Case Study: Squatter Settlement Improvement
Villa El Salvador: Lima, Peru
Location: 20km from Lima, the capital city of Peru, South America.
Population: 300, 000 people, all on low incomes. This is Peru’s largest squatter settlement.
Background: 20 years ago this was a piece of government owned desert. Now it is a large city with the people working together to improve their community. Although they are poor, they have put a lot of time and money into organising themselves to try and improve their quality of life and the services available to them.
Most residents come from the inner city slums or squatter settlements. They rented rooms and wanted their own homes and more space. Originally most of them came from villages or small towns.
Income: Most people living here are very poor. One third live at or below subsistence level. This means that they have to spend all of their income on food and fuel in order to survive.
Housing: Not all housing has access to the basics of electricity, water and sewage.
Transport: The main roads are paved and bus services provide access to Lima.
Improvements: Most of the improvements are paid for, organised by and carried out by the people themselves. Villa El Salvador has a community organisation called CUAVES. This shares the duties of the local government. This means that the people are very involved in the planning and decision making.
Advantages of this approach
The community approach to improving life in Villa El Salvador has been copied in many countries around the world. The advantages include:
§ Involvement of the community in deciding what has to be done.
§ Government support has given the squatters a feeling of security since they know that they will not be forced to move.
§ By working together a number of services and facilities have been provided at low cost e.g. community kitchens. Most of the labour has been provided by the people themselves.
§ Community organisations have helped the very poorest members of the settlement by providing free food and healthcare.
Problems with this approach
§ The pace of change is very slow, some schemes take years to complete.
§ Health and hygiene levels are still very low.
§ The population of the settlement is growing very quickly so land set aside for community use has been taken over by new squatters. The community organisers can do nothing about this.
Use Villa El Salvador as an example of a place where people are working together to improve their own lives in a squatter settlement.