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FROM THE FIELD

Complaints boxes help Georgia’s displaced voice concerns
09 Nov 2009 03:43:44 GMT
 Source: World Vision Middle East/Eastern Europe/ Central Asia office
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A World Vision Georgia team member installs a complaint box on the side of a newly built Social Community Centre so that the box is more central and visible in the Karaleti IDP settlement. Photo by Dwayne Mamo.
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A World Vision Georgia team member installs a complaint box on the side of a newly built Social Community Centre so that the box is more central and visible in the Karaleti IDP settlement. Photo by Dwayne Mamo.
World Vision MEERO, http://meero.worldvision.org

Background

•  Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia

•  Children

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Most service providers are loathe to receive complaints from customers, but World Vision staff in Georgia are asking displaced persons in various settlements to communicate their needs and problems in 'complaints boxes' so that World Vision can better help meet their needs.

Nearly 20,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are living in 37 settlements in Georgia following last year's conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and many continue to face myriad problems, including unemployment, lack of opportunity, lack of community, and the reality of living a new life in a new place, away from their homes and normal routines.

Many completely subsist on the food aid that World Vision Georgia delivers and the meager monthly subsidy the government gives each family (24 GEL, a little over US$14). Some who have elderly persons in their family also receive the equally meager pension payment.

In February, World Vision piloted an accountability project in four settlements and set up 10 complaints boxes for residents to communicate their needs and problems. It was through this project that the organisation discovered a need for diapers (nappies) and was able to find the resources to address that particular need.

Natia Odishvili lives in the Karaleti settlement and takes care of her family of five, which includes three children, the youngest of which is two months old. No one works in her family. In August, she received one package of disposable diapers, a 1-month supply, for her youngest child. She was able to stretch the diapers to extend past the month, but now it's November.

'Our government allowance isn't high enough to buy diapers,' she said. 'During the day it's OK for children to go without diapers, but at night they need them. When I nearly reached the end of the supply of diapers, I had to start washing them and reusing them by putting strips of cloth inside to absorb. And twice a night I would have to wake up to change the cloth.'

World Vision distributed packages of diapers to all the mothers of infants and toddlers in two neighbouring settlements, Karaleti and Tsminda Tsqali, as a response to several complaints from IDPs that they did not have diapers for their infants, or the financial resources to buy their own. In all, 68 packages were distributed.

Natia vaguely recalls learning about the complaints boxes months ago and is still unclear about the process; she has never used the boxes, but knows some people who have. She was not aware that the diaper distribution a few months ago came as a result of others submitting complaints.

'The concept of accountability is a very foreign idea to Georgians, especially those who live in villages. And the method of writing complaints on paper and putting them in boxes is also strange. This is also the first time World Vision Georgia has done anything like this; but we have a short and quick learning curve,' Teona Kupunia, World Vision's accountability focal point person, said. 'We continually adapt our methods and increase the awareness of these accountability processes so that we can continue to involve more and more people in the work that we do on their behalf.'

World Vision plans to expand this project into other settlements and with that change some of its processes to better serve IDPs.

Boxes are now being placed at the Social Community Centres established by World Vision in nine of the IDP settlements, as well as on electricity poles with clear, visible, and prominent markings. More intensive door-to-door campaigns, as well as community meetings, will take place with all residents to carefully explain the purpose of these boxes and how they work. Additionally, rather than simply relying on written complaints in boxes, World Vision will also hold focus group discussions in the settlements to record the residents' complaints and comments. Informational brochures explaining these new methods will also be distributed to IDPs and staff will continue to be trained in accountability to help explain the procedures and respond to IDPs and their concerns.

'It's a continual learning process, but in the end the purpose remains the same – to help those in need by addressing their concerns,' Kupunia said, 'and it's clear that though we've been doing a good job in our pilot project, we can certainly improve what we do and how we do it as we expand this important process.'

While talking to Natia about her life now and clarifying the idea behind these boxes, she disclosed some other concerns she had about the situation that her family and the 480 others around her face. Her list of needs includes more diapers, a varied diet with complimentary food to the basic ration, and hygiene products. Apart from those immediate needs, she also stresses a need for employment and skills development.

Her concerns are the same as those who have shared their comments with World Vision via the boxes. To date, World Vision has received 40 complaints, one of which served as a community complaint with 79 signatures.

-Ends-


[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

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[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]

Background information

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Georgia, Abkhazia, S. Ossetia - [Who works where]

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