Reconstruir Information System - El Salvador

This programme demonstrates one way in which information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play a role in a national reconstruction process by centralising key information and by providing a means for its rapid dissemination. It is one model for the way in which organisations from different sectors of society can use the Internet to work together to address immediate - and longer-term - development problems.

Following the January 2001 earthquakes, the UNDP, together with a team from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, set up an information system in order to deal with the emergency. In an effort to support rebuilding in the province of Sonsonate, and to avoid losing all the information and knowledge generated during the reconstruction process, UNDP and Infocentros created the Reconstruir portal (in Spanish language only). An editorial board comprised of representatives from 12 governmental and non-governmental organisations that were taking part in the reconstruction process cooperated in developing the portal. The various organisations voluntarily handed over the results of their work or their research for dissemination in an effort to broaden knowledge.

The portal was designed to inform both citizens and NGOs participating in the reconstruction effort. Citizens could learn of the status of projects, finding out in which locations work was in progress and in which it was not. They could (and still can) view photographs of the reconstruction effort. In part, this citizen involvement was a strategy for encouraging organisational accountability. The NGOs participating in the rebuilding effort could log in to various interactive sections of the website; this free forum enabled them to discuss, plan, produce, and publish reports and documents regarding nascent, finalised, or executed projects.

Emergency, Technology.

Organisers explain that San Ramón, in the province of Sonsonate, is one of the few indigenous communities still in existence in El Salvador. According to El Salvador's Human Development Report 2003, almost 1,300 low-income Salvadorans died in the 2001 earthquakes; more than 7,000 were injured. Some 140,000 dwellings were destroyed and the earthquakes caused economic losses amounting to more than US$1.6 billion. In the aftermath of the disaster, community members requested help from UNDP's El Salvador office (through an NGO). The UNDP proposal went beyond rebuilding the damaged infrastructure to include provisions for drinking water, electricity, and latrines. In addition, it involved risk management to ensure that the population would not be impacted in the future by foreseeable natural threats. In a few months' time, 33 dwellings were constructed at a cost of less than US$1,500 each.

The Reconstruir portal recorded more than 40,000 visits. Organisers suggest that the experience opened the eyes of many San Ramón residents to the power and possibility of ICTs. Two such residents, neither of whom had ever worked on a computer or navigated the Internet, are exploring the possible creation of a website for all the indigenous communities of Sonsonate. There, community members would sell handicrafts to increase their income. In addition, Development Gateway plans to replicate the process in a broader way - that is, by creating development portals not solely focussed on disaster - in other Latin American countries. For example, plans are underway in Guatemala to work with similar development communities.

Infocentros is an independent organisation whose goal is to enhance people's development by facilitating access to technology.