedback and to safeguard them against all forms of exploitation and abuse, whether by our staff or partners. With this in mind, IRC San Diego aims to strengthen the Client Feedback and Response Mechanism by establishing a centralized Client Feedback and Response Mechanism (CFRM) across all IRC San Diego programs.
- The purpose and utility of the Client Feedback and Response Mechanism:
Program relevance and quality: To strengthen the practice of listening to client’s feedback and acting on those feedback in a timely manner to IRC-supported supported programs and services, test the theory of change, and inform programmatic and operational decisions.
Accountability: To demonstrate accountability and respect by valuing the client’s input, maintaining open communication and trust, and taking responsibility for decisions and actions taken for the projects. Balance the power dynamic between the program team providing the services and the clients who are at the receiving end.
Protection and safeguarding: To identify any safeguarding issues (e.g., report of abuse, exploitation, corruption) -conducted by IRC staff or partners and respond in real-time to address those safeguarding misconduct in a timely manner to provide safe and dignified programming.
Types of reactive feedback channels:
In addition to the existing proactive client feedback channels, some reactive feedback channels revived and made available to the clients are (1) Help Desk, (2) Suggestion Box, (3) Client Feedback Kiosk, (4) Mail a letter, and (5) Email. A client can complete a client feedback survey form that has been created and translated into 12 IRC dominant languages ( e.g. Arabic, Dari, English, Farsi, Haitian Creole, Pashtu, Spanish, Swahili, Russian, Ukrainian, Urdu, and Vietnamese).
All received feedback will be confidentially filed and registered in the Feedback Registry database. In coordination with the Deputy Director of Programs, the MEAL Manager will review the client feedback data received through different channels weekly to ensure that all referrals and actions have been implemented to close the client feedback loop.
Monitoring, Evaluations, Accountability, and Learning
To measure progress towards achievement of the overall responsiveness objective, the IRC San Diego would use the following proposed Client Feedback and Client responsiveness indicators:
- # and % of feedback received from clients disaggregated by sex, age, language, feedback channels, and locations (Mean of verification: Client feedback form/Feedback registry)
- % of feedback cases which are responded to within the agreed timeframe (Mean of verification: Feedback registry)
- % of surveyed clients who are aware of existing client feedback mechanisms (Mean of verification: client satisfaction survey)
- % of surveyed clients stated that they had used a client feedback mechanism in the last six months (Mean of verification: client satisfaction survey)
- % of clients reporting satisfaction with IRC/ partner services (Mean of verification: client feedback survey)
- % of proposals where design is based on client priorities, preferences, and/or feedback (Mean of verification: OTIS)
The IRC, San Diego, will continuously seek to improve and learn from the Client Feedback and Response Mechanism. The IRC San Diego shall keep records of all formal client feedback for at least five years. A synthesis report or dashboard on the types of feedback received and the status of the responses shall be reported quarterly to the senior management team. The IRC will summarize the learnings from client feedback analysis and report through the quarterly SAP implementation plan updates.
Link to the Client Feedback Banner
Contact information: [email protected]
Link to the Client Feedback Survey Form
Link to the Standard Operating Procedure