Project Transition is a far reaching, comprehensive development project with the Martina Bustos community in Costa Rica. A marginalized community of largely undocumented Nicaraguan migrants, the community faces several interrelated challenges, including issues related to legal status, land rights, and titles; weak community organization; limited access to education, skill development, and economic opportunities; poor infrastructure and lack of access to clean drinking water, sanitation, and health care; a highly degraded environment; and more, all of which have a deleterious effect on the health and living conditions of inhabitants.
The project will demonstrate an innovative, comprehensive approach to community-based sustainable development. The underlying concept is to showcase the application of The Lab’s sustainability principles to transforming a reality of persistent poverty into a positive, productive opportunity, while providing a proactive, replicable, and scalable model for addressing the vexing issues associated with migrant groups in Costa Rica, and throughout other parts of the world.
The Martina Bustos Community, At a Glance
The Martina Bustos community is located in the Guanacaste region in northwestern Costa Rica, approximately 80 kilometers south of the Nicaraguan border. Martina Bustos occupies a site consisting of approximately 23 hectares of land at the outskirts of the city of Liberia. The site itself and the surrounding region are characterized by a predominantly dry, tropical climate, which in recent years has experienced severe droughts. Agricultural activities still dominate the area, particularly sugarcane plantations and cattle ranches. New industries are being developed in the region, and the Guanacaste province, with its world class beaches and dry tropical forests, has emerged as an important tourism destination.
The community itself comprises of some 2,000 individuals, most of whom are migrants from Nicaragua. Although individuals, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and others have attempted various initiatives to help improve conditions in Martina Bustos, there has yet to be a comprehensive, coordinated effort that takes a structural, multifaceted, and long-range approach to realizing a better future for this community.
The full report, Martina Bustos: PROJECT TRANSITION – A Sustainability Blueprint for Community Development is available online.
