Education for Sustainable Development in a Semiarid Rural Area: a Case Study of a Self-Help Tourist Housing Project in Paraguaná, Venezuela

The sustainable development of arid and semi arid areas in Paraguaná, Venezuela is achievable if the local population can be educated to recognize and overcome the problems that prohibit the areas development.
This study is a contribution to an ongoing project in which the local Universities are educating communities to incorporate new elements and technologies within their ancestral technologies. This self help housing project aims to increase the durability of housing and improve living conditions. Presented here is an experience in Paraguaná, Venezuela, where the selection of an adequate group to participate in the Self-Help Tourist Housing Project is vital to the success of the sustainable development educational program.
The study uses various research techniques to enable an improved and targeted educational program to be recommended. These techniques include questionnaires, video recordings, observations, seminars, workshops and focused interviews. The utilizing of these varied techniques would allow for an understanding of the current problems and would highlight the most suitable educational methods that would enable sustainable development.
Community members participated in a training program designed to raise awareness of local problems and taught construction methods that would improve their buildings resistance to the harsh environment. By analyzing the changes in attitude and ability of the educational group after the training had taken place would enable the effectiveness of the self help training to be concluded. It also highlighted the importance that selecting and targeting participants played to achieve the ability and attitude necessary for the success of the sustainable development of the self help housing project.
The research project also highlighted other barriers to sustainable development and a tourist approach has been considered relevant for the sustained development of housing as the geographical location and opportunities offered through a tourist circuit would complement the aspirations of the local community of Cerro Pelón. To enable the Self Help Housing Project to be both sustained and successful, it is important to ensure that the communal council within Cerro Pelón contains members who realise that education is vital in achieving sustainable development.

Word keys: ESD in rural communities, homogeneous community, communal councils, rural tourism