Strategies for Guiding Community Organizations in Sustainable Development: The Case of Monteria’s Urban Areas

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the strategies used by community organizations dedicated to the sustainable development of urban areas in Monteria City. Three specific objectives were proposed in order to guide the designing of organization manuals capable of improving the functions and results obtained by these social institutions. The first was aimed at the diagnosis of current community organizations themselves and the perceptions that social and institutional actors had of these. The second was to determine the basic elements for designing organizational manuals of this type and the third was the elaboration of the manual itself. The diagnostic phase suggested that, on the one hand, the educational backgrounds of community leaders was very poor. Only 56% had primary studies. On the other hand, community organizations, in general, lacked focus and knowledge of local environmental management procedures. Perceptions among public and private areas of these institutions were not very favorable as well. For the most part, Community Action Boards (CABs) were considered to be only a part of the political machinery in the region. In addition, a major weakness of these was the lack of commitment and assumed responsibility by their members, towards sustainable development. Furthermore, among the main aspects of the manual, six basic elements were identified: two complementary ones (a Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle, and systemic, holistic, sustainable development approaches), and four central lines of thought (territorial profiles, existing community groups, the training of the members of these social organizations and their interaction in solving environmental problems). After analyzing those elements, we proceeded to elaborate an organizational manual which contemplated the different relationships required between each of these elements in order to develop successful strategies for community actions in sustainable development. It was concluded that non-formal environmental education projects should be the basis for successful interactions between community organizations, government agencies and non- governmental social institutions for effective sustainable development of urban areas.