A federally designated pass-through entity for refugee resettlement funding, Kentucky Office for Refugees – Catholic Charities of Louisville, recently started the Kentucky Refugee Voice Project. The project is a statewide survey of refugees, orchestrated to understand their level of satisfaction across various domains. The Catholic Charities of Louisville (CCOL) recruits bilingual enumerators to assist in building the survey tool, administering it, and providing feedback. Enumerators also work to design and facilitate focus groups in their first language. The CCOL then uses the results of the surveys and the focus groups to guide their funding decisions and program priorities in the future.

The Kentucky Refugee Voice Project was initially supposed to last a few months, but it is now in its second year. Due to the unexpected longevity of the Refugee Voice Project, it has been difficult to recruit and retain enumerators for different language groups and make meaningful data out of the representative sample size. This has caused a halt in future actions and a delay in closing the feedback loop. The LabStorm, consequently, focused on best practices for feedback success with special emphasis on retainment of enumerators through successful relationship building.

  • Closing the feedback loop. Attendees turned their focus on communication design and suggested communicating upfront as much as possible for setting expectations.
  • Mechanisms for feedback success. Setting boundaries was deemed imperative for ensuring a sustainable feedback practice. Being clear about what areas can and cannot be influenced by the feedback helps give a transparent perspective.
  • Building meaningful relationships. To encourage retention of enumerators, they could be given the option to take a break or a pause instead of leaving.

Read the full article about feedback through voice and action by Fariha Raisa at Feedback Labs.