LATIN 2/2014 LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN BRIEF DIVISION A CUBAN EXPERIMENT: THE PEOPLE AND THE MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS MANAGE THEIR OWN DEVELOPMENT

ing the local population and getting them to participate in their communities.

Rural municipalities – a better way of life: It is not only historical centres that are looking to manage their own affairs. A similar process, promoting more partic- ipatory development at the local level, is under way in 26 municipalities across the length and breadth of the island where the population is largely rural. The Nation- al Assembly of People’s Power (unicamer- al parliament) selected these municipali- ties for the experiment, based on a range of criteria. The state-run Centre for Local Development (CEDEL) was given the man- date of activating the process and propos- ing methodologies that could be replicat- “To dream and realize the neighbourhood we want is a task for all of us” – residents of Old Havana. ed in different contexts. To support that initiative, the Cuban authorities, CEDEL and the SDC set up the PRODEL project, One of the central aspects of the reforms that the Cuban government is driving is aimed at strengthening the capacities of decentralisation, devolving more powers to the local level. Initiatives are taking off municipalities through local development. in neighbourhoods and municipalities nationwide – in the towns and in the country It makes for a different kind of manage- – promoting a new kind of citizens’ participation: decisions are being made from ment, whereby the people themselves the bottom up. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) is sup- lay down the priorities, leaving the public porting a range of experiments using this innovative process in Cuba, which until administration and civil society to identify very recently was predominantly a centrally planned system. a development model which through the municipal governments has a direct im- “Participatory culture in Cuba is not based full development plan for the historic cen- pact on the quality of life of the citizens. on people making decisions for themselves. tre of Havana. What they were trying to It is in the municipalities that the growing It’s a culture based on mobilisation. Peo- achieve was “produce a shared vision, to non-state sector can play a significant role ple don’t get involved in order to propose a high standard and true to reality, that in stimulating the local economy. things,” says Maidolys Iglesias, a sociologist would enable us to fulfil our goal of re- with the social research group working on claiming our extraordinary cultural her- the complete revitalisation of Old Havana. itage and at the same time build a city “I think that participation enables people that’s better to live in.” The public consul- to feel more included in the projects, in the tation was supported by the SDC through little scrap of land where they live and work. the Local participatory management in Without the active participation of the peo- the rehabilitation of the historic centre ple, the process of developing a community of Havana (GEPAC) project. It provided will soon run out of steam.” the people with an opportunity to talk, to express their needs and propose solutions Old Havana – a laboratory: The Cuban with the means at their disposal, thereby sociologist knows what she is talking complementing the ideas put forward by about. In 2011 she took part in a public the political authorities and experts in “Participatory culture in Cuba is not based on consultation in Old Havana. This was the town planning and local development. people making decisions for themselves. It’s first time that the citizens were given the The consultation is part of a learning pro- a culture based on mobilisation.” Maidolys. opportunity to express their views on the cess and seeks to find new ways of includ- Iglesias, sociologist.

LATIN BRIEF 2/2014 A Cuban experiment: The people and the municipal governments manage their own development 1 AGUADA DE PASAJEROS such things because decisions to resolve problems were always taken centrally. A rural municipality seeks out its own Now we had a situation where local gov- development strategy ernments were in charge of land which in Aguada de Pasajeros, a rural municipali- economic terms was basically dependent ty in the province of Cienfuegos with a on agriculture and wasn’t exploiting all of population of 32,000, is one of the 26 mu- its potential. The development strategy nicipalities involved in the experiment to adopted forced us to change our way of find new ways of managing things at the thinking and acting with regard to these local level with a view to achieving great- “The municipality feels pressure from below, problems.” er decentralisation of the country. To- from the people in need, and from above, gether with the municipal authorities, the from a political class that is unable to change.” PRODEL project, which is supported by Arnaldo Cruz, Coordinator of PRODEL in Francisco Rodríguez, head of the team the SDC, led to the creation of a local de- Aguada de Pasajeros, updating the municipal management plan: velopment strategy that included the up- dating of the municipal management plan “The technology that CEDEL provided as one of its central planks. The tools for Arnaldo Cruz, PRODEL coordinator in us with has enabled us to create a strat- analysis and process planning were made Aguada de Pasajeros and member of the egy that considers the municipality as a available by CEDEL. The main tasks were: municipal management plan team: whole, based on an updating of the man- an analysis of the situation in the area, an agement plan. Thanks to that, today we assessment of the true potential of local “Aguada de Pasajeros is one of the mu- have a field study at our disposal that we communities and of the barriers holding nicipalities in the country that has seen its didn’t have before: we were working with them back, as well as local demands, and – number of settlements drop most in the next to no information whatsoever. Once in a second phase – approval by the coun- past few years: 25 years ago it had more you’ve got your management plan more cil of the municipal administration and the than 80; now only 19 remain. We can’t or less right, you can find the answers to municipal assembly of People’s Power as lose sight of the fact that the Cuban de- all of your municipality’s problems. In it a precursor to the implementation of the velopment policy model operates at the you will find the positions of the popula- above through specific programmes and national level. But national development tion with regard to housing, transport and projects. policy priorities don’t necessarily coincide technical infrastructure. The development with local priorities. In the 90s, the state of the plan began using participatory was unable to meet all of the needs of the methodology with a series of workshops. municipalities. Agricultural production, That was followed by various exchanges which was a national priority at the time to with the municipal administrative board, make up the shortfall from imports, was in draft versions of the plan, and finally ap- difficulty. For a long time municipal gov- proval by the municipal assembly. It was a ernments hadn’t needed to bother about long, complicated process.”

