The Argentine Institute for Sustainable Construction (Instituto Argentino de Construcción Sustenable / IARCOS) is a non-profit, non-government organization comprised of over 100 members and collaborators dedicated to providing sustainable, progressive solutions to humanitarian issues at a community level in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The 4th Sydney Latin American Film Festival's 2009 Community Support Program donation will be directed in part toward IARCOS’ work in the neighbourhood of Nuestro Futuro (Our Future) located in the region of La Matanza, whereby the entire neighbourhood is lacking health services and basic infrastructure, and housing standards are very poor with most dwellings lacking in basic facilities such as running water, reliable electricity or a sewage system.
IARCOS has used their ingenuity to pull together a wealth of pre-exisiting resources to rebuild communities. New homes are constructed entirely of recycled material. The design of these new homes may be simple, but the social impact is impressive.
IARCOS aims to ensure the changes taking place in these neighbourhoods are sustainable; communities must be able to take responsibility, have a clear mission, vision and objectives from the outset. They maintain that respect and local participation in the development process is key to achieving sustainability.