complaint handling procedures in these projects and programs were designed as general reviews of transactions with end users. For instance, the Kyrgyz Republic Health and Social Protection Project focuses on serious allegations on the part of auditors, and public complaints regarding the imposition of informal fees, rather than on the variety of complaints end users might have. A concern regarding complaints handling procedures that focus primarily on donor-financed operations, to the exclusion of more general complaints, is that they may weaken the complaints handling capacity of the government more generally, either by drawing staff and talent away, or undermining client confidence in the government‘s processes.

A noteworthy grievance redress procedure is that incorporated into the newly expanded Philippines‘ Conditional Cash Transfer Program, whose focus is grievances expressed regarding the broader government program, rather than within a Bank-supported project per se. Grievances are entered into a publicly accessible database that tracks the nature, origin, location, and status of complaints, including targeting errors, payment irregularities, fraud, and corruption. The database takes in complaints from text, various websites, and a hotline. In the first quarter of 2010, some 13,500 complaints were received. A survey of one region found that 13% of the population had complaints about the program.<sup>25</sup> This is not surprising given the rapid expansion of the program, which went from 376,000 households in 2008 and expanded further at the beginning of 2009 to cover one million households beneficiaries , or approximately 20 percent of the poor. The complaints system provides an important information source for course corrections as the program expands.

As the section on design principles, above, indicated, redress procedures within line agencies should address issues concerning confidentiality, transparency of the redress process, accessibility, speed and responsiveness, and authority. The publication of regular reports on the number and nature of appeals is a useful way to monitor the transparency of the redress process. For instance, Manitoba‘s Family Services and Consumer Affairs department, for example, puts out Annual Reports on the Social Services Appeal Board, which includes information such as Board Membership, Financial Information, Appeal Activity, Requests for Reconsideration, and Summary of Advisory Activities. For the 2008-2009 fiscal year, there were 540 appeals, with the vast majority of them in the area of income assistance.<sup>26</sup> Most of the appeals were also made on the basis of insufficient assistance.<sup>27</sup> The publications also provide detailed information on the number of requests for reconsideration, including their disposition and the program breakdown.

The last concern mentioned above, authority, refers to the kinds of redress available in line ministry redress procedures. Generally speaking, it will probably most effective – both for engendering client confidence and for efficiency of resolution – to delegate as much authority to the officials that staff line agency redress procedures as is consistent with public law, and as

> 25 World Bank, Manila Office, Human and Development and Governance Units. Philippines: Strengthening the Governance Dimension of the Philippines‘ Conditional Cash Transfer Program, December 2010. 26 Annual Report 2008-09, 12.

> 27 15.

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