Cash for Repair and Reconstruction Project (CfRR) - Owner-driven self-help housing
Swiss Red Cross
Factsheet, English, 4 pages
Summary
The overall objectives of the project were to restore and improve in a sustainable manner the living conditions and capacities of tsunami- and war-affected communities on the East coast of Sri Lanka. In the first instance this would be done through the provision of appropriate housing including water supply and sanitation facilities, using a homeowner-driven approach thereby ensuring full responsibility for implementing the project. The Government encourages owner-driven housing reconstruction. Eligible families are provided with grants and construction is managed by the individual families. The CfRR project is designed to assist house owners with multiple cash instalments to repair or reconstruct fully or partially destroyed houses outside the buffer zone according to local construction standards. ASRC implemented the construction or the repair of permanent houses including water and sanitation facilities with a community-participatory or so called ‘homeowner-driven’ approach, thereby leaving the planning, implementation and ownership of the project from the very beginning to the homeowner. The cash grant is being deposited into specific beneficiaries’ bank accounts in stepwise instalments which are linked to a predefined construction progress (milestones) of the house. The Swiss Red Cross was responsible for quality control and for technical support and assistance to those beneficiaries who are not capable to contract the construction work-force and to organise the construction material needed. Therefore, the Swiss Red Cross deploys technical assistance teams to elaborate together with the beneficiaries procedures on how the complete the next construction stage.
Publication Year
2009
Topic
Construction | Construction Techniques | Reconstruction | Shelter | Permanent | Owner driven | Cash