We present the results of the struggling in the

global emergency because of the pandemic

caused by COVID-19 with the Community

Leadership; Therefore we interviewed 196

community leaders from 136 Popular

Settlements in 16 Latin American and Caribbean

countries, through descriptive analysis. The

report describes the experience of community

leaders, the mitigation actions promoted in

their territories, and it identified the proposals

and expectations they have about the society to

which we need to resolve.

The Community Leadership Experience inthe Context of COVID-19

THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

CAME TO INTENSIFY THE

SITUATION OF VIOLATION THAT

ALREADY EXISTED IN THE

POPULAR SETTLEMENT.

THE COMMUNITY

ORGANIZATION HAS BEEN THE

MAIN COPING MECHANISM.

I. SUMMARY

IT IS NECESSARY TO

IMPROVE THE CONDITION OF

HABITAT AND HABITABILITY

AND TO GENERATE

EFFECTIVE AND BINDING

DIALOGUES.

º Argentina, Brasil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador,Guatemala, Haití, Honduras, México, Panamá, Paraguay,Perú, República Dominicana, Uruguay y Venezuela.

On January 30th, 2020, the WorldHealth Organization (WHO) declaredCOVID-19 as a public healthinternational emergency. In LatinAmerica, the first case was detected onFebruary 26 in São Paulo, Brazil. On 11March; Therefore the World HealthOrganization declared it as pandemicbecause of its spread around the worldand the large number of peopleaffected.

On March 13th  TECHO decided  thesuspension of all mass activities;considering the prevention and well-being of the inhabitants of thecommunities in which we work,volunteers, donors, temporary so farnew indications  and develops animmediate communication withinstitutions, companies, communityorganizations and collective partners onthe decisions taken, in order to promoteproposals to safeguard the impact ofsuspended activities.

II. INTRODUCTION

The results of the struggle in theglobal emergency because of thepandemic caused by COVID-19 withCommunity Leadership.

Recognizing the necessities of thecommunity.

Identified the proposals andexpectations they have about thesociety to which we need to resolve.

We created strategies to recognize thenecessities of the community; theimmediate response we had as a teamallows us  the situation that they aresuffering in the middle of this situation;we were able to contact with themdespite the implementation of socialdistancing measures and strictquarantines, the mechanism for dealingwith this new scenario was mostlycommunity organization.

It was extremely important for us toknow  how the Community Leadershiphave been facing the new reality for thepandemic caused by COVID 19 and howthey are  counting with the support withthe community, therefore we decided todo interviews  to let us know thefollowing points:

1

We point out , three important aspects toconsider in this study are highlighted:(1)The coronavirus crisis came to intensifyand exacerbate a situation of vulnerabilitythat already existed in the popularsettlements of Latin America.(2)Community organization has been themain coping mechanism for people livingin popular settlements, a mechanism thathad been used since before the arrival ofthe coronavirus. (3)The imminent need toimprove habitat and habitabilityconditions is recognized, as well as thegeneration of effective and bindingdialogues that formalize public-territorialspaces, where community leaders are anactive part of government decisions onthe transformation of their territories. Nottoday, tomorrow.

Current diagnosis, Infrastructure,essential elements, personal experience,community capacities, personal andcollective expectations, recovery.

ParticipantsFor the selection of the participants, asample of typical cases was used(Hernández Sampieri, 2014), because ofthe study’s emphasis on describing themeanings and experiences of theinterviewees in a given context. Theinterview was applied in 16 of the 18countries where TECHO has a presence inLatin America, to 196 community leadersfor a better selection of participants, twocriteria were established: 1) to berecognized as a leader, leader or referentof the community, 2) To belong to aposition in the association of neighborsor community development, housingcommittees, or any communalmovement. It is worth mentioning thatthese criteria were mainly indicative, notdecisive. Leadership was selected by theterritorial directorates of each country.

Gathering of informationDuring 5 weeks we interviewed bytelephone, leaders of popularsettlements in where TECHO haspresence. The information was recordedthrough the Kobo Toolbox platform, atool for collecting information in thefield, through the use of mobile devices,Generally used by personnel dedicated toworking in humanitarian crises.

