By Tony Kaye | AVN Vice-President
"A Roof, A Skill, A Market ", AVN's programme for dissemination of an appropriate housing in West Africa,has won the 2016 World Habitat Award, the most prestigious international distinction in the field of housing.
This prize, awarded by the Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) together with UN-Habitat, demonstrates once more AVN’s standing as a major player in the field of appropriate housing in Africa. Already a WHA finalist in 2009, this French organization working in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Benin and Ghana was chosen by the jury among 12 selected projects and given a £ 10,000 reward. The award ceremony will take place in May 2017 in Nairobi (Kenya) during UN-Habitat’s Governing Council meeting.
“The Sahel is a region under extreme pressure from climate change, conflict and grinding poverty. Nubian vaults provide a far better way for people to live in this fragile region for little cost and virtually no environmental impact.” (David Ireland, Director of BSHF, funders and co-ordinators of the World Habitat Awards)
Appropriate housing, for as many as possible, as soon as possible
Since 2000, the Nubian Vault Association’s mission is to develop a market for appropriate housing in West Africa, integrating issues of housing, vocational training, economy, environment and climate. At the heart of the programme, an architectural concept both ancestral and innovative: the Nubian Vault. This building technique uses neither wood nor metal, but only raw earth, and enables the professional training of a local and often precarious workforce to a business with a future. The results? Local populations have access to affordable and appropriate – i.e. resilient and comfortable in the face of climate change – housing, green jobs are created, economies are strengthened at all levels and an “appropriate housing” sector is developing in a growing green economy.
Deployed in five countries, and growing by an average 32% yearly, the programme led by 67 team members, most of them African, and carried in collaboration with numerous local partners, has enabled, since inception, the construction of 2,000 buildings in 830 towns and villages, to the benefit of 25,000 people; the training and professional inclusion of 635 apprentices, masons, artisans and entrepreneurs; a potential economy of 65,000 tons of CO2; and the re-injection of 2.5 million euros into local circuits.
“The right to adequate housing is so fragile right now and under such threat, it’s incredibly heartening to know that ‘A roof, a skill, a market’ is fighting to ensure a dignified life through adequate housing. It strikes me that this project has a macro perspective that fits with the human rights vision.” (Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing and judge of the World Habitat Award).
Foir more information about this prestigious Award, you can download the attached Press Release....
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