A house recently constructed using local re- sources within the framework of the PRODEL project, Aguada de Pasajeros.

“You can’t just restore the buildings and not also invest in the people”.

LATIN BRIEF 2/2014 A Cuban experiment: The people and the municipal governments manage their own development 2 and other means, in order to get these in- itiatives started.

The Artecorte local development pro- ject, in the Santo Ángel neighbourhood, is a flagship project. It is based on the initiative by Gilberto “Papito” Valladares, a dynamic self-employed member of the community who has lived in the same neighbourhood since his childhood (see his testimonial on page 4). Since 1999 he has been running his barber shop in what is known today as the Callejón de los Pe- luqueros (Barbershop Alley). It was under his leadership that a small museum was founded, where barbers’ chairs and his- torical tools of the trade are on display, along with a community barber school. Thanks to the efforts of the neighbouring Activities for the elderly organised by the Casa del Abuelo home for the elderly and the Artecorte community and the OHCH, the whole al- project in Havana. ley has been brought back to life. A range of other independent businesses – pala- dares (as small privately run restaurants of international cooperation enables ex- are commonly referred to in Havana) OLD HAVANA – A LABORATORY FOR changes to take place, for example, with and art galleries – have since set up shop LOCAL MANAGEMENT similar cities abroad whose experiences there. What is more, the Artecorte project might be replicated in Cuba. also organises a whole series of activities The dream of a neighbourhood for with the local home for the elderly. everyone Keeping alive the residential spirit of Old Every day, thousands upon thousands of Havana is a challenge shared by the popu- Pavel García, coordinator of the Artecorte tourists stroll through the cobbled streets lation and authorities alike. “Havana is con- project, recounts how the barber school of Havana’s old town, sharing as they go sumed by outsiders and not by the people came about: “The OHCH gave its authori- the rich heritage of this densely populated who live there,” warns Gilberto Valladares, sation to use the building for that purpose, part of the Cuban capital with the people a community leader known as Papito. “The and once Papito had put down the floor who live there. More than twenty years tourists don’t just come to see the houses, and the mezzanine, when the OHCH saw ago, the Office of the Historian of the City but the people too,” declares Frank Volta, that he was taking the job seriously, they of Havana (OHCH) kicked off the regenera- a Cuban lawyer who is a member of the provided help with the air conditioning, tion of an area of architectural significance social research group working on the com- the computer, the blackboard and other which had been declared a World Herit- plete revitalisation of Old Havana. He be- materials.” The school is now supported by age Site in 1982. But the work of the OHCH lieves that housing cooperatives could be Artecorte. Classes are held and the young went far beyond the restoration of palaces, an antidote to the gentrification that also apprentices are able to practise their trade churches and squares, and the opening of threatens this historic site. on members of the local community. The hotels, bars and restaurants: it brought to- service is provided free of charge. gether all of these actions under a banner For many inhabitants of Old Havana, of integrated local development. tourists are increasingly becoming their Sociologist Maidolys Iglesias from the main source of income. The OHCH’s so- OHCH comments: “The Artecorte project The SDC supports the OHCH through cial programmes take this new reality on began with an initiative by a private indi- the GEPAC project (Local participatory board, suggesting alternative types of vidual working with other entrepreneurs management in the rehabilitation of the employment for locals. Supporting small from the area together with state insti- historic centre of Havana). The goal is to private ventures and the growing number tutions. It wasn’t an institution or state fine-tune the management model so that of requests for the creation of non-agri- organisation that came along and told it takes on board economic sustainability, cultural cooperatives has become a major them what to do. The locals told us about integrated urban planning and socio-po- part of the rehabilitation of the old town. the project they had started and we pro- litical action, always taking into account It is with this objective in mind that the vided them with theoretical know-how, the most vulnerable from a perspective SDC helps create favourable conditions follow-up and technical support. A par- of equality. For the Cuban authorities and for these local economic actors to get ticular aspect here is that we are in a his- for the SDC, Old Havana constitutes a their businesses off the ground. This con- torical centre, where you have to take into veritable laboratory for testing municipal tribution takes two forms: creating op- account the protection of the tangible management practices. The results are to portunities for training and for technical and intangible heritage. The public sector be used as a model for other municipali- and legal support for entrepreneurs and working together with the private sector ties across the island that have historical cooperatives; and providing support with is one of the things that we are trying to centres to administer. The contribution technical teams, premises, raw materials encourage.”

