Summary

The NGO "ESTRATEGIA" started urban renovation programs in some of Lima's poorest neighbourhoods in collaboration with the local population. These programs use alternative approaches to development that take the perspectives of women with little income into consideration and help these women to organize themselves and to participate closely in their community's development.

Since 1989, with the pilot experience of San Carlos de Parque Bajo, a neighbourhood of Santiago de Surco in the city of Lima, ESTRATEGIA has contributed to many development projects. Women's groups have been formed to produce building supplies out of concrete (blocks, roofs, steps, beams, paving stones) and then have started their own micro-enterprises to commercialize these building materials in the district of Surco as well as other Lima neighbourhoods.

These can be considered model projects in terms of their low cost of construction. Not only do these projects create work and allow women and men to build "decent" housing, but they also make the construction of community facilities possible. Due to a lack of resources to pay for such services, the support and cooperation of municipal planners and architects is also essential in order to ensure that building plans meet municipal construction regulations. This process is driven by the desires and needs of local citizens themselves and relies also on the expertise of other communities who have already carried out similar building programs.

The effects of these programs include:

• Participation and organization of the local population;
• Municipal participation;
• Implementation of a national "Habitat productivo" (productive habitat) program along the coast;
• The practical application of policies established at and following the Habitat II meetings encouraging more economical construction techniques

Citizens have to obtain credit from parallel banks in order to be able to construct their own housing. At all steps along the way, the role of the NGO is to help organize and coordinate the local leaders who themselves direct and carry out development work in their respective communities. Although the government of Peru is now more supportive of its low-income population, it is not presently able to respond to the demand.