With USAID support, Project Concern International developed an urban disaster risk reduction model that is helping transform more than 17 vulnerable neighborhoods in Guatemala Department into more resilient, safe, and healthy communities
With USAID support, Project Concern International (PCI) initiated a project that is reducing disaster risk in hazard-prone neighborhoods in Guatemala by improving urban infrastructure, housing, and livelihoods. This prototypical project, named Barrio Mio, which means “My Neighborhood,” was successfully piloted from 2012 to 2015 in two neighborhoods of Mixco municipality, a densely populated urban area located on a hillside that is at risk of landslides, flooding, and earthquakes and that faced water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges. Through a process that featured the active participation of the beneficiary communities and the collaboration of public, private, and academic actors, the project upgraded the communities’ water and sanitation systems; installed an innovative wastewater treatment plant tailored to the steep slopes of the area; reinforced housing structures; and constructed rainwater drainage infrastructure, stairways, and retaining walls.
Women were the mainstay of Barrio Mio, as they assumed a leadership role and were deeply involved in all of the project’s initiatives. Rosalba Ayala, beneficiary and community leader said, “We started with a group of 10 women, who helped motivate other neighbors to join what we called the “ant plan”, because we worked in rows, hauling down sandbags, pipes, and other materials. As part of the project, we also organized women’s savings groups to build savings either for our children’s studies or to purchase medicines; each member has a different aim to save.”
Since 2015, PCI has helped the Government of Guatemala (GoG) to replicate this neighborhood-based disaster risk reduction model in more than 15 communities throughout Guatemala Department, where recent research conducted by the GoG National Emergency Commission (CONRED) revealed that more than 750 communities live under flood- and landslide-prone conditions. The extension of Barrio Mio helps mitigate the impact of disasters in some of these communities.