Likhaan: Rebuilding Community
Conditions in the urban squatter communities of Manila in the Philippines are grim. Housing is constructed out of salvaged materials such as plastic and cardboard. There is little access to public services of any kind, including health facilities. Maternal and child mortality rates are high. Residents do not own the land and thus their shelters are frequently demolished and people forcibly relocated to areas far from the city. There are few jobs and many people earn their living scavenging scrap materials.
And yet, these are still communities. As the agrarian economy collapses, entire rural communities have relocated to urban squatter areas in hopes of finding livelihoods. With no external assistance, people in these communities have to support each other. As one woman resident put it: "We get no help from the government. So neighbours help each other."
Likhaan, a women's health organization, works in the squatter areas, building on and reinforcing the self-help capacities of these communities. Likhaan has developed a community development approach with primary health as the entry point. It recognizes that health is directly related to social and economic conditions and that a health program must deliver basic health care and also needs to assist women in dealing with unemployment, housing, environmental conditions and overall vulnerability. Likhaan helps to organize women and trains them as health promoters. Through this work, women form their own associations to reach out to vulnerable community members, deliver primary health care services and address some of the social conditions in these areas. Likhaan links these associations to national policy advocacy work with government on issues such as urban land reform, development and access to public services, health and human rights.
Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, one of the founders of Likhaan, sums up this work: "When people talk about development," she says, "they get into big debates in terms of what kind of development and what it should achieve. I go back and think of what women in the community want... when you ask women, they want decent housing, they want to own the land their house is on... they want to be able to decide if they want children, and how many... they want to feed their children...they would like their children to be educated, they want jobs. They want to be respected and have their rights respected. It's that simple... that's what development means to me."
Unregulated economic development - especially development by resource extraction - rarely promotes the common good. Too often, a very few benefit to the detriment of the many.
Historically, this has been the experience of aboriginal communities around the world. Their land taken - for hydro dams, for mines, for petroleum - aboriginal peoples have been driven out of their communities. Few communities have benefited from such development - the wealth is created far away, and in the hands of others - and impoverished communities have been divided by the manipulative practices of governments and corporations.
But it doesn't have to be this way.
On a hot summer day two years ago, four First Nations north of Thunder Bay, Ontario - the people of Eabametoong (Fort Hope), Neskantaga, Nibinamik, and Wunnumin - signed an agreement to work together to assess the risks and possible benefits of diamond mining on their land. This was not the beginning of their collaboration. Rather it was another step in their mutual support in the challenging tasks of research, study, and authentic consultation.
Over a year before, a mining company had begun to talk to representatives of each of the communities, and to stake claims on their land. Community members felt the mining company was playing them off against each another, and realized they needed more information to avoid divisive battles over their collective futures. They contacted Inter Pares' counterpart, MiningWatch Canada (MWC), and the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) for assistance.
As a first step, MWC and NAN invited them to meet with other communities affected by mining, at a Canada-wide consultation among aboriginal leaders. There they met people from the Lutsel K'é First Nation who had already negotiated agreements with diamond mining companies in their territory near Yellowknife, NWT. They learned that while conventional diamond mining practices devastate the land, other less damaging practices are possible. And they learned that they can have a say in how benefits might be shared among their people.
The Nibinamik representatives then worked with MWC to bring members of their communities together with other aboriginal groups, and with scientists and lawyers with technical, legal and negotiating experience. Community representatives learned that they had the right and the power to demand the time needed for research and consultation among their people, and they identified issues to investigate and discuss within their communities.
Discussion and exchanges continued, drawing on the expertise of MWC as necessary. Finally, on a cold December day 18 months later, some of these First Nations communities joined with other aboriginal and mining communities, labour and environmental organizations in Ontario to create the Ontario Mining Action Network. OMAN is now part of the growing network of people, communities and organizations across Canada willing to share their experience and expertise.
MWC will continue to be there to facilitate and nurture these networks of people helping people, as they make decisions that will affect generations to come.
| Reviewed May 31, 2005 |  |
Publishing Policies |
