PARKMANDU APPROACH: A JOINT EFFORT

This article was published on the 14th of May 2017 on Perspectives of The Himalayan Times.

Some readers might recall my story focused on Parkmandu, the grassroots level initiative promoted by Marcela Torres, an architect from Colombia and by Walter Morselli, a designer from Italy.

The basic idea of Parkmandu is to create community owned pockets of greenery around the Kathmandu Valley where locals can spend their free time and relax.
I find this as a great idea and luckily many citizens of the Valley have not only found it interesting too but also enthusiastically supported it.

What struck my interest is not only the competence and expertise of Marcela and Walter but the fact that Parkmandu designs green spaces that are totally accessible, meaning that persons living with disabilities will experience the same level of enjoyment while visiting the micro parks as able bodied persons do.
Moreover their creative approach is matched by a contagious enthusiasm for anything innovative that leads to positive social changes.

The last few months have been very busy for Parkmandu team as they completed two pocket park sites inside the Valley, including one within Ranibari community forest and one outside, in Chitiwan district.

In all the cases, the design and construction process was totally participatory and based on listening to the needs of local communities, a methodology that involved community gatherings and discussions with the locals.
Currently Parkmandu is working in Golfatur where they have designed an ambitious project to literally transform a local park.

In this case the community made a tremendous effort to understand the importance of having the first disable friendly pocket park in the Valley.

Accessibility has a cost and for this reason, they have organized a seven day local fundraiser that was tremendously successful in mobilizing the entire neighborhood.
I asked Marcela and Walter about this initiative and they explained to me that “As every Parkmandu project we began with participatory design. In the first stage we met with the community leaders who had a previous plan for the park. In the particular case of Golfatur, we redesigned the concept together and they took the initiative to organize a seven days religious ceremony to collect the funding to start the construction”.

I had the opportunity to visit the site twice and I was amazed by the level of community participation. I saw with my eyes the original project designed by Narayan Rokka, the Chairman of committee managing the park.
You could see the level of details in it, a clear sign of great work and passion for this project.
Together with Dinesh Khadka and Jaya Ram Khadka, two young local leaders, Mr. Rokka succeeded in building a strong interest among the neighborhood.
In what can be called a real “live” crowd funding, the three leaders brought all the people from the area to contribute and donate for the project. No need of videos or complex project log frames, you know when “old ways” trumps new fundraising ways.

The Parkmandu model should be welcomed and endorsed because it does not count on donors’ money but on total commitment of the community to achieve something.

I see it as a great way to create partnership among organizations that should be encouraged, replicated and scaled up.
Oftentimes when we talk about partnership, we think of money and how to share the “cake” but we should never forget that to forge effective partnerships, the focus at beginning is instead on creating the level of trust necessary to create and support change in the long run.
This is what Marcela and Walter have been doing all the times, including the park with the community who manages the Ranibari community.

They shared the key ingredients to build a community park:

 “We believe that the most important ingredient is the participatory design. We follow a process that will lead us to success with every project. First we approach and organize the community in order to establish a design that includes the needs and dreams of everyone. We start with getting to know the leaders, follow by the people interested in the project. We design some workshops or formal meetings to enlist all the elements that should be consider in the design stage. Prior this stage the community is in charge of collecting the budget, implement the construction and make a commitment to maintain the park in the future.”

“Our main role” Marcela and Walter conclude, “is to engage communities for them to believe that everything is possible with the cooperation and their effort”.'

Building trust and facilitating a process of engagement with full local ownership: those are two key elements we should always put first when we try to build a partnership for social change.

To reach out Parkmandu team, visit https://www.facebook.com/parkmandu/