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Latin American Environmental Community Psychology (ECP) has among its goals contributing to improve living conditions of residents in precarious settlements. Literature in ECP mostly refers to projects with community and/or professionals. These professionals promote processes and actions for enhancing communities’ empowerment and participation, for its members to improve their residential living conditions. Such endeavor is also expected to influence public policy. Nevertheless, little has been reported on communities' influence in public policies and on joint work with agencies in charge of devising and implementing them. Our presentation focuses precisely on community guidelines for housing and habitat public policy, developed within a government agency. Guidelines were supported by (a) ECP’s principles, (b) critical constructionist paradigm (Wiesenfeld, 2001); (c) an approach for public management based on community and agency’s members participation and co-responsibility; (d) sustainable development model; (e) information gathered in workshops, meetings, interviews and discussion groups, with the institution’s personnel and community members in a Venezuelan State.

In Venezuela, since 1973, social participation has been present as a key process for national development projects in most Nation´s plans. During the past nine years current government has enhanced the importance of participation by incorporating it as a requirement for undertaking numerous laws, policies and/or social programs. In this presentation we will analyse and compare official and non official discourses of participation. Official meanings will be analysed through government representatives´ discourses and official doccuments (laws, policies, programs) referring to this process. Analysis of non official meanings of participation will be based on discourses of two social actors: community council members and university students who oppose the government. Implications for promoting participatory practices coherent with some of its principles and values will be discussed.

Ce travail traite sur le thème du développement durable à partir du scénario des communautés. A cette fin nous proposons une approche que incorpore la dimension psychosociale suggérée par Valera et Pol (1996) en plus de la dimension communautaire. A l'appui de cette proposition on présente et analyse ici les résultats d'une expérience réalisée dans un bidonville à Caracas.

In this paper we deal with the topic of environmental sustainability in the context of poor urban communities. FoR this purpose we first present an approach which integrates the environmental dimension and the community perspective. Based on this approach, we then present and analyze the results of an experience undertaken in a popular neighborhood in Caracas, in which we carried out a project oriented towards promoting environmental and community sustainability