Case Study - Community feedback and complaints system for improved service delivery

Client

Danish Refugee Council (DRC) is Denmark's largest NGO and a global leader in responding to forced displacement. Working across 40 countries, including Turkey, DRC supports refugees and displacement-affected communities through protection, advocacy, and sustainable development.

Opportunity

DRC's Turkey team was handling feedback and complaints from the communities they serve through manual processes. Cases came in via multiple channels, got logged in spreadsheets, and were routed informally. That made it hard to track whether a complaint had been resolved, how long it took, or whether patterns were emerging across programming sectors. They needed a digital system that could capture feedback consistently, route it to the right person, and give managers visibility into what was happening across the response.

Approach

We worked side by side with the DRC team to design a system that fit how they actually operate. We followed the same iterative approach we use across engagements: start with the people doing the work, build something functional quickly, and refine based on real use. We started with their people: who receives feedback, who acts on it, and what each role needs to do their job well. From there we built digital forms to capture and log feedback, and role-based access so cases could be triaged, escalated, and resolved by the right person at the right time.

We then designed a clear workflow that follows each case from submission to closure, with built-in prompts for follow-up so nothing falls through the cracks. To turn that activity into insight, we connected the system to business intelligence tools for real-time dashboards. Finally, we trained the team and stayed on to support them, so the system would remain theirs to run and adapt long after launch.

Outcome

The project delivered:

• Clear user requirements and mapped user journeys
• A fully configurable feedback and complaints system tailored to DRC's way of working
• Hands-on training and ongoing support so DRC staff could own and extend the system

The result is a single, reliable place for feedback that helps DRC respond consistently and close the loop with the communities they serve. The requirements-driven approach we used here mirrors the M&E system requirements work we did for Habitat for Humanity, where understanding how staff actually work with data shaped everything that followed.

Technologies used

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At Hikaya, we help NGOs and nonprofits worldwide build accountability systems that communities can rely on, designed around the people who give and act on feedback rather than the technology underneath.

If your feedback process lives in spreadsheets and inboxes, or you're not sure where complaints go once they're logged, a clear view of your current workflow is the right place to begin. Start a conversation with us, or see how we partner with organizations like yours.