Implementation and the dynamic evolution of the bam housing reconstruction organisation

Abstract

Plans on how to organise a programme or project are made prior to their actual implementation, when initial assumptions are made while the available information is often limited in the early stages. Corrective adjustments thus are needed over time to reflect the realities of the implementation of the programme. The reconstruction period is already uncertain and dynamic thus upon implementation some initial assumptions be proved problematic and new information or situation regularly emerges. The sociotechnical system for delivery of the strategic objectives of the housing reconstruction programme in Bam provides an illustrative example of a participatory reconstruction programme evolution over the official period of reconstruction, and the variety of the influential drivers of that. This chapter explores the system adjustments of the Bam’s urban housing reconstruction programme in response to the emerging issues and forcing drivers either as a result of the initial design of the system or the emerged realities in the field and its broader context. A few examples are adjustments in control mechanisms, introducing creative solutions to an operational bottleneck, changing the role of beneficiaries and the way the programme towards the end of the programme the system was downsized to mark the end of the reconstruction period. The organisational capacity was adjustable in order to address the unknown pace of participatory reconstruction activities. These adjustments also reflected a major political change in the country that influenced the internal dynamics of some participant organisations and introduced a new group of beneficiaries, increasing the size of the programme.