Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

households that went to live with relatives. The feasibility
of Colombia’s rental strategy will depend on the supply
of available houses (for rent). The shelter option may
work if it does not involve prolonged stays that create
other problems. The delay in implementing the resettlement
in Guatemala led families living in shelters to contemplate
returning to the high-risk area.
14. Community Participation
As in any social process, successful programs cannot
be designed and executed without active community
participation. This helps residents (a) become aware of
the type of impacts they may face in the resettlement
process, (b) analyze different resettlement options, (c)
manifest their expectations and (d) find solutions with
the team responsible for the process. Participation is the
path to free and informed consent and legitimizes the
decisions made.
In addition, participation make possible to reach agreements
on the nature and scope of programs, share responsibilities
for their implementation, and jointly
monitor and evaluate them. Such agreements may be
recorded in minutes or documents that help those involved
clarify their roles and responsibilities. For example,
in Argentina and Colombia, families signed agreements
to participate in the process and assumed their
responsibilities.
To enable the participation, the population must be informed
from the beginning about the studies and activities
to be conducted, the institutions involved and the
team responsible for the program. In each case studied,
the implementing agencies developed information and
communication strategies. In Argentina, teams from
the municipal units informed potential beneficiaries
about the program and guided them throughout the
process. In Brazil, opportunities for community participation
were created in the Resettlement Advisory
Council and the social management team held periodic
meetings with the communities to reach consensus on
major issues such as the criteria to adjudicate houses, the
parties’ rights and duties, and the resettlement schedule.
In Colombia, the community’s elected leaders participated
in the “Technical-Social Working Group,” offices
were established to assist the community in the Nueva
Esperanza zone, and social workers visited families periodically.
In Guatemala, community leaders, Tz´utujil
authorities and representatives of civil society organizations
all participated in the “Reconstruction Commission.”
The different mechanisms used illustrate the opportunities
that exist for informing the community and
promoting its participation in decision making.
The population must also be informed about the types
of hazards and risks to which they are exposed. The
cases studied illustrate how the type of hazard demands
different efforts to make people aware about the risk.
For example, where phenomena occur regularly (such
as floods), people were well aware of the problem and
its consequences. However, where the hazards were latent
(such as landslides in Bogotá), or families were not
affected by a particular event (such as Tropical Storm
Stan, in Guatemala) but were still at risk, a major effort
was needed to help people understand and acknowledge
the dangers. In these cases, the institutions made a great
effort to sensitize people. The risk assessment studies
were presented and discussed with those potentially affected,
field trips were conducted to observe problems
in situ, and awareness campaigns were launched to help
households understand their serious exposure to risk
and the need to be resettled.
Through information and dialogue, the possibilities
for participation are defined. For example, communities
participated in the census (Brazil); in monitoring
risk (Colombia); in finding solutions, such as procuring
land for resettlement (Guatemala) and searching for
housing on the market (Colombia); in designing houses
and new settlements (Guatemala); in building their own
houses (Argentina); and in performing specific activities
tailored to the particular characteristics of a project,
such as the community participating in archeological
conservation (Chuk Muk, in Guatemala), or helping restore
the environment in the Nueva Esperanza district
(Bogotá -Colombia).
Recognizing community organization and participation
patterns and structures, is not only a sign of respect but
also builds and strengthens solid relations and trust. A
key example occurred in Guatemala, where multi-cultural
management, in which - indigenous identity patterns,
forms of political organization that combined traditional
and contemporary leadership structures, and
Chapter 7 Comparative Analysis of the Case Studies
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