III. METHODOLOGY

ModelThis study was developed from aqualitative approach, favoring theapproach to the experience of theinterviews, to build a narrative of theirexperience. The work focuses on thedescription of the dimensions analyzed,emphasizing mainly:

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I. COVID-19 of the Settlements

The lack of knowledge about thepandemic caused great uncertaintyin the face of a scenario thatprovided little clarity and certaintyabout what would happen, not onlyin the coming days, weeks, andmonths. All of us felt at some pointthat what had been declared"officially" half an hour ago lost itsvalidity half an hour later with anew report on the progress of thevirus.

Leaders said their routines hadchanged significantly with theimplementation of isolationmeasures, promoted bygovernments to preventcoronavirus. Fear, stress, andconcern are some of the emotionsthat better describe the feelings ofneighbors  in popular settlements.The situation that existed beforethe coronavirus in the region seemsto be an important matter,compared to the way in which theleaderships express the experienceof the virus.

IV. FINDINGS FROM THE TERRITORY

In Latin America, more than 185million people are living in povertyand 104 million of them live inpopular settlements. Theseterritories are characterized by alack of healthy housing and basicservices, as well as limited and evennon-existent access to preventiveand emergency health systems.

Another factor that intersectsfacing the new reality is theemployment situation, with laborinformality and unemploymentpredominating at the LatinAmerican level. According to datafrom the International LabourOrganization (ILO), for 2018, the firstwas 52.6%. For the second, by theend of 2020, it is estimated that 17million formal jobs will be lost andinformal employment will increaseto 62%. Although coronavirus canaffect everyone and everyoneequally, its impact on people’s liveshas a bias that discriminates bysocio-economic stratum, directlyinfluencing the capacity forresponse and mitigation.

"We are afraidbecause we have to

leave thecommunity towork". Ricardo

Gualim, Guatemala.

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According to the Special Report: Latin Americaand the Caribbean in the face of the COVID-19pandemic, economic and social effects,published by ECLAC (2020), due to theeconomic and social inequality prevailing inthe region, Unemployment is expected tohave a significant impact on people living inpoverty and those belonging to the vulnerablemiddle-income strata.

Without having reached month 12 to know theofficial records on the employment situation inthe region, it is enough to know the situationof families in the settlements, to realize thatthis projection is already accumulating thefigures:

"Before we went through a difficult situation,now with the confinement and the lack of

work every day is more desperate, mainly thelast few weeks, we can not access the familybasket we are waiting for the quarantine tobe lifted and go to work but first health. We

are with fear and despair”. (Viviana Tacuri,settlement leader of Las delicias, Argentina).

For the most part, the leaders referred tohaving lost their jobs or having theirincome-generating activities interrupted.They also said that this scenario wasrepeated for many of their neighbors.

"It is an event that has changed our livesin general, the arrival of the virus and has

affected us in many areas, right nowproblems to be able to work". (Pascual

Sebastián Bajaña Marmolejo,settlementleader ofCooperativa los naranjos,

Ecuador).

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This situation has only exacerbatedvulnerability. The income generated by theinformality of work barely meets dailyneeds and is insufficient to withstand theabrupt interruption of economic activitycaused by the coronavirus.

"It has been difficult because La Risota is an invasion and the majority of residents areindependent, live from day to day, none have permanent work and the inability to leave makesit difficult to meet their basic needs." (Elaine Marcela Osorio Rodríguez, settlement leader of La

Risota, Colombia).

The possibility of complying with the recommendations of the World HealthOrganization, not only depend on the willingness to care for and implement them, oron the solidarity of taking care of oneself to take care of others, depends also andmainly, to have adequate and minimum objective material conditions for theprotection of life.

"For some families hunger represents more risk than the virus". (Josney Marques deOliveira, settlement leader of Vila Nova, Brazil).

Another phenomenon that affects the region harshly is violence. In the study, The 50Most Violent Cities in the World (2019), by the Security, Justice, and Peace Foundation,in its ranking of the top 10, places 7 cities in 3 Latin American countries: Mexico,Venezuela, and Brazil. The fear when arriving and leaving the house for the possibilityof being intercepted by people who attempt against your life, the fear of being avictim of a stray bullet or the need to pay a "tax" to the band that dominates the town,are situations that without a doubt, increase and worsen inequality. The sense ofsecurity and tranquility that the home should generate for everyone also has a biasthat discriminates by socioeconomic stratum.

