Accountability, Feedback & Complaints Mechanisms in Humanitarian Responses to Migration

This guidance, developed by humanitarian consultant Clea Kahn, aims to give humanitarian actors a guidance for developing their accountability mechanisms in the context of mixed migration, with a focus on complaints and feedback mechanisms. Excellent guidance already exists on how to implement feedback and complaint mechanisms in humanitarian contexts, and this is not intended to replace or duplicate those. It should be read as a supplement, to provide additional reflection for humanitarian actors working in migration contexts.

Keeping in line with the core humanitarian standards of community participation and creating mechanisms for communities to feedback on humanitarian programming, Start Network members are expected to create channels for complaints and feedback of their humanitarian programming. However, in the context of mixed migration, many people receiving humanitarian assistance can be various stages of migrating, sometimes actively on the move. A recurring challenge for humanitarian actors is reaching migrants and refugees on the move who are typically irregular, invisible, diverse and dynamic.