Jan 04 2010
YPs Undergo 6-day Workshop on Social Housing
Young professionals and students from local and international academic institutions and representatives from urban poor community associations took part in the 2009 Young Professionals Workshop on Social Housing on October 22 to 27, 2009. The workshop is an annual project of TAO-Pilipinas’ YP Program which aims to orient young design professionals and students on social housing through training activities that will enable better appreciation of the concerns/issues affecting the urban poor. This year’s workshop is already the fourth organized by TAO-Pilipinas
The workshop was participated by local delegates from architecture and engineering departments of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM), Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP), and the University of the Philippines (UP), as well as foreign delegates from Harvard University, Politecnico de Torino in Italy, and Lund University in Sweden. They were joined by representatives from people’s organizations in communities assisted by TAO-Pilipinas Inc. in Navotas and Quezon City. Community organizers from TAO-Pilipinas’ partner organization, DAMPA (Damayan ng Maralitang Pilipinong Api, Inc.) also participated in the workshop. A total of 26 participants were gathered to undergo 6 days of programmed activities.
The 2009 YP Workshop focused on the theme, “WATSAN in Social Housing: Improving Access to Water Supply and Sanitation for Urban Poor Communities.” The workshop program was divided into two parts spread over six days. The first part of the workshop comprised of lecture sessions which were held on Days 1 to 2 at the Villa Cristina Hotel & Resort in Antipolo City. The lectures were divided into seven sessions with several small group activities conducted in between.
The second part of the workshop comprised of practicum activities wherein participants went through stay-in field immersion on Days 3 and 4 of the workshop. They were divided into three teams to be deployed to three communities along with TAO-Pilipinas staff and volunteers. They first visited social housing projects and models of community-based initiatives such as the SHEC Housing Project in Pasay City, GK Housing Project in BASECO, Manila, VASRA Housing Project in Quezon City and the Barangay Holy Spirit Ecology Center in Quezon City. After completing their field visit itinerary, the teams proceeded to their assigned community immersion areas to conduct preliminary assessment activities in preparation to the whole-day community consultations on Day 4. Community assessment activities included an initial meeting of the YP teams with the community leaders and a transect walk (or observatory walk) within the community.
The main activity in the participants’ community immersion work is the facilitation of a participatory workshop and action planning process in their assigned areas. This was accomplished during Day 4 of the workshop where three simultaneous community workshops were held in UNNAI, Brgy. Commonwealth, Quezon City; Bicol and Chungkang Area, Brgy. Tanza, Navotas City; and MASAGANA, Brgy. Tanza, Navotas City. A series of focus group discussions with community members were facilitated by the YP teams in order to find out the community’s water and sanitation conditions, analyze problems and potentials of the community, and identify self-improvement projects that can be implemented in the community. From the results of the community action planning, the YP teams strategized to develop a community micro-project proposal. The three YP teams then reconvened at Villa Cristina, Antipolo on Day 5 of the workshop to report on the results of their community immersion activities.
Days 5 and 6 served as the synthesis of the practicum activities as the results of the 2-day community immersion were presented by each team in a plenary session with the TAO-Pilipinas staff serving as panel reactors together with Dr. Maria Antonia Tanchuling, a Board of Trustee of TAO. Recommendations from the panel were considered by the teams in preparing for the presentation of their community micro-project proposals for Day 6. After the plenary sessions, the participants were also given the opportunity to share their reflections from their experiences during the field immersion. Each team also conceptualized a mural painting design as a visual representation of lessons learned from the workshop.
The 6th and culminating day of the workshop saw the YP teams presenting their community micro-project proposals before a panel of invited guests who critiqued their plans. The YP teams presented three proposals: improvement of the drainage canals in UNNAI; cooperative water supply connection in Bicol Area, Tanza; and construction of elevated pathways in MASAGANA, Tanza. The three-member panel composed of Arch. Romeo Santos of UP-Diliman, Arch. Maria Luisa Daya-Garcia of Green Advocates Philippines, and Engr/EnP. Aldrin Plaza, provided useful comments and advice to further develop the teams’ proposed projects.
The project proposals are considered the major output of the YP Workshop and will be screened by TAO-Pilipinas for funding assistance and actual implementation after the workshop. The YP teams also committed to follow-up activities to finalize the project proposals and help implement the projects within a 6-month period.
The 2009 YP Workshop concluded with the presentation of the finished mural paintings and the awarding of certificates of participation. At the end of six days of gruelling workshop activities, the participants and organizers were welcomed to well-deserved rest and recreation facilities at the Villa Cristina Resort. (Ge Matabang, with documentation notes by Aldrin Plaza)
(The 2009 YP Workshop on Social Housing was conducted with funding support from MISEREOR, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, ACCA-Rockefeller, IEED, PHILSSA, and partly sponsored by Holcim Philippines, SLIPCON Services, Inc., and EARN Corporation.)
