One year on from the devastating earthquake of
January 2010, millions in Haiti are still struggling to
meet their most basic needs. With food and
water in short supply in the 1,300 temporary
camps, serious threats to women's safety widely
reported, and cholera having left its mark on an
already dire public health situation, architectural
solutions may seem low on the list of priorities.
But earthquakes in Chile and New Zealand in the
same year are two illustrations that it's not
earthquakes that kill people, it's buildings. Despite
both measuring higher on the Richter scale than
the Haitian quake, intelligent design and safer
construction minimised the death tolls in Chile
and New Zealand. Article 25, the UK's leading built
environment charity, promotes the idea that
when we build back in Haiti, we must build back
better. Architecture is, as our trustee Lord Foster
testifies, "a necessity and not a luxury".
Working with our partner Outreach International,
Article 25 is breaking ground on the repair and
reconstruction of dozens of schools, reinstating
education as a driver for overcoming the trauma
of the quake for hundreds of Haiti's children. On
the ground for almost a year, Article 25
immediately adopted a long term approach,
driven by the belief that without ensuring a sense
of permanence in the relief stage, Haitians would
remain trapped in a crippling state of
dependency. Article 25 sees permanence as
intrinsic to genuine recovery.
Our project in Pakistan that trained locals to build
seismic-resistant housing within 100 days is an
example of how disaster response does not have
to adhere to the typical model of sticks and
tarpaulin, buffeted by trickling aid agency
provision. Following Pakistan's 2005 earthquake,
Article 25 worked with communities to build
prototype homes using locally sourced materials,
designed to withstand future earthquakes.
Through effective on-the-job training in
construction techniques, locals are still building
Article 25 houses, years after the training was
completed. In this way, locals are transforming a
relief-stage solution into a permanent one.
This experience proves that community
participation is at the heart of sustainability in
reconstruction projects. By placing local
communities at the centre of the decision-making
process, Article 25 leaves a community
empowered and equipped with the necessary
skills to rebuild and maintain their own
environment. Article 25's work in Haiti over the
past year has included a strong emphasis on
community participation, using workshops to
diagnose a long list of needs and encourage the
community to prioritise those needs. These
workshops help parents, staff and children
become aware of the strengths and challenges of
their existing education infrastructure, and to
choose what is most important to them. Asking
the community to establish their own needs and
preferences means donor money makes the
biggest difference on the ground.
With Article 25 staff as facilitators, workshops
have included "problem trees", where
communities are encouraged to dig deeper and
recognise the root causes of problems. What has
emerged is that shelter for displaced people,
improved nutrition and health, more classrooms,
and subsidised school supplies are key collective
priorities. These issues are laid out in a "ranking
exercise" in which communities asked to vote for
the three issues they believed were of highest
significance. A lunch programme emerged as the
first priority for all participants, with internet
access a close second. In a country where just
11% of the population are reported to have
internet access, this is a clear sign from the next
generation that they want to be better connected.
While the developed world has argued over the
right solutions for Haiti over the past year,
Haitians have too often been left out of the debate.
Our workshop results show the people of Haiti
themselves are aware of a lifeline: internet access
could empower them with knowledge and and
make their views heard. The Observer's recent
suggestion box scheme is one that has facilitated
exactly that. Recognising that local communities
hold the knowledge of vernacular techniques
allows a design to develop which becomes more
powerful than a building. As a community
member commented following an Article 25
workshop: "Thank you for coming to our village:
you gave the community a voice."
Oxfam recently called the efforts of the
government and international community a
"quagmire of indecision and delay". Article 25
finds that only by harnessing local knowledge can
we cut through the "quagmire" and make
sustainable progress. By placing community
participation and capacity building at the crux of
reconstruction in Haiti, Article 25 ensures it is the
people of Haiti who are becoming the authors of
a safer, more sustainable future. It is critical that
this kind of work in Haiti continues long after the
journalists have gone home, and that we stay
with this programme as long as it takes to help
Haitians lift themselves out of paralysis and build
back better.
