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Handling Complaint Efficiently – Lessons Learned from the Earthquake and Tsunami Emergency Support Project in Indonesia

Opening Remarks
Pieter Smidt
Head, Extended Mission in Sumatera (EMS)
Asian Development Bank

5 November 2008
Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Mr. May, colleagues, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

The Country Director of ADB planned to be with us here today but unfortunately he had to cancel his visit to Banda Aceh. He therefore asked me to represent him and make the opening remarks.

On behalf of the Asian Development Bank, and in particular the Office of the Special Project Facilitator, I am pleased to welcome you to today’s workshop: “Handling Complaints Efficiently – Lessons Learned from the Earthquake and Tsunami Support Project in Indonesia.”

Today, we have a very committed group of institutions and individuals who have been participating in the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts in Aceh-Nias following the devastating tsunami and earthquakes in December 2004 and March 2005 respectively, including :

• NGOs who are directly supporting ETESP
• more broadly engaged in Aceh and Nias
• partner NGOs
• associated development partners

More specifically, I understand that today’s representation of direct ETESP partners ranges from “Bina Swadaya - which was engaged to provide community empowerment and organizing activities for the agriculture, fisheries and irrigation programs - to Muslim Aid, German Agro Action and UN-Habitat, which as partners are implementing part of ETESP’s off-budget housing program. I also, understand that Transparency International, which has worked on setting up kecamatan-based grievance committees in 6 Districts in Aceh, is also sharing its experiences today.

In keeping with the theme of today’s workshop, we are pleased that NGOs and partner agencies who have introduced complaint mechanisms as part of their Aceh-Nias operations, have joined us today to share their valued experiences. We look forward to this engaging dialogue.

ADB is convinced that efficient complaint handling is an important part of project work. We believe that listening to beneficiaries’ grievances provides us information on the quality and adequacy of the services the project is designed to deliver, and ultimately on the quality of project implementation. Complaints provide valuable feedback and help projects to achieve their objectives. They also alert us to problems early on.

An example is a case in one of the ETESP housing subprojects in Aceh Besar where beneficiaries reported to the assigned Community Facilitator the damaged roofing of some housing units in their area. Upon verification of the complaint, the subproject team also noted some deficiencies in the roofing construction. The subproject team then worked with the Satker and sought assistance from EMS and the BRR Deputy for Housing to make available additional budget for the repair and reinforcement works. As a result, the necessary repair works have been completed to the satisfaction of the beneficiaries.

More and more NGOs nowadays also promote complaint mechanisms as part of quality control in their work. For example, the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) is a global quality assurance scheme for humanitarian agencies which was established in 2003. HAP is committed to meeting the highest standards of accountability, and it promotes addressing complaints as one of its principles of accountability. Some of the NGOs present here today are members of HAP.

During this workshop, BRR will provide you with the latest information on the Exit Strategy and Aceh Governance Transition Program. This will help you to identify opportunities for becoming involved in grievance handling under Government of Aceh-financed projects or programs in the future.

In conclusion, I am sure that through your active participation today you will have fruitful discussions that you can draw upon in your current assignments but also that will further encourage you and your organizations to institutionalize complaint mechanisms in your future operations.

Terima Kasih