Self-help housing improvements for lowest-income communities: Motivators' and trainers' guide

PREPARED BY: FOUNDATION FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING FOR THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES & THE DIVISION OF TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION, UNESCO, 1981.

AVAILABLE FROM: 1262 DON MILLS ROAD, DON MILLS, ONTARIO M3B 2W7, CANADA.

LANGUAGE; ENGLISH, PORTUGUESE, SPANISH AND THAI.

COST: $C 30 PLUS $ 6 FOR SHIPPING.

NUMBER OF PAGES: APPROX. 600

The manual is based on the premise that education should be centred on the training of community extension workers or motivators and recognizes that they play a central role in the promotion of self-help housing. Written primarily as an outline format, the contents provide material for a two-week training course for the training of motivators at local community level by course leaders and instructors. Simple language is intentionally used throughout, since the eventual target groups are the self- builders; the aim, therefore, is to the technical complexities of housing. The manual is structured in two parts which reflect the dual nature of motivators' tasks: (a) participatory community development education and change; and (b) the technical processes of improving the housing of low-income groups. The purpose of the course is to provide participants with an approach to problem-solving for the housing issues they are likely to confront in their daily work, whether such issues are community related or technical.

The manual has been field-tested in five countries and in three languages and used in training at national and local levels. It is recommended for use in projects where self-help is actively encouraged and in urban areas where integrated sites-and-services schemes are to be implemented, but it is equally applicable in rural projects focusing on improvement of dwellings.

The manual consists of 20 modules, written as a series of self contained packages, accompanied by handouts and illustrations for use on an overhead projector or wallchart. Each module has a table of contents, module objectives, suggested timing for each session and lists of illustrations, handouts and references. The illustrations relate very closely to the lectures; thus, since much of the lecture relies on visual explanation, the trainees are introduced to the importance of visual aids in training, and the examples offer a basis for the trainees to create their own visual material.

OBJECTIVE: Training at several levels.

LOCAL PROGRAMME: MOTIVATORS WORK WITH COMMUNITY

NATIONAL PROGRAMME: TRAINING OF MOTIVATORS

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMME: TRAINING OF NATIONAL COURSE LEADERS

Modules 1-4 include:

Skills and Knowledge of the Motivator, The Self-Help Approach, Obstacles, Programme Objectives, Identifying Needs.

Modules 5-10 include:

Available Resources - External, Internal and Human, Case Studies in Self-Help, The Motivator as a Catalyst, Educational and Organisational Techniques.

Modules 11-20 include:

Housing Improvement - Environment, Climate, Rural/Urban Houses, Construction Modes, Roofs, Walls, Infrastructure, Services.

Importance of Self Help

NEEDS

ROOF TYPES