Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM): Design, Prevention Practices, and Effectiveness As Measured Through Public Evaluation in San Jose Municipal Development Projects

Abstract

Development projects such as infrastructure developments are carried out by different government agencies down to the lowest level of local government to enhance the quality of basic services delivered to the public. However, such projects do not always engender positive changes in the lives of all the people intended to benefit from them. In order to respond to complaints and disputes due to these circumstances, people should be provided with access to mechanism, especially in addressing their grievances and dissatisfaction. Hence, this study was undertaken to identify the grievance redress mechanism design, grievance prevention practices, and effectiveness of GRM employed by the municipal government of San Jose as far as development projects are concerned. The quantitative method (descriptive-correlation) of research was used in this study using self-constructed questionnaires with a respondent of 65 business establishment owners and people residing in areas with on-going and recently finished municipal development projects. Pearson correlation analysis was used in order to determine the relationship between the grievance redress mechanisms design and prevention practices to its effectiveness through public evaluation. The following findings were derived: The GRM design employed by the municipal government of San Jose is “high” as well as in terms of resolution approaches and handling complaints which implies that the GRM design employs various resolution approaches and handles complaints in many ways. The grievance prevention practices are “high” as well as in terms of communication and information to communities and the conduct of community consultations which implies that the GRM employed paved the way to at least prevent some issues and concerns to become disputes and/or complaints. The overall effectiveness of the GRM is “high” which implies that the GRM is highly effective and delivered its purpose to resolve issues and concerns regarding municipal development projects with accessibility, transparency, fairness, and predictability. Lastly, there is a significant relationship between the grievance prevention practices and its effectiveness which means that as grievance prevention practices are employed more during the project implementation, grievance redress mechanisms’ effectiveness increases.