¿Who takes the control?

During these weeks, we have witnessed the behavior of the leaders of the countriesagainst the coronavirus. Their way of acting has served to take the pulse of theadvance of the pandemic, to measure its impact and to feel the effect on thesettlements.

According to the WHO, Brazil has the highest number of cases, both in contagionand in deaths in Latin America. The reaction of its president has certainly not beenthe most accurate in the face of the magnitude of the problem. In a BBC Worldpublication of 18 May, "Coronavirus in Brazil: 7 errors that led Brazil to the currentcritical situation", he describes a series of decisions and behaviors in the face of thecrisis that has seriously aggravated the problem, between them, the disagreement ofthe government to coordinate actions and confused and ambiguous communication.

5

"When I knew I felt scared,but I felt a lack of

information. The firstdissemination was throughtelevision and then peoplebegan to comment in the

community, but there wasstill disbelief that it would get

here". (Valquiria Soares daSilva, settlement leader of

Capadócia, Brazil)

On the other hand,according to WHOmonitoring, Mexico currentlyreports more than onehundred thousand peopleinfected, besides it is amongthe top five countries withthe most cases and with thehighest mortality rates in theregion.

Many of the peopleinterviewed in Mexicoreported having littleinformation about thesymptoms and how toprevent it, mentioned thatthere was very little talkabout the issue and thatthe complexity began tobe dimensioned when theneighbors began to losetheir jobs and/or be forcedto stay at home.

"We are living a momentin the history in which

people are scared,because of the lack of

knowledge of the disease"(Margarita Ladrillero,

settlement leader of Barriode Mexico Mexico).

To deal with the pandemic,we also need informationthat is timely, truthful, andcurrent. Like everyone else,the people in thesettlements had to face amyriad of fake news, but inthe cases of Brazil andMexico, they also had to dealwith disinformation and lackof clarity of the messagesissued by their rulers.

We also asked intervieweesabout the recognition oftheir Governments'assistance measures. Whileamong those who have notreceived and those whoknow of the existence ofsuch support, but have notyet received anything,another important groupreferred to the receipt of aid,but mostly of a low and/orinsufficient nature, both thenumber of family membersand the level of shortagescaused by the lack ofincome-generatingopportunities.

"The government says a lotin the press and television,but not in reality. The onlything they have complied

with is in the health system,because to assign

appointments they do itfaster". (Marta Azucena

Cañón, settlement leader ofthe Los Laureles, Colombia).

6

"Yes, in the first week they were delivering food rations. The Mayor of La Vegafumigated in other communities, but did not reach the community, We heard say

that the Trustee or Mayor in an interview said that he did not know the communityProfessor Juan Bosch or El Guabal". (Roselio García, settlement leader of Juan

Bosch, Dominican Republic).

"No, the government has not spoken. Where we have had a response is from themunicipality, we have made efforts and have helped us with food and water".

(Pascual Sebastián Bajaña Marmolejo, settlement leader of Cooperativa LosNaranjos, Ecuador).

7

"They arrived last Sunday to leave a single bag of food for each family, the familieshave many people and a bag is not enough". (Viviana Jaramillo, settlement leader

of Camellia, Panamá).

Homelessness hampers preventiveisolation

The coronavirus crisis has worsened thesituation of the settlements and hashighlighted the vulnerability of those whoinhabit them. People do not have the basicconditions to comply with the protectionmeasures that the World Health Organizationhas defined against the pandemic;with mostlyself-constructed dwellings and whereovercrowding prevails. Guaranteeing thespace itself was already a challenge before thefirst case of the coronavirus, but now thateveryone should be, all day long, the challengeis even greater. Furthermore, due to loss ofincome, some families have had to abandontheir rented premises and share houses withrelatives living in settlements.

"more family members who live on rent come inso they don’t have to pay the rent and stay in

their family rooms. Even in the worst caseswhen they do not enter because they are many

they become a precarious quarter that doesnot meet the basic conditions". (Cristian

Valverde, settlement leader of Nilo source,Bolivia).

