Housing & community organization, Santa Bárbara
22 housing units were built in this settlement located in the mountains that surround Cochabamba. Nearly half of the beneficiaries are women headed households. Very small houses were extended with an additional room and makeshift materials replaced with the help of these poor families, who provided labour, tools and water to build (a very costly element in this dry area) . It is a group project where all families work together to buy the building materials, distribute them, organize the working teams and labour to complete their houses. All slum dwellers selected a group of families as a pilot experience that will later be extended to the whole settlement. The organization now appreciates the results of community work and efforts that all families invested in this pilot project that was finished in 8 months. Scarcity of resources was compensated with enthusiasm and the firm decission of all inhabitants to initiate the development of their slum. Contact: J. Grover Quiroga Ch proyectos@uramanta.org
