Blog > Category Archives: Citizenship Participation

On July 8, 2015 we had the opportunity to present the methodological innovations developed in Haiti, at the 1st International Congress of Ibero-American Anthropology (AIBR) in Madrid. Throw the example of the Master Plan of Campêche project (Port au Prince, Haiti), made by the WE-SPORA group in 2013, we can share the main challenges we face in the study of urban planning, in the context of emergency and humanitarian crisis:

• Coordination of multiple stakeholders (government, international NGOs, organized citizens and citizenship unorganized) in the design, implementation and evaluation of the Urban Development Plan.
• Planning actions that respond to short-term needs (emergency) consistent to improve the quality of life in the long term (development).

To meet these challenges we employ innovative methodological tools in the field of urban planning in order to design efficient and realistic urban interventions:

• The development of participatory methodologies "ad hoc": Citizen Multi-Actoral Planning for Action. In this case, we create specific participatory platforms for a multi-stakeholders making decisions process, involving the main stakeholders at all levels: citizenship (including civil society organizations and unorganized citizenship); government institutions (including ministries, administrations and public enterprises) and international NGO and agencies involved in the same area. The articulation of the needs, objectives and priorities of each group of actors was essential to ensure coherence and effectiveness of interventions designed.
• The introduction of participatory budgeting as a tool for planning and prioritization of urban interventions. In this case, some lines of intervention on the long-term were designed and 10 strategic and immediate actions were prioritized, using criteria and indicators of quality of life for their prioritization. The involvement of the community in the definition of interventions and the prioritization of actions allowed the focus on long-term development beyond the basic needs of the emergency context.

These questions, challenges and reflections were presented in the panel "Sustainability of development policies in Haiti: local stakeholders, government and third sector" within the 1st International Congress of Ibero-American Anthropology (AIBR), held in Madrid from 7 and July 10, 2015. Here you can see the entire presentation (in Spanish):