According to the report SustainableDevelopment, Urbanization, and Inequality inLatin America and the Caribbean: Dynamics andChallenges for Structural Change, published byECLAC (2017), settlements represent thescenario of social inequality. Despite the effortsmade in recent years to narrow this gap, thereare still profound disparities between differentsectors of the population and geographicalareas (ECLAC, 2015b).

8

“Beyond having the same problem of no water,electricity, bad roads, ambulances and police cars

don’t come in, with the coronavirus we are lonelier,fewer doctors, and police, nobody from the

neighborhood comes in. Everything is even moreabandoned, and you can’t find anybody to turn to…

or they don’t answer.” (Elena Gonzaga, settlementleader of Luján, Argentina).

II. Manage the crisis: the role of the thecommunity organizations and leadership in thepandemic scenario

One of the dimensions of priorityinterest were the communitycapacities, mainly referred tonetworking and organization forits relevance in enhancingterritorial development. For it, weinvestigated the actions that havebeen made from the communityto face the effects of COVID-19, aswell as articulations with otheractors for the same purpose.

We often hear that in the worstsolidarity ties and mutual helpflourish, trying to face a reality thathits hard. florecen los lazossolidarios y la ayuda mutua,tratando de hacer frente a unarealidad que golpea con fuerza.Popular settlements are notstrangers to this dynamic, in fact,living in a permanent critical state,community support mechanismsare cooperating  and in situationslike these, they are expanded toreach more families and alleviatemore problems.

IV. FINDINGS FROM THE TERRITORY

These community spaces are oftenthe cradle or development ofpotential leaders, testing theirmanagement skills, both in termsof economic and humanresources, planning andorganization.

Through the analysis, we identifiedthat in the current context, thecommunity leaderships in chargeof these spaces are strengthened,relying on new skills to makeavailable to their community, andconsequently, the social capital,understood as the degree of trustthat exists between the socialpartners of a community, thenorms of behavior practiced andthe level of associativity (Putnam,1994) is also strengthened.

"We don’t meet toprevent the spread,

the communityleader informed

person by person thesecurity measures toprevent the entry ofCOVID". Rosa López.

El Salvador.

9

On the other hand, we will try toidentify what has been the role ofcommunity organization duringthe first months of the pandemicin Latin America, marked mainlyby the measures of partial or totalisolation.

At the beginning of the arrival ofCOVID-19 to our continent, andthe prevention measures againstcontagion, two very differentattitudes could be observed interms of the reaction ofcommunity leaderships, but with acommon result: community actionwas minimized, reserved forvirtual devices or directlyparalyzed. Many of theexperiences surveyed show a bigfear of the virus, and with it, anattempt to respect isolation andwork on prevention measuresfrom the individual or family pointof view. In this first moment, theactions at community level had todo with the setting up of groupsto disseminate prevention andinformation protocols through theapplication of whatsapp.

The other attitude identified wasthe underestimation of thepossible effects of the virus, andalso the lack of clarity regardingthe duration of the isolation,which was estimated to be short.

Take action

“We hadn’t took actions till now because it wasexpected that the quarantine didn’t last longer

and we were waiting for help but, the help didn’tarrive, so now we are trying to help those

families who are having a hard time, we arethinking about doing a soup kitchen  but, we

don’t know how to get the means yet.” (VivianaTacuri, settlement leader of Las delicias,

Argentina).

Once it was realized that isolation was here tostay, and on the other hand, that subsistenceand community well-being would depend, inlarge part, on partnership between peers andcommunity organization, several leadersexpressed that a stage of action had begun.

In this sense, two major groups can be identifiedin terms of the way in which the actions werecarried out. A first group refers to thosecommunities that initiated the activities in aspontaneous way, responding to the needsperceived in an intuitive way in theirneighborhood. The second group corresponds tothose communities where this stage began witha census to identify needs and population insituations of greater vulnerability.

10

An interesting point that emerges fromthe survey is that many of the peopleconsulted about the actions that werebeing developed in the neighborhood toface the coronavirus, responded that noaction had been taken at the communitylevel, while at the same time they wenton to list several activities related to thedissemination of information,disinfection, cleaning, distribution ofgoods and supplies, and negotiationswith local governments, among others.

