Community Makes Decisions on Sanitation Projects: An Experience in a Low-Income Settlement of Cali, Colombia
Valencia, Anibal et al. (1998)
Cinara, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
An appropriate implementation process rather than technology is the most important component of sustainable WSS projects and enables new community leaders to emerge, especially women. This is the finding of a project promoted by Cinara, a research and development institute of the Universidad del Valle, Colombia. The project focused on sanitation in Altos de Menga, a low-income settlement in Cali city, and was based on the "knowledge dialogue model" for technology transfer.
Rather than using the traditional project cycle, the Sustainability Programme for WSS Systems in Colombia emphasized a stronger partnership between communities and local government institutions which involved community organization forms, participation mechanisms along the different project phases and technology features. A major factor in development projects is the capacity of the community-based organizations. Since the illegal condition of the settlement Altos de Menga did not allow Institutions to undertake further action, the city water company asked the community to organize four committees to be direct spokesmen to the Institutions and to take responsibility for internal conflict solving. 70% of the members of these locally elected committees were women, which strengthened their role as community leaders because these organizations were trained to develop the project.
Conventional technologies advocated by traditional engineers are not always feasible for low-income settlements on the outskirts of big cities. Despite flooding or land sliding, these communities solve their problems of water supply and sanitation and have valuable technical knowledge built on every day problem solving situations. In Altos de Menga, a two year process putting traditional engineers and community knowledge together began with participatory planning for the solutions of the wastewater collection and conveyance problem. The next stage, technology selection, resulted in the choice of simplified sewerage due to rocky soils and the steep land slope. Several design workshops developed community understanding of the simplified sewerage technology and involved community members in layout design due to their knowledge of soil problems and risky areas for construction. Since both the community and engineers from the water company defined together the design guidelines, the community had a key role during construction as they thoroughly controlled the building process which guaranteed quality and stability. At present, the community is responsible for operation and maintenance of the condominial sewerage network. Institutions have seen that technical solutions are not only a matter of engineering but also a matter of dialogue, ideas exchange and respect for people's knowledge. Community members have gained confidence on technical issues through this participatory approach established right from the beginning of the project.
