05/28 Building Issues Equal Rights to Good Advice

Description:
The Building Issues publication initiative started in the middle of the 1980´s. Sida realised that technical problems were common in construction projects supported by Swedish development aid. Sida made contact with Lund University and the department of Housing Development and Management (HDM), which deals with the design, production and use of housing from the immediate neighbourhood to the city level, in different parts of the world. On the commission of Sida, HDM has been responsible for a serious of problem-oriented studies done by HDM or researchers connected to HDM. The purpose has been to highlight current problems within Sida's fields of operation in the developing countries. The results of the studies were distributed in publications, called "Building Issues".
The prime objective of this evaluation is to determine the effectiveness and the relevance of the Building Issues publications in countries were Swedish development cooperation programmes are operating. It was carried out by engaging professionals from Asia, Africa and Latin America who, except from their home country, also visited three other countries in the area to collect information gathered from pre-distributed questionnaires sent to key stakeholders.
The Building Issues publications have been in line with the objectives set by Sida. HDM has been very conscious of then operative and focus changes in the international development activities. However, the Building Issues Programme has been lacking a dissemination or distribution strategy that has limited the impact of the publication of reaching a wider spectrum of the target group. The evaluation team provides several recommendations on how to transform the Building Issues Programme into an instrument meeting with the new challenges of housing in the developing world.

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