Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

synergies created to overcome one of the major hurdles
in the resettlement—namely, land procurement—involved
the National Fund for Peace (FONAPAZ), the
Municipality of Santiago Atitlán, the National Valuation
Commission, international agencies and the communities.
In both Guatemala and Colombia, the process was
improved when families were included in the design of
social welfare programs that were part of national and local
public policies, such as the care of children, women
and the elderly, even prior to resettlement.
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Interdisciplinary teams
The multi-dimensional nature of resettlement also requires
that inter-disciplinary teams be formed to deal
with the various aspects. In all the cases, the teams were
organized within the entities responsible. In Brazil, professionals
from other institutions or firms were hired to
help manage the social impacts.
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Interinstitutional coordination
Such broad participation (agencies, local authorities and
communities) means the activities must be well coordinated.
Brazil’s “Resettlement Advisory Council,” Colombia’s
“Technical-Social Working Group” and Guatemala’s
“Santiago Atitlán Reconstruction Commission” are examples
of inter-institutional coordination strategies.
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Coordination among different governmental levels
Similarly, when various levels of government are involved,
their efforts must be closely coordinated. For
example, in Argentina, agreements were signed specifying
how responsibilities would be distributed among
central, provincial and municipal levels and the housing
institutes. The coordination produced significant results:
120 localities across 2,200 km in seven provinces
participated in the housing component of the flood
risk-reduction programs.
In Guatemala, resettlement is coordinated at the highest
planning, inter-agency and decision-making levels,
ensuring coherence, integrated management and the involvement
of all national, regional, and local authorities.
In large cities such as São Paulo and Bogotá, the different
levels of the administration within the cities coordinated
their efforts.
5. Resettlement Planning
The studies found that once the decision was made to resettle
a population, it was crucial to carry out a census
and socio-economic assessments, in order to plan the
activities required. A census establishes the number of
people in the target population and sets cut-off dates for
determining the program’s beneficiaries. For example, in
Bogotá, such dates helped authorities monitor the settlement
of new families in the at-risk areas, as well as the
sale of houses “including the right to resettlement” and
they did not have to deal with ever-increasing numbers.
In addition, socio-economic and cultural studies provide
useful information to ensure that the populations’
unique characteristics are considered in the housing design
and to plan the resettlement. Of the different cases
studied, the Guatemala case should be highlighted with
the study conducted by the University of San Carlos de
Guatemala on community practices and customs and
the participation of traditional authorities in designing
the houses and new settlements. In Argentina, the
analysis of cultural characteristics was reflected in the
types of houses built; also, the use of local materials was
promoted to reduce construction costs and facilitate
maintenance.
In São Paulo and Bogotá, the programs helped incorporate
families into the formal city; and the socio-economic
data helped authorities re-establish social services
and educate families about the obligations they would
incur in formal housing complexes.
6. Housing Solutions
The cases studied show there is no single recipe for resettling
a population; rather, a wide range of options exists,
such as hiring private firms to construct the new
houses (Brazil, Colombia and Guatemala), creating
partnerships with private construction companies or
with NGO housing organizations (Colombia), supporting
self-construction and reciprocal assistance (Argentina),
families exchanging houses (the so-called “chess
game” in Brazil), purchasing pre-existing houses on the
market with technical, legal and social services (Colombia),
and providing cash compensation to beneficiaries
(Brazil). Where several housing options are available,
110 Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster: Experiences from Latin America