/habitat resource center/hungary 2013
Preliminary survey and community participative planning of Bag Gypsy settlement to identify site specific assets and needs prepared for Habitat for Humanity Hungary
The document has been used by Habitat for Humanity Hungary to develop, in a latter phase, a Local Development Plan designed through a participative exercise/game to stimulate community building and planning and to adjust the Habitat Resource Center project to site specific needs and assets.
The preliminary survey has been prepared through the elaboration of data collected from primary and secondary sources, an analysis of stakeholders and their power and the identification of the settlement assets.
Identifying key stakeholders is crucial in understanding the urban development process, to determine interests, conflicts, relations between actors as well as determining the appropriate forms necessary for stakeholder participation.
Meetings have been conducted with different actors involved in issues concerning Bag Roma settlement. The objective of the meetings was to not only understand the role of some of the actors but also to understand the context of the situation from the different view points of the actors.
Stakeholders have been then mapped in a chart of relative level of interests and relative level of influence, to easily identify who stands to lose or gain significantly from the project and whose actions could potentially affect the project’s outcome.
A digital base map has been prepared as first step to proceed to secure the land tenure status of the local community.
Final recommendations have been formulated on the base of findings and best practices: a) suggestions on appropriate steps to secure the land tenure; b) an overview on effective community participation tools to stimulate project ownership by the Community; c) identification of basic infrastructure to be rehabilitated; d) elaboration of an housing micro-finance scheme to enable the householders to reach adequate and sustainable housing standards.