By Carolina Piedrafita and Carol Nijbroek Maseja Amoloe is a single mother in Pikin Pada, a small Maroon village in Suriname’s hinterland. These villages have their own form of government rooted in Amerindian traditions such as birth rights, and are fully recognized by Suriname’s government. The villages are run by a kapiten, who functions as the highest local … [Read more...] about Dignified dwellings for Suriname’s Amerindian and Maroon communities
housing
Housing for all: Lessons from Suriname
By Carolina Piedrafita* Suriname finds an affordable housing solution for less than $15,000. Mrs. Urmie Elisabeth Wijnstein is a single mother in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname. She has a steady job cleaning government offices, but with a salary of just US$260 a month she never was able to rent or buy her own home. She had to live with her mother, sharing a room … [Read more...] about Housing for all: Lessons from Suriname
Guyana Devises Tailored Solutions in Low-Income Housing Program
By Ophelie Chevalier Improving the quality of life is not always as simple as it may seem. Understanding particular circumstances and putting programs in place that respond to actual needs required seeing the big picture. Take the case of Leoni Hinds, a 41-year old widow and single mother of three in Georgetown, Guyana. She used to live in her brother’s house, but a family … [Read more...] about Guyana Devises Tailored Solutions in Low-Income Housing Program
Shelter from the storm
In 1997, a small group of Chilean students started working as volunteers in poor areas in the beautiful Bio Bio region in Chile. A few years later, the group decided to start building provisional emergency housing – called mediaguas in Chile – designed to house a family of four. In 2000, over 600 volunteers helped build 5,700 houses, under the umbrella of an NGO originally … [Read more...] about Shelter from the storm
Four Impact Evaluations from Latin America: comparing apples with apples
We finished the first week of the International Workshop on Surveys and Impact Evaluation on Friday 20th January with the presentation of four examples of impact evaluations of programs in the region. 1) Productive Sector Rodolfo Stucchi from the IDB presented the results of an impact evaluation of the Chilean Supplier Development Program, aimed at improving and … [Read more...] about Four Impact Evaluations from Latin America: comparing apples with apples