The strategies deployed were of differentintensities and lines of action, but themain response was aimed at solving thefood crisis. In those communities wherethere was already a space for thispurpose, coverage was expanded, eitherin terms of the number of families or thenumber of meals provided or daysworked, while in the settlements wherethis did not exist or those that wereactive could not meet the present need,new spaces emerged, known as "soupkitchen."

In general, those permanentneighborhood canteens, managed byformal or consolidated grassrootsorganizations, have either state orprivate supplies, so they have an incomeor food base to function, while those thatemerge in the crisis depend exclusivelyon occasional supplies from the state ordonations from individuals, which do nothave a clearly established frequency,whose rations vary, often being only dryfood and it is not known when the lastdelivery will be.

"As the quarantine is extended, morepeople are joining in because there is less

food, less supply in the homes, moredesperate people are. The pots are alsodifficult to make because of the lack of

meat, chicken, vegetables." (ElenaGonzaga, settlement leader of Luján,

Argentina).

On the other hand, in this same axis, therewere also actions related to thedistribution and/or assembly ofmerchandise bags, with the objective ofreaching families in their homes. Somecommunity gardens were even created toprovide food security in the medium term,while in other cases it had not yet beendeveloped, but it was in the plans, within avision of generating sustainability andcapacity to face future crises within thecommunity. In turn, there were lessorganized efforts, mainly related to peersolidarity, such as sharing one's ownhousehold food with another family in amore vulnerable situation.

.

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“Between neighbors we try to helpeach other and make sure there's

no shortage of bread. As amember of the community, I try to

look for little help to give to thecommunity because "Betweenneighbors we try to help each

other and that there is no lack ofdaily bread. As a member of the

community, I try to find smallways to help the community, since

we are all of limited means.Practically no one leaves their

home because they have noreason to, since most of us are

unemployed.” (DionisioSamaniego Rotela, settlement

leader of Santa Ana, Paraguay).

Another important line of actionwas the dissemination ofinformation related to the virusand prevention measures. Themost used methodology was thevirtual one, through thetelephone, with communitygroups destined to an end.However, door-to-door tours werealso organized, promoting thehygiene habits necessary to avoidthe spread of COVID-19 andencouraging people to stay athome. In some cases, signs werealso installed indicatingpreventive measures.

All these efforts demonstrateextensive capacities for theorganization and management ofresources and people, which arenot particular to the contexts ofthe situation, but respond to theneeds of families in popularsettlements, who live in apermanent state of emergency.

Even before the coronavirus, womenwere already organizing the houseand the community

With the arrival of the coronavirus in the regionand its impact on vulnerable populations, it hasbecome evident that it is impossible toguarantee social distancing to the letter, asindicated by the World Health Organization. Butthis situation has not prevented the residents ofpopular settlements from organizingthemselves, making their resources availableand collectively facing up to the onslaught ofthe pandemic, but who is leading theseinitiatives? For this study, we interviewed 196community leaders, and of this group, 116 arewomen.

The coronavirus landed in Latin America on Feb.26, when the first case was identified in SãoPaulo, Brazil. Before this date, women werealready leading actions to improve the situationin their communities. In a research, carried outby TECHO in 2019, on the experience ofcommunity leaderships, it was found that threeout of four (75.8%) women are at the head ofcommunity organization in their territories. Also,through this same source, it was identified thatone out of three (34%), carries out three days ofwork: the care of the community, the home andthe generation of assets.

12

Most of the women are leading the organization of soup kitchens, the disseminationof information, the collection of food and the establishment of contact with potentialnetworks that provide support to satisfy basic needs.

On the other hand, women are also caring for children in these households, whoseacademic activities have been disrupted by the impossibility of providing continuitythrough digital means. Not all households or educational centres have the tools, skillsand technology to sustain formal education remotely.

It is necessary to rethink the ways in which care tasks are currently conceived anddistributed. The crisis of the coronavirus and its adjacent effects have highlighted theprecarious lives of women and triggered an alert about the true contribution to theeconomy, which is care for others. The work being done today by women in popularsettlements is not only having a direct impact on their localities, but also, accordingto research carried out by UN Women (2016-2017), is making a significant contributionto sustaining the economy and reducing public spending on social services andinfrastructure.

