Community Building — When People Take Over

Abstract

This paper is based mainly on the results of the Habitat International Council (HIC) NGO Project designed to enable Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) around the world to share their achievements and methods during the United Nations International Year of Shelter for the Homeless. Collectively, the cases demonstrate the ways and means by which the tasks common to all projects and programs can be carried out by people and local groups: self-organization, generating and obtaining credit, acquiring land and tenancy rights, participatory planning and design, the development and use of local materials and skills, the use of local enterprises and self-help for construction and for the management and maintenance of home and neighborhood improvements. They illustrate a greatly enlarged “tool box” of options for preparing projects in ways that suit the particular local situation or for training. They provide a global showcase for raising awareness of the quality and quantity of home and neighborhood building by NGOs and CBOs, and of how much more could be done with government support.