Catalyzing the Housing Movement

The realisation that the housing delivery especially in rural sector is a continuous process and quite different from the product delivery concepts, gives rise to many new ideas and activities. Convincing the village people about the possibility of constructing a core house with a meagre government grant of INR 22000 (approximately USD450) through the Indira Awaas Yojana (a rural housing scheme) is a great challenge in itself. Local communities needed to be empowered with adequate technical know-how to ground the houses in reality within the budgets and in a structurally sound manner so that the risks are not rebuilt. In order to inspire people to construct their homes using appropriate technologies so that housing could be made affordable to the inhabitants, the UNVs/ DTs resided with the village communities developing relationships while making them aware of the benefits of affordable and safe housing. It was realized that since the village communities approached invariably the local mason/ brick-layers for constructing their own houses, the training of these masons is the most significant and of paramount importance during this process of technology transfer.

The self supporting institution development model for sustaining the housing movement

Artisans’ Self-Help Groups:

The team was felt too small to follow-up with the masons individually on a regular basis and to help them on technical queries. Based on this realisation the local mason/ carpenter/ plumber/ electrician, etc. who were working as independent entrepreneurs (or in groups of 2 and 3) in this informal construction market were grouped by these UNVs/ DTs to form a 12-15 members of Artisan Self help Group (ASHG) at the local Gram Panchayat (cluster of 4-5 villages) level. A rural family trying to build a house now finds in the local ASHG - a ‘one-stop shop’ wherein all services (excavation, brick laying, roof casting, bar bending, carpentry works, electrical works, plumbing works, painting etc.) could be availed of easily. These ASHGs along with offering services are also engaged in the production and trading of building materials. In most cases these ASHGs have availed of loans from local banks to start micro-enterprise for production of better quality building materials using local resources e.g. brick kilns, tile production, sanitary marts, renting of steel shuttering sets etc. The team members in the ASHGs having been constantly trained and supervised under the alert eyes and care of UNVs/ DTs have now been able to improve their livelihoods significantly through improvement in their daily wages, enhancement in more days of work in a month and through trade of goods and promotion of thrift and credit activities in parallel.

Formalising the Construction Sector:

These ASHGs have been federated at district level to form Artisan Federations (AFeds) registered as cooperative societies. A handful of experienced technically competent entrepreneurs from the AFeds have come together to form the Development Technocrats’ Forum (DTF). These district level collaborations are being registered and will help in advocacy and fighting for the rights of the masons/ construction workers.

Furthermore, the team of 30 UNV/DT Architects/ Engineers/ Planners/ Social scientists have, as was designed in the project, ceased to continue within the UNDP system and have registered as an NGO - a society registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, India. The NGO christened as the Orissa Development Technocrats’ Forum (ODTF) is hence, as the name suggests, the team of young technically competent professionals with the mission to work for the development of the poor and bringing sustainable solutions.

The process by which UNDP formed a composite multi-disciplinary team of local young professionals - Architects, Civil Engineers, Planners, Sociologists, etc. to embark on a project facilitating rural housing reconstruction and graduated them into a team of entrepreneurs ODTF is an emulating example.

The Capacity Building of the Stakeholders in Habitat sector

Equipping the construction labourers with adequate skill to perform as masons having good practices is not achievable easily in a country like ours. Unlike the university certified courses of Engineering and Architecture there is no such formal institution for training of Masons. To overcome this short coming the organization has innovated various need based and appropriate systematic course curricula for training and capacity building of masons and construction artisans based on their skill levels. The training modules are tailor made to respond the requirements.

Different training modules have been designed and the same trainings are being imparted to the local construction workers to graduate them from one level to the next.

As of date the UNVs/ DTs in the process have trained 3663 masons through intensive hands-on exercise in different blocks of the province.

In collaboration with various stakeholders like the Women & Child Development Department, Government of Orissa, UNICEF and numerous local NGOs the team has successfully organized several training programmes in the province of Orissa. These programmes have been appreciated from various departments of the Government and Non-Government sector. On request of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India (GoI) at national level under the GoI-UNDP Disaster Risk Management (DRM) programme the team has conducted a series of training programmes in the most disaster prone provinces of India like Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, etc. International Organizations like Architecture & Development of Paris and French Foundation have also collaborated with ODTF for training of masons in a recent Tsunami affected province of Tamil Nadu, India. A number of professional hands have been made available who can safeguard the future construction and ensure not to rebuild disasters.

