Proposals

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1. Incentives for heritage house owners

To make the maintenance expenses more affordable, the students propose introducing a catalogue of small measures that effect in a financial discharge of the households. This is expected to motivate the owners to improve the current conditions of their houses. Three different measures were ideated:

1. Cutting house tax for heritage buildings

2. Cutting utility costs

3. Repair loans without interest

The residents would not be the only ones benefiting from this tax package. The state of Goa would benefit from the rising willingness of the owners to invest in the future of their houses to keep the value of the heritage buildings. This corresponds with the long-term plans of the tourism-strategy of Goa where the focus is set on cultural tourism. Investing indirectly through tax incentives into the heritage helps to preserve its value and the importance of this unique area.

2. Building awareness among youth

The target of the students in this topic is to raise the pride and create awareness for heritage among the youth. Since youngsters are the future decision makers of the area, it’s important that they grow up knowing the values of heritage, so that they take conscious actions in the future. A well informed youth will affect the parents and wider community. Moreover, good understanding can increase the feeling of belonging and impact the youth to stay when they grow up, instead of moving away as a lot of the young people are doing today. To do this, the students propose reviving the heritage club at People’s Higher Secondary School, within the HECS network. Heritage Education and Communication Service (HECS) is dedicated to spreading awareness to all, especially young people, about India’s natural, built, and cultural heritage. Though currently the school already has a heritage club in collaboration with HECS, its activities are only limited to participating in a film festival. Therefore, the students suggest reviving it, by introducing more activities which will encourage more children to join. Examples of these activities are heritage walks, drawing competitions and “adopt a house” project, which consists of children being responsible to learn about the history of a house and monitor it. Later involvement of experts in the project would enable the kids to learn practical skills on the maintenance of the heritage buildings.

3. Community, pride and ownership

Under this topic the students hope to strengthen the feeling of belonging and responsibility for the area among the residents, strengthen the community bond and give the power back to the people. In order to do this they looked at two main strategic interventions that could be done.

A) Facebook Platform

The current situation of the social capital in the study area calls for a tool to unify the community and especially integrate the two wards – Fontainhas and Mala - with each other. Initially, the idea was to encourage the residents to create an association, however considering the current situation of the social capital, it was understod that this would be quite difficult to achieve. With smart phones and social media being omnipresent in our daily lives, an online platform would be a quicker and more practical space for residents to come together and interact. Furthermore, it would make it possible

to encompass a wider scope of participants and stakeholders. A Facebook group would be a catalyst to facilitate exchange of information within the community. Posts about common interests can become niches for people to meet up in real life, so the online group will gradually lead to integration of the community in reality. This will enhance the feeling of belonging. Additionally, people united as a whole will have the power to approach authorities and hold them accountable for their actions.

B) Events

Throughout the interviews and other methods organized with the community, the memories of the festival that revived the area are of the most outstanding ones. It was then that Fontainhas regained its beauty and pride, by becoming an attraction point of visitors and investments in the area. It is evident that in the organization of a big event lies a great potential of rebuilding social network and capital. The students proposal therefore is to activate the public space for community building and to organize different events like festivals, street parties, etc. Not only will the event foster a sense of civic pride and create new links between members of the community, but it will also generate revenue which can be used to invest in the maintenance of the houses. Especially during the planning phase, the bonds between the residents themselves and the different organizations are forged. The Facebook group created ahead can be the niche to initiate the event and encourage the two neighborhoods for engagement and collaboration.

“Make it Happen” heritage walk tour guides showed motivation to not only assist but even initiate big scale events spreading through the length of the settlement. The students served as a bridge to link them to resource people from the two wards, Fontainhas and Mala, so as to create an initiating team, and helped ideate activities for an initial event. New Year’s was chosen as a neutral festivity, not associated with any religion. 33