COMMUNITY FACILITIES PROGRAM: USING A COMMUNITY CONTRACTING APPROACH

COMMUNITY MEMBERS ARE INVOLVED WITH PLANNING AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF ALL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES.

Dreaming for Change believes that lack of basic infrastructure limits development and contributes to poverty. The main goal of this program is to improve the living standards of poor rural communities by building community centers in order to expand the opportunities available to the rural community and improve their quality of life. For construction projects, Dreaming for Change contracts with the local community (with the support of skilled engineers) rather than outside, well-established contractors to undertake all the construction activities onsite where Dreaming for Change operates. This approach creates employment opportunities which lead to income generation for low-income community members (who work as masons and labourers) and local suppliers (doing procurement of bricks, sands, stones and gravel).

THE BENEFITS AND IMPACT OF THIS APPROACH

Improved community income

Both construction workers and local procurement suppliers, who obtained jobs and opportunity to supply materials, get paid by Dreaming for Change. This has a positive impact on stimulating economic activity and improving access to social services such as education and health. Some workers have been able to buy school suppliers for their children, feed their children and buy a seeds.

Skills training in action

Unskilled labourers have had a chance to work with the masons. Some of the labourers gained new skills in masonry and they ended up becoming real masons. Our approach builds local capacities, confidence and trust in the community. Dreaming for Change could bring skilled painters from town to come to teach rural youth how to paint a wall.

Community dialogue

Our construction projects employ between 40 and 78 local construction workers from different villages including women. Some of these people might have been riven by the effects of war. Besides the work they do, they also get the chance to sit together, learn from each other and participate in initiatives impacting on their own development.