Las respuestas de los pobres a la crisis: Las redes de organizaciones comunitarias y la búsqueda de soluciones a los problemas de las áreas periféricas de Buenos Aires

The purpose of this presentation is to make a contribution to the study of contemporary processes of grassroots organizations and project management by networks of community organizations in the Great Buenos Aires (Argentina). This is the result of a case study about the articulation process of a network of grassroots organizations placed in one of the poorest areas of the metropolitan area during the peak of the recent socio-economic crisis of Argentinean history. This network called “Organized Community” began a process of self-organization with the purpose of developing basic urban infrastructure in five neighborhoods. There are three main hypotheses. First, toward the failure of both the market and the state, population of these neighborhoods propels processes of local organization that are autonomous of political and governmental existing structures. Second, the articulation of a network of grassroots organizations allows them to consolidate, face bigger and more ambitious projects and to establish relationships and alliances with strategic actors (other networks, professional NGOs, international agencies, etc.). Finally, because of the way of functioning of the network almost as a collective organization (horizontal and open in an assembly manner) reaching the entire community in a novel way for Argentinean society, it generates tensions and competition, challenging well established political actors and machineries characterized by clientelistic practices and verticality.