A Case Study Of Orangi Pilot Project And Ellen Ostrom’s Ideas
Orangi is a city in Pakistan where the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) was initiated. This city is renowned for its success pertaining to the fact that the community involvement in the project showed that Ostom’s theories can be successfully applied in major projects like this one. The project consisted of 3 Pakistani Non-governmental organizations poolling their resources in conjunction with the local community. An expansive social community development project was launched and implemented successfully. this project was initiated in 1980 the chosen town of Orangi, Karachi in Pakistan is a squatter community. Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan, its first director, headed this project. His objective was to improve the town’s sanitation problems. Dr Khan managed the project skillfully by employing sound management principles and dynamic innovation and thus managed to provide 1 million residents with modern sanitation facilities. Not only was it modern but cost-effective. this project advanced to another level where the provision of low-cost, improved health care services and microfinance lending services were introduced.
Ellen Ostrom’s ideas were used in this project and this project just reinforced the relevance of having community participation in finding solutions to problems that is unique to a community. This project was effective in the sense that it improved the quality of life of the residents of one of the largest squatter areas in South East Asia. This project just showed how community participation without external help from the government or International institutions, can bring about social development on a large scale .
The OPP created many other spin-offs, jobs were created for about twenty thousand families and the economy of the area was stimulated. A further positive development was the abandonment of patriarchal dominance. Women were perceived as person's which should not participate in economic activities, but it changed to such an extend that women became employees and earning an income. Another invention of the residence was to start units called working families. Homes were modified into workshops because a demand for products and services were becoming apparent because the Orangi area was becoming integrated into the main Karachi markets. The Orangi residence was starting to supply goods and services to large firms and they made profit which were used to support the family. When the economy grew, the residents wanted to expand their businesses but credit was in accessible and for this reason the OPP initiated a micro lending enterprise to assist these emerging entrepreneurs. The OPP was initiated for improving sanitary conditions, but took on the new role of challenging the economy.
The urban and rural areas could see an increase in employment levels if production could be improved because labor was abundant and cheap, but banks had strict regulations and access was limited if not impossible. The Orangi Charitable Trust was born in 1989 catering only for low income earners in squatter areas which must have more than 1 million residents. The main aim is to supply credit to stimulate economic activity. This project may appear glamorous, but it took time to mold it into a workable unit. Commitment by stakeholders were key factor along with prolonged efforts of negotiations between different parties to ensure effective collaborative efforts.
Conclusion
The OPP model reveal that community involvement in sustainable development projects works because the participants have learnt a very crucial concept and that is when you help yourself and learn to collaborate with other stakeholders it does not only take a load off government but it encourages government to take up its responsibilities towards communities. This view is affirmed by Ostrom 1991, 1996; Putnam, 1994 and Tendler 1998. In fact, Ostrom is a firm believer that community involvement in developmental issues is the first aspect that must be considered as a partner. Initially, government employees showed a lack of commitment to the project, however, because of the commitment of the residents and instilling a sense of responsibility, the government officials became more mission driven and thus became more responsive to the demands of the community resulting in direct contact between government officials and community members (Khan, 1998).
Lessons learnt from the OPP Model
Three benefits can be derived from Community partnerships in developmental projects the first is unique Solutions which can be derived from Community partnerships in developmental projects the first is unique Solutions which are cost-effective comes to the fore. secondly, service delivery from government improves because they become more accountable and thirdly in the most important benefit is the attainment of sustainability. Unity amongst the community, relationship of trust is built and they have a common desire to meet their goals.
One of the worrying factors is the participation of NGO. community participation in conjunction with NGO has not worked in the past and will not work in the future the reason for that is that NGO try to give incentives to communities to participate but it proved not to be successful. The methods applied by the OPP model delivers better results which means that NGOs need to rethink their strategy. For community-based partnerships to succeed, the community must be nurtured, the benefits must be visible to all the participants, stakeholders must learn from the community and not impose their ideas on communities. Collaborations of this nature requires flexibility and long term commitment. It requires the stakeholders to learn from the community determining it needs and how it manages those needs. In community participation activities, the community must be seen as staff members and the local structures, especially the political structures, must be recognized and brought on board so that they can also deliver input.
The ultimate goal of community development collaborations is to impart social accountability to the community members to ensure sustainability.