But the work does not end here, because of the precarious situation that characterizeshousing in popular settlements, it is necessary to make extraordinary efforts to try toprotect groups at risk and prevent them from becoming infected. Inequality in access towater for human consumption also exacerbates the problem. The report, The COVID-19Pandemic Deepens the Care Crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean (2020), indicatesthat 13.5% of the region's households do not have access to improved water sources,which adds more hours to unpaid care work.

13

III. Recovery must go beyond the starting point

“I don't expect much from the government, ifthey should start changing the way they see

the people most in need, see how theyorganize them, accommodate them and stop

ignoring us. I would like them to look at uswith different eyes." (Gladys Gonzalez, leader

of Rincón del Lago, Colombia).

When we think of recovery, the first thing thatcomes to our minds is the return to a previousstate, to a "better past. The problem is that, inthe case of popular settlements, reaching thepre-pandemic situation is not enough. Thatstage, characterized by lack of access to basicservices, inadequate housing, and lack ofcommunity infrastructure, cannot be the goal.In this sense, it is key to carry out actions thatnot only mitigate the effects of COVID-19 inthese communities, but also attempt torecover, but that are sustainable and lastingactions, which aim to be part of the structuralsolutions that these neighborhoods require.

In this sense, we believe that it will no longerbe possible to hide the reality of popularsettlements, therefore governments will haveto come up with answers.

IV. FINDINGS FROM THE TERRITORY

These communities want and expect changesin the government's actions in the post-pandemic context, although there is always acertain disbelief in the State's capacity to trulycarry out development actions for the mostvulnerable sectors.

“Put yourself in the people's shoes, make areform where you help a redistribution."

(Hoover Edilberto Peña, settlement leader ofthe Mirador de Corinto 3, Colombia).

The redistribution of wealth is one of thecentral axes in the view of communityleadership. A fairer redistribution structurecan bring about real changes in our societies.

Other changes that the people who lead thepopular settlements demand from theirgovernments have to do with the fightagainst corruption and also with bringing theState closer to their neighborhoods. This lastaspect seeks a greater presence of thegovernment, accompanying the developmentof the settlements, listening to their claimsand paying attention to their ideas,knowledge and proposals.

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On the other hand, according to the experiences gathered, the new forms of help andaccompaniment that have emerged in the pandemic could give way to a new societywith more solidarity. The change, according to some leaders, is already taking place,and they see it reflected in the actions that are being carried out from the settlementitself to alleviate the effects of the COVID-19.

United We Will Win

The leaderships were also consulted about the characteristics that the neighborhooditself should develop or strengthen to face the changes that will arise in the post-pandemic context, and the word most mentioned was union.

“Uniting strength: in difficult times it is really important that everyone works hand inhand to be able to move forward and face the crisis. (Jean Marie Mimose, Te Nwa,

Haiti).

Community participation and organization are identified as key pillars for the recoveryphase, and this is understood from the previous analysis that we did: it was thecommunity organizations, whether grassroots or spontaneous, that emerged at thebeginning of the pandemic that accompanied and assisted their neighbors. Althoughthere was external assistance in several of the neighbourhoods that participated inthis study, most of the time these were isolated actions that did not have a clearstrategy or planning that would allow the community to anticipate or rely on suchassistance.

Another of the aspects mentioned for the recovery scenario was the need to generatenew jobs, considering that several of those that the population of the settlementscarried out, mostly within the popular economy, will be affected, not only by theconditions of isolation and social distancing, but also by the economic situation of thepopulation in general: many of the services provided or the goods offered by thepeople of the popular settlements are acquired by the middle class, which is seeing itsincome affected by the present crisis.

“Everyone's way of living, of performing in daily life (will change). The basic thing for me,as they say, is to think about the coexistence of people, we are human beings and we

must tend to respect the other. After the cholera, people changed their way of living andthinking". (Susana Fernández, settlement leader of La Tosquera, Argentina).

