Things are still moving forward in 'Aulo' since I left there about a
month ago. I've had updates from Maria Ines that the roof is almost
on and that work is underway to build the sidewalks and latrines.
I've had reports that the community participation has lowered and that
the work is going slower because of this. The same thing happened
last year about two and a half months into the project and we had
taken steps this year to work to avoid this problem. We hired a
promotor to work intensely with the community to keep participation up
throughout the project. There have been meetings and Maria Ines has
been in close contact with the community. We are considering what to
do with the situation as well as how to improve our participation
model for the next project. One idea is to require a cash deposit
from the community that would cover the cost of hiring additional
workers if they do not fulfill their promise to provide labor. This
would be difficult for cash poor communities to provide, but on the
other hand, they would get the money back if they showed up to build
their school. The other side of the equation would be to offer
incentives for participation in the project. There are perhaps ways
to do both, but I'm more inclined to go for the cash deposit
alternative. The concept there being that if they have money in the
game their motivation would be higher than if they are simply
fulfilling a handshake promise to help out. The idea here is to truly
partner with the community and I'm realizing that the degree of
partnership has not been high enough in these two project so far. We
are learning, yes we are.
We are considering taking a break from the construction for about a
week or so, a kind of bluff to the community to let them know that
they shouldn't take this project for granted. We'll see if they
organize to continue. I do know that we will finish the project no
matter what eventually, but we have to keep searching for solutions to
keep the community involved simply because that is the most central
implementory aspect of entire project. I recognize this issue as
normal and common. This will always be a tendency with projects like
this. The energy is high at the beginning, but then when the project
goes on for three or four months, the enthusiasm wanes and what needs
to be established is the dedication on the part of the community to
labor on to finish. I am confident that we will improve our community
participation model to the point where we do maintain this
participation throughout the project.
Maria Ines called me on Tuesday to suggest that we should take a break
for the moment to let the community breathe and think for a little
while about whether or not they do in fact want to build a school. We
proposed a week, while letting them know that if they didn't
reorganize we wouldn't be back. It is a bluff I hope they don't call.
I have found grassroots projects like this to be a delicate thing to
keep on track in communities without developed power structures and a
loose social network. These communities are not ancient
civilizations, but rather are rural collections of farmers who have
moved pioneerlike into the furthest reaches of the jungle to find
cheaper land and new opportunities. In some cases, the communities
are less than 10 years old and the families there haven't developed
long reaching social ties. In last year's project, building the
school was the first community endeavor they had undertaken and the
difference in the organization from before and after was visible.
When we went back this year to add in the permanent water installation
it was much easier to organize a workforce around those individuals
who had already worked together the previous year.
I am anxious to see how these next few weeks turn out in Aulo. What
happens here will definitely affect how we manage our projects in the
future.
