Community participation series

Part one : Working together, supporting community action planning ; Part two : Blocking out, a community approach to land regularisation ; Part three : Building houses, community construction guidelines ; Part four : Making amenities, community construction contracts ; Part five : Women's thrift, a community credit system ; Part six : Assisting people, working with communities A series of six films about community participation in the inner city slums and shanty towns of Colombo, Sri Lanka which are lacking in basic water and sanitation facilities. To improve the situation of these settlements the government came up with a plan to provide these areas with publically financed houses. In the first film the set up is organised through workshops so the basic infrastructure can be established on which the houses can be built on. In the second film land is divided through community participation to the people of the settlements. The third film provides a view of the building guidelines that were agreed upon. The fourth film deals with community construction contracts. The aim of these NHDA contracts is to let the communities take charge of the building procedures themselves. The fifth film is about a community credit system, especially for women. Many poor women have low-income household enterprises. These women are united to form a women's group. In this way they can support each other through saving to complete their houses. The last film is an evaluation of the previous films of this series.