Social Transformation Through Community Development.

international | anti-capitalism | event notice Wednesday November 28, 2007 11:30 by Celia S

A CASE STUDY FROM LA CEIBA" A NEIGHBOURHOOD IN HAVANA, CUBA

"SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION THROUGH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT. A CASE STUDY FROM A LA CEIBA" A NEIGHBOURHOOD IN HAVANA CITY, CUBA.

Speaker: José Israel Martínez Rodríguez, community worker form Cuba

Social transformation through community development has been a defining element of the Cuban model of sustainable local development. In the Cuban context, local development is understood as a participatory process whereby local governments, non-governmental actors and the community coordinate efforts to design strategies that can enhance the lives and livelihoods of communities. Strengthening the sense of ownership of projects is a significant aspect of this process of participatory development.

During the 1990s major transformations occurred in Cuba. New social actors emerged while some structures were revamped. As a result, a new sociopolitical figure emerged and which stemmed from the community itself: the Popular Councils. Popular Councils are rooted within and elected by communities and are key stakeholders in the design and development of projects. In addition to this, and in order to achieve more efficient and effective results, the Grupos Gestores (Management Teams) and the “Workshops for Neighbourhood Transformation” were created. These bodies are very small management structures and are formed by trained specialists whose responsibility is to ensure the overall coordination and management for the project cycle as well as involvement of all stakeholders; most importantly, they are responsible for ensuring dialogue between the community and the Councils in terms of development needs and proposals. The overall aim of this recent configuration is to make community members aware of the key role they play in the social transformations of their communities.