Werner: What is the «Asociación de Desarrollo Integral de Jesús de Santa Bárbara?»?
Marco: Well (laughing), first of all it is a very long name, but it also is a group of members of the comunity who organize and form an excutive board. This excutive board works together with other organisations to find programs and projects they carry out. Our aim is the growth and the development of our Barrio.
W: With which other organisations are you working together?
M: We are working together with the municipal administration of Santa Bárbara for example, but we also colaborate with a union of associations. Furthermore there is an organisation of the government on a national basis, which is called «DINADECO» and it is the national coordinator of all associations of development. You can say that it is the head of all the other organisations and its task is to ensure the correct usage of public fonds.W: You have often used the word «development», could you please give me your definition of this word?
M: Ok, for me the word «development» means to go from one stage to a better one. If there is no positive change,only a negative one, you cannot call it development. This would be a regression, which is the opposite of what we want. Our aim is to improve different things step by step here in Barrio Jesús. We are looking for programs in the community that help to advance the community at least a little.
W: When was the association founded and why?
M: It was founded more than 40 years ago in 1974. In this time «DINADECO» was a young organisation and there were very big movements of development in the communities. Therefore members of many communities all over the country started to form associations of development in an organized way. «DINACECO» obtains public fonds from taxes and gives this money to different organisations of development so that these organisations accomplish different works and programs.This way «DINADECO» supports some food banks for children.
W: How come that you are the president of the organisation and what do you have to do?
M: Well, I have been president of the association since I was elected four years ago and this June I was elected again by the members of this group. There are not a lot of people who want to work in the community. Even though I have a lot of work to do which nobody wants to do, I accepted to be a part of the association and moreover I will try to continue until 2013.
What I normally have to do is to care for programs, projects and expenses and with my partners of the executive board we approve things we like, but also look for new projects. We try to see what the community is missing and how we can help.
W: What projects do you associate or have alreadyn associated and for what reason?
M: Well, at the moment we are planning to build a roof above the basketball court, so that the children and teenagers have a place to play even when it is raining. Here we have a lack of opportunities for them and they do not have a place to stay.
In general the reason for me to do this is that there are a lot of things missing in the communities, for example: in this community of Barrio Jesús the community hall and the property are not owned by the community. They do not belong to anyone. In Costa Rica still exists land that is noones property, in this case it was more or less the land of the municipal administration. Therefore, when I was president for the first time, we iniciated a process to demand the community hall and the property many years ago. We hope that this year the court of Heredia decides that these properties and the building belong to the association.
W: What is the biggest problem the association is confronted by at the moment and how can people help you?
M: We have 125 members here in the Asociación de Desarrollo, but not even half of them join our meetings, normally there are only between 30 and 40 people, if there are 50 people around you can call it a party… All in all the problem is that almost nobody has the time to do his work which is a shame.One possibility to help us is to advertise the Asociación, so that more people know about our work and participate. We already have a small newspaper that provides information for the people. Besides, a lot of people do not know that they can rent the community hall for parties or meetings. Furthermore the newspaper gives shops the possibility to run an advertisement and with the money we obtain from this, we finance projects, for example the one with the basketball court.
W: So for the future you wish that there are more people who are interessted in the association?
M: Exactly, there are more or less 3.000 people living in Barrio Jesús and only 1% joins the meetings. Therefore we also plan an «open house» to lure more people, because it is important to have people who like to put effort in the work for the community.
W: Thank you for the possibility to interview you!
M: You are welcome!
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* Werner Jacobs is a volunteer at Amistad Institute
