PRA and House-hold survey at village Kotamba
Our door to door house-hold survey at the village Kotamba, as a part of our community engagement programme, #GROUNDUP was not only sensitive in approach where the villagers opened up about their personal stories too such that of the loss of their dear ones to how the houses were built before to their daily usage of the house but also involved our technical skills put to a better use that gave a sense of hope and affirmation to the community. As a part of our household survey we made technology accessible to the villagers in helping them fill our digital forms. The common derivatives of our survey are as in the sheets above :
1. Only 35% of the houses surveyed are constructed by the Government with the standard specifications that involve RCC method of construction. However, our take is that better and sustainable architecture solutions can be provided that will solve the villagers common requirement of a pakka home with comfort in resistance to harsh climatic conditions such that of seepage in rains and protection from the hot and cold in winters as 70% of the houses surveyed approve of having inefficient design with regards to climate responsiveness.
2. Only 10% houses that too made by ancestors are in mud, and villagers though yearn for pakka houses (which according to them is a cement house only) also miss out on the climatic comfort that a mud or a bamboo house would offer. When asked by Levellers team, will they be open to technologies such as filler slabs, or rat-trap construction, fenicular roofings, etc. that will solve the majority of their problems, they were open to it which means there is hope for change if the Government shows similar openness in order to execute such ideas.
3. While 29.4% do have separate spaces in the house for different activities, the remaining houses either don't have it at all, or face problems with planning of the house with unused spaces, insufficient spaces for storage of utility items. Thus proper planning with inside-outside connectivity as most of them are into farming needs to be done.
4. The plumbing services are fairly in place, with almost 70% of the waste being composted. However, 30% is still dumped in open land and various solutions can be worked for that too.
On our conversation with Smt. Renuka tai Komtambkar, Sarpanch, Kotamba we were happy to see the efforts being put with around 12000 trees being planted and majorly solving the water accessibility problem of the village. We wish to add more such valuable insight in helping her develop her beautiful village Kotamba.
The role of architect is this when we say that we need to make our designs and policies accessible to a commoner in the society. We are divided as a profession and at Levellers we wish to bridge that gap.
Survey analysis by Samruddhi Chaphale
#levellersfoundation #levellers #foundation #leadership #architectureforcause #architecture #design #people #ruraldevelopment #participatoryruralappraisal #designaid #designforall #community #communityengagement #voice #forthepeople #empowerment