LATIN BRIEF 2/2014 A Cuban experiment: The people and the municipal governments manage their own development 3 different illnesses, none of the official diets designed for sick children was really suita- ble for him.

That’s when PRODEL came into my life. A diagnosis was done by the municipality and they decided to give us assistance in the form of dietary supplements. These are allocated to me by the Cuban state and are provided through the Patricio Lumumba cooperative. It ensures that my son gets the food he needs. And I can count on them for any other problem as well.”

Gilberto Valladares in his barber shop in the Callejón de los Peluqueros: “In general, our heritage benefits from entrepreneurship.”

It is vital that local governments study TESTIMONIAL FROM A COMMUNITY the OHCH’s experiment in working with LEADER other actors: to know the pros and cons, and see what worked and what didn’t, so Gilberto “Papito” Valladares, 43, barber, as to show others how best to proceed self-employed, leader of the Artecorte in future.” project, Santo Ángel, neighbourhood of Old Havana:

“In the beginning, being self-employed TESTIMONIAL FROM A FARMER was very hard. It was frowned upon, po- litically and socially speaking. This is a key Pavel Cuellar, chairman of the Patricio time for Cuba, as a new private sector is Lumumba credit and service cooperative, El Callejón de los Peluqueros (Barbershop Al- starting to emerge. Now is the time to Aguada de Pasajeros: ley) in Old Havana has been revitalised thanks make a social commitment to this sector. to the joint efforts of local self-employed resi- Weaving together is my strategy: I want The project didn’t only provide us with dents and the support of the OHCH. to show to both sectors – though main- tools for carpentry, but also artisan work- ly to the private sector – that the social shops for communal work. With the pro- and cultural benefits are just as important ject we also wanted to build farms to keep as the economic benefits. In general, our breeding stock and the males that will be heritage benefits from entrepreneurship. used to build up the herds. These five IMPRINT It is a good thing to arouse in the new pri- farms are going to be multiplier centres vate sector this concern for our heritage.” for producing seed stock. This will enable Editor goats to yield more milk than they need Swiss Agency for Development to feed their young, for example. and Cooperation SDC Latin America and the Caribbean Division TESTIMONIAL FROM A SOCIAL Freiburgstrasse 130, CH-3003 Bern INVESTIGATOR Tel.: +41 31 322 00 00 TESTIMONIAL FROM A CUBAN E-Mail: [email protected] Niurka Cruz, in charge of economic and MOTHER www.deza.admin.ch financial studies of the GEPAC social re- search group working on the complete María Caridad Pérez beneficiary of the Photos Alain L. Gutierrez; Roberto Ramos Mori; revitalisation of Old Havana: PRODEL project in Aguada de Pasajeros: Thomas Jenatsch, SDC

“GEPAC views the OHCH’s experiment as im- “My little boy was born with infantile pa- More information portant, as its guidelines state that local gov- ralysis, as a result of hypoxia during the www.cooperacion-suiza.admin.ch/cuba/ ernments should be able to find a way to de- delivery. He is 11 years old now and has centralise their activities, and should be able acquired a number of abilities. He has spe- This publication is also available in German, to take decisions and work within a budget. cial dietary needs and, as he has a lot of French and Spanish

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