“Já está mudando. As pessoas já estão se preocupando mais com a necessidade dopróximo do que antes, então espera que pós pandemia as pessoas continuem se

preocupando com outros.”(Marcela Ferreira, lideresa del asentamiento Bemfica, Brasil).

15

“We would say that

since we are all

healthy and one joins

in and makes plans in

the community for

the developments

that we had before,

having alternatives

for the development

of the community, to

continue looking for

options where to go,

what doors to knock

on, after the asphalt

the development is at

the door.” (Carmen,

leadership of Villa

Hortensia, Dominican

Republic).

"You have to learn toundertake and innovate to

get your money's worth.”(Julio César Familia,

settlement La Paz,Dominican Republic)

In this sense, they highlight theneed for local merchants to beable to adjust their prices,lowering them in order to beaccessible to the commonpopulation.

Finally, the popular settlementswill have to continue working onthe development planspreviously outlined. As we havementioned throughout thisreport, the problems that afflictthe settlements most deeply areof a structural nature, and thepeople who live there cannotwait for solutions, so, as with thepresent crisis, the communitiesare organizing themselves tomobilize their owndevelopment.

On the other hand, withinthe community, theleaderships recognize theneed to revise their ownstructure of wealthdistribution, so that thosewho have more can helpthe most vulnerablefamilies in theneighborhood.

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We recognize that the coronavirus pandemic cameto detonate a minefield of inequality in thegeographic space of the settlements. Theseterritories are limited to a region that in recentmonths had been shaken by convulsivemobilizations that were putting the establishedsocial order in check and increasing a deep distrustin the leaders of state.

We easily associate that this uneasiness was due onseveral occasions to the discontent of the citizenswith the distribution of wealth, thus returning to theorigin of the problem we have raised here. In theReport, Latinobarómetro 2018, the indicator on theperception of justice in the distribution of wealth,showed a significant drop, from 25% in 2013 to 16% in2018. Likewise, another metric that shows thismalaise is the indicator of confidence in thegovernment, which fell from 45% in 2010 to 22% in2018.

The lack of confidence and legitimacy in institutionsonly increases the vulnerability of countries to crises,makes exit scenarios more complex and increasesthe risk of vulnerable populations. We can see thatthe coronavirus only exacerbated a situation ofinequality that was already plaguing the region. Thisbeing so, perhaps the "cure" for Latin America is notthe vaccine, but the possibility of thinking togetherin this context and listening to and putting at thecenter of the conversation those who, after years ofexperience, have developed the capacity to adapt toface the constant emergencies that life in thesettlement demands.

V. CONCLUSIONS

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In the research carried out by TECHO in 2019, on theexperience of community leaderships, it wasdetermined that those who work together withTECHO, do so mobilized by the recognition of needspresented by their community, also, because theyrecognize their potential to influence thetransformation of their communities and becausethey believe in the collective action that is achievedby promoting the participation of their neighbors.

In the State of the World's Volunteers 2018 Report,published by UN Volunteers (2018), solidarity andmutual aid appear repeatedly among the mainfindings. Community leaderships are helping theircommunities to deal with the tensions inherent inthe violation of their rights, and in turn, to respondspontaneously to critical situations.

Post-pandemic life has to consider, withoutexception, the modification of behaviour andrelationship patterns that have perpetuatedinequality. Just as society has entered into processesof reinvention to adapt to these new forms of lifeduring the pandemic, it is urgent to think of the dayafter as a scenario that also demands our adaptationand continuous improvement for survival. But forthis to happen, it is necessary to recognize where westand today, so that recovery begins beyond thestarting point, generating effective and bindingdialogues that formalize the spaces of public-territorial participation, where community leadersare an active part of government decisions on thetransformation of their territories.

V. CONCLUSIONS

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Organización de las Naciones Unidas dedicada a promover la igualdad degénero y el empoderamiento de las mujeres. (2016). Informe Anual.

Organización Mundial de la Salud. Sistema de Información COVID-19 para laregión de las Américas. https://paho-covid19-response-who.hub.arcgis.com/.

Programa de Voluntarios de las Naciones Unidas. (2018). Informe sobre elestado del voluntariado en el mundo 2018. El lazo que nos une, voluntariadoy resiliencia comunitaria.

VI. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES

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