#communitygroups

Source: Facebook page of POCAA 

METHODS: In rural areas of Bangladesh women and children are often not part of any decision-making processes. In contrast to this, the Jhenaidah citywide people’s network not only involves equal participation of people of all gender, age and ability but also actively engages women, children and elderly into the process extensively.  The community relies on collective decision making processes and co-designs through collaboration and empowerment of all participants.

PROCESS: 3 Steps

Saving money together - own money + loan from their own cooperatives

Mapping/planning together - Community architects engage from this stage as facilitators

Building together

Source: Facebook page of POCAA

COMMUNITY ARCHITECT’S INVOLVEMENT:  The initiatives were taken by the community and coordinated by the community architects. It is unclear how the architects were invited into the process but possibly it helped because the architects were locals. They placed themselves in the situation asking the questions what can we do and where do we fit in?

According to CAN open access article, they started connecting and sharing beliefs with local authorities, facilitators and collaborators, and like minded people. They appropriated their skills and roles through direct action with low-income communities through small-scale work. 

Source: Community Architects’ Network, 2019   

Other parallel engagements varied from local school children building small-scale eco gardens, educational groups, local governments, NGOs and young professionals. Government authorities often complain that people make their jobs harder as it is hard for them to trust the people. Linking all practices through a platform of co-creation it grew interest for people like policymakers who often are harder to reach. Gradually the city managers and its inhabitants connected with each other and over wider networks. In 2019, Jhenaidah city hosted the CAN Co-create city workshop which focused on listening to the local people, valuing their opinions and aspirations as well as actions to rethink the city.

Source: Community Architects’ Network, 2019  

OUTCOMES

* Governance model of the community is not very well documented. However, according to the community architects lecture in Basel in 2018, the community initiated, developed and built the houses by themselves with coordination and support from the Co.Creation Architects who acted as facilitators and were also locals. The process later attracted the local authorities and the Mayor who according to the architects in many ways helped the process by “by-passing or changing or bending” rules or restrictions.

* The community now has collated data about their community. They have even mapped themselves on GIS, turning them from invisible settlement, where the municipality didn’t feel the need to visit because of being low income, into a prominently located visible settlement. 

* The community now is the expert who share with communities from other cities and policymakers how they did it.

* The community architects are not needed in the process anymore as the community has trained itself enough to be able to navigate through the process on their own and also disseminate the experience to others.