The main results achieved:
- Two awareness-raising sessions were held on August 08 and 09, 2023 with the aim of raising awareness among families benefiting from the rehabilitation of their homes about the rational use of resources and pollution control, aiming for a healthy environment and compliance with the PGAS training and awareness-raising plan. Each session lasted 3 hours.
- The UGPE and DGH promoted the meeting, mobilizing partnerships with ANAS (the National Water and Sanitation Agency) and DNICE (the National Directorate for Industry, Trade and Energy); mobilizing participants from the Safende and Calabaceira neighbourhoods, and preparing the logistics for the meeting. The two sessions were hosted by the Manuel Lopes Secondary School (Calabaceira), which is committed to managing HCP complaints.
- A total of 41 people took part in the awareness-raising session, more than 90% of whom were representatives of the households benefiting from the housing rehabilitation. On 08/08/2023, families from lots 2 and 3 (Safende) were included. On 09/08/2023, the families of lot 1 (Safende) and lots 4 and 5 (Calabaceira) were contemplated. Social workers and architects from the DGH took part in the two awareness-raising sessions, ensuring that the messages were reinforced during visits to the families;
- Vera Garcia and Elsa Fortes, specialists in the water resources sector, led the awareness-raising sessions, ensuring that all participants were involved. The public was able to learn about the real scarcity of water resources and the level of effort associated with mobilizing water for human consumption, especially the costs of desalinating seawater. Through dynamics created with communication materials such as the “deck of conscious water consumption” and other computer pamphlets, the beneficiaries became aware of the volume of water associated with each practice, allowing them to choose practices based on knowledge in their daily lives. Participants were also able to learn about good hygiene practices and the maintenance of toilets, safe ways of reusing gray water and pollution control.
- Energy efficiency specialist Izauda Monteiro from UGPE held an open conversation with the beneficiaries. They became aware of the risks associated with negligence in home electrical installations, poor choice and misuse of equipment. They were then able to identify common practices of electricity use/misuse in the home, highlighting serious safety risks, the costs associated with consumption and the good practices to be implemented to make electricity consumption more conscious, safe and cheaper. Participants were encouraged to take action to save electricity by distributing 4 LED bulbs to each participant to replace the incandescent bulbs in their homes. Questions and answers about the equipment and the associated usage practices were frequently asked.