Source: Http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/12/haiti-reconstruction-architecture-participation-article25
January 2010, millions in Haiti are still struggling to
meet their most basic needs. With food and
water in short supply in the 1,300 temporary
camps, serious threats to women's safety widely
reported, and cholera having left its mark on an
already dire public health situation, architectural
solutions may seem low on the list of priorities.
But earthquakes in Chile and New Zealand in the
same year are two illustrations that it's not
earthquakes that kill people, it's buildings. Despite
both measuring higher on the Richter scale than
the Haitian quake, intelligent design and safer
construction minimised the death tolls in Chile
and New Zealand. Article 25, the UK's leading built
environment charity, promotes the idea that
when we build back in Haiti, we must build back
better. Architecture is, as our trustee Lord Foster
testifies, "a necessity and not a luxury".
Working with our partner Outreach International,
Article 25 is breaking ground on the repair and
reconstruction of dozens of schools, reinstating
education as a driver for overcoming the trauma
of the quake for hundreds of Haiti's children. On
the ground for almost a year, Article 25
immediately adopted a long term approach,
driven by the belief that without ensuring a sense
of permanence in the relief stage, Haitians would
remain trapped in a crippling state of
dependency. Article 25 sees permanence as
intrinsic to genuine recovery.
Our project in Pakistan that trained locals to build
seismic-resistant housing within 100 days is an
example of how disaster response does not have
to adhere to the typical model of sticks and
tarpaulin, buffeted by trickling aid agency
provision. Following Pakistan's 2005 earthquake,
Article 25 worked with communities to build
prototype homes using locally sourced materials,
designed to withstand future earthquakes.
Through effective on-the-job training in
construction techniques, locals are still building
Article 25 houses, years after the training was
completed. In this way, locals are transforming a
relief-stage solution into a permanent one.
This experience proves that community
participation is at the heart of sustainability in
reconstruction projects. By placing local
communities at the centre of the decision-making
process, Article 25 leaves a community
empowered and equipped with the necessary
skills to rebuild and maintain their own
environment. Article 25's work in Haiti over the
past year has included a strong emphasis on
community participation, using workshops to
diagnose a long list of needs and encourage the
community to prioritise those needs. These
workshops help parents, staff and children
become aware of the strengths and challenges of
their existing education infrastructure, and to
choose what is most important to them. Asking
the community to establish their own needs and
preferences means donor money makes the
biggest difference on the ground.
With Article 25 staff as facilitators, workshops
have included "problem trees", where
communities are encouraged to dig deeper and
recognise the root causes of problems. What has
emerged is that shelter for displaced people,
improved nutrition and health, more classrooms,
and subsidised school supplies are key collective
priorities. These issues are laid out in a "ranking
exercise" in which communities asked to vote for
the three issues they believed were of highest
significance. A lunch programme emerged as the
first priority for all participants, with internet
access a close second. In a country where just
11% of the population are reported to have
internet access, this is a clear sign from the next
generation that they want to be better connected.
While the developed world has argued over the
right solutions for Haiti over the past year,
Haitians have too often been left out of the debate.
Our workshop results show the people of Haiti
themselves are aware of a lifeline: internet access
could empower them with knowledge and and
make their views heard. The Observer's recent
suggestion box scheme is one that has facilitated
exactly that. Recognising that local communities
hold the knowledge of vernacular techniques
allows a design to develop which becomes more
powerful than a building. As a community
member commented following an Article 25
workshop: "Thank you for coming to our village:
you gave the community a voice."
Oxfam recently called the efforts of the
government and international community a
"quagmire of indecision and delay". Article 25
finds that only by harnessing local knowledge can
we cut through the "quagmire" and make
sustainable progress. By placing community
participation and capacity building at the crux of
reconstruction in Haiti, Article 25 ensures it is the
people of Haiti who are becoming the authors of
a safer, more sustainable future. It is critical that
this kind of work in Haiti continues long after the
journalists have gone home, and that we stay
with this programme as long as it takes to help
Haitians lift themselves out of paralysis and build
back better.
Source: Http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jan/12/haiti-reconstruction-architecture-participation-article25
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