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Funding
to Date:
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$7,633 (%)
As of Feb 09 02:57 2012
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Theme:
Economic Development
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Sponsor: Tech Museum Awards
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Project duration: Ongoing
Project's area of focus: Environementally sound, economic, timberless housing using VN earth brick vaulted roofing
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The project addresses the need in sub-Saharan Africa for affordable, environmentally appropriate, sustainable, comfortable housing. Key beneficiaries are the rural families who acquire NV (Nubian Vault) homes, local builders and apprentices working for the program, who become independent NV entrepreneurs, and the associated workers such as earth brick makers, transporters, laborers. Scarce funds previously used for buying imported building materials stay in, and stimulate, the local economy.
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We organize the recruitment and on-the-job training of Nubian Vault (NV) builders in the Sahel, help them become independent NV entrepreneurs, and provide a developing pool of clients for them through our promotional, communication, and networking activities.
By 2011, over 200 masons have been trained in the Nubian Vault technique, in Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Zambia, and over 1,000 vaults (houses, schools, dispensaries, barns, churches, mosques...) have been built. |
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To harness the necessary financial, human, and strategic resources to maintain exponential growth of the Program, and obtain key macro-economic effects, with 5 – 10% of the relevant population of the Sahel affected (c. 20 million people) by 2030. |
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I believe that they are presently the best worldwide in this field ... they focus on the social aspect …. Technology is just a tool in their hand to give people the means to build their own habitat.
- Mr Satprem Maini, Director, Auroville Earth Institute, India
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Tony Kaye,
14 Market Square
Stony Stratford
Milton Keynes, n/a MK11 1BE
United Kingdom
00 44 (0) 1908 262
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In sub-Saharan Africa, and other regions with similar environments, to promote the construction of vaulted earth brick houses which are environmentally friendly, affordable, and comfortable, using a now well-proven technique: la Voute Nubienne (VN). The VN technique, a simplified, standardised, adaptation of traditional methods from the Nubian region of Egypt, is relatively unknown in the Sahel and West Africa. The project is an exemplar of South > South technology transfer.
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AVN's 'Earth roofs in the Sahel' program has grown exponentially since 2000, with 200 masons trained and 1000 vaults built by 2010: mainly for rural houses, composed of 1 - 3 vaults, but also for communal buildings (guest houses, schools, literacy centres, mosques, a church, health centres...). The program has spread from Burkina Faso to Mali and Senegal, and a new program was launched in 2009 in Zambia.
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Build Sustainable Housing for Families in Africa
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Thomas Granier,
Director of Operations
Founded in 2000
Employees: 11
Volunteers: 12
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Other funding sources: some clients (e.g. NGO's) give 20% of the total cost of their buidling project to support our Program; we also receive some public and private support (e.g. Veolia Foundation, individual donations).
Religious Affiliation: None
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Thomas Granier was a builder in France, specializing in restoration of old buildings. In 1998, at the invitation of Konaté Bomavé, in Burkina Faso, he tried adapting the age-old Nubian vault technique to building houses in the Sahel. The success of these trials led him in 2000 to set up the Association la Voute Nubienne (AVN) to promote this technique in Burkina Faso and neighbouring countries
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Séri Youlou, originally a farmer, from Boromo, Burkina Faso, was the first person to train as a VN builder, in 1998. He is responsible for coordinating the ‘Earth roofs in the Sahel’ program in Burkina Faso: organizing the training of apprentices, liaising with NV clients, setting up a NV builders’ cooperative, supervising NV building sites. He is helped by six support staff, in Boromo.
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Antoine Horellou is a specialist in social entrepreneurship; he has led several international missions to Africa for NGO's, and decided in 2006 to design a development strategy for the AVN. Currently, he is seeking to improve the social impact of the NV technique, to develop an innovative delivery strategy, and to improve the productivity and number of NV builders.
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