The Learning Platform

The “Learning Platform” is an innovative idea, where the academic institutions like Architecture/ Engineering Colleges, Universities and leading forums of the country participate. Brochures, leaflets both in English and local languages are prepared and circulated. The “learning platform” is not one time event; this sets a motion for wider propagation of the approach and technologies. In the age of high-tech and up-scaling of construction activities, the low profile traditional technologies with minimum alterations put to use through a few demonstrations after the cyclone, spread wildly among the communities striving to sustain themselves in the face of perpetual threat of similar disasters. The effort was further escalated with the presence of trained Artisans and Development Technocrats in a symbiotic existence in village, block, district and province levels.

Impact of the Project and its Approach

The people who were earlier not able to build a permanent house could accomplish it, since the realisation dawned to them that the local building materials and manpower were enough to build at least one pucca room. The model of the community, the mason force and the DTs working in synergy proved to be a great source of inspiration and asset to the families interested to build a house. The desire to own a pucca house for gain of self esteem was always present. Further, the desire to keep one’s life and property safe during multiple disasters faced frequently propelled its achievement. 3509 house constructions have been facilitated using Appropriate Technologies till date.

The Tribal housing initiative in Rayagada district led to marked improvement in health conditions and reduction in IMR. This is sure to have far reaching impacts.

An integrated approach was developed towards habitat solidarity with the institution ODTF working in various collaborative forms with the Govt., NGOs, private sectors, construction artisans and community at large

A real life story in the improvement of the life of a construction artisan is at Annexure-IV, “From Mason to Engineer” for kind reference.

Towards policy changes

Based on a request from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Govt. of India this team had prepared the detailed estimate of an IAY house and subsequently after many round of discussions, the grant has been raised to INR 25000 in normal areas and INR 29000 in hilly and disaster-prone areas.

The Emergency Operation Centres to function as the Control Room for District Administration was designed by this team for Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Govt. of India and its construction is being implemented in all the 339 most multi-hazard prone districts in 17 provinces across the country. This control rooms besides its normal function is to also guide the people at large on safe shelter design and management strategies.

In collaboration with Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN), India and United Nations Team for Recovery Support in Tamil Nadu (UNTRS), the team has facilitated in developing the Housing Technical Reconstruction Guidelines in the Tsunami affected areas of Tamil Nadu. The team has also prepared numerous brochures, leaflets, flyers, wall posters/ hangings, etc. on multi-hazard resistant construction practices. Manuals on reconstruction and retrofitting have also been prepared for widespread circulation on behalf of UNTRS and GoTN.

Being a Governing Council member of the INHAF (Habitat Forum – India), basin-SA (Building Advisory Services and Information Network) and participating in the Solutions Exchange Programmes of UNDP Knowledge Management Platform, India, this team actively advocates for the causes of Social Housing and Disaster Mitigation. The efforts to organize the Eastern Zonal Worksop on Appropriate Disaster-resistant Building Technologies for inclusion of the same in the course curricula of Architecture and Civil Engineering at the province level has been followed up at national levels and presently the course curricula is being reviewed for inclusion.

Monitoring Processes

The project has been monitored very closely by the UNDP programme management team at Bhubaneswar. SDC has periodically visited the different districts where the project has been on yo review and evaluate the achievements and processes being adopted. There have been periodic meetings of all 16 SDC’s Rural Housing Programme Partners from across the country after every 6 months to jointly review and formulate action plans, using the RAGA (Review, Assessment, Goal-setting and Action Plan) approach. Dignitaries from the Orissa Govt. have made regular visits to many districts to review and learn from the field.

Key Indicators

The key indicators for the success of the project have been:

• Number of house constructions facilitated • Number of masons trained and practising Appropriate Technologies • Number of Master Trainer Masons developed • Number of ASHGs formed and linked to deliver better services and for production of building materials • The livelihood increment after every three months in each member of an ASHG • The spread of the movement within the province and beyond. • The partnerships forged • The documents prepared, specially guidelines, manuals, IEC materials, etc. related to the field of housing • The number of links established and memberships gained with national/ inter-national Information and Knowledge Management Networks related to habitat.