Promoting climate-smart architecture for sustainable and affordable housing
Deforestation and rapid demographic change pose a challenge to the country’s construction sector which relies on wood and straw for roofing. These materials are no longer available nor affordable and dwellers rely on imported materials with a high carbon footprint. This IKI Small Grants project addresses this challenge by popularising a low-tech and frugal architecture in the Central Plateau Region, the Nubian Vault. The construction technique is done entirely in raw earth, including the vault-shaped roof. It has several benefits, such as adapting houses to the effects of climate change through better thermal insulation and greater durability. Moreover, it contributes to a reduce GHG emissions and strengthens the local economy through a labour-intensive construction technique. To establish a market for the Vault Nubienne, the project trains unskilled labour in construction and provides families with a 20 per cent construction subsidy.
INITIAL SITUATION
Burkina Faso is among the most vulnerable and least prepared countries to climate change. Due to deforestation and rapidly growing demography, wood and straw, traditionally used for roofing, are no longer available. People use their limited monetary resources to resort to unsuitable imported materials, like sheet metal, which has a high carbon footprint. The Plateau Central region with its 977,000 inhabitants in 2019, is a rural province with agriculture providing 80 per cent of jobs. Thus, there is a need for improving housing situations in an affordable and climate-smart way.
TARGET GROUP
This IKI Small Grants project targets the rural population of the Plateau Central region. It is primarily aimed at families living mainly from subsistence farming and at young people excluded from vocational training, with 465 targeted in total. Furthermore, 51 young farmers receive trainings, while community-based organisations acting as operating partner in their municipality.
APPROACH AND ACTIVITIES
The project aims to popularise a low-tech and frugal architecture, the Nubian Vault. The Nubian Vault construction technique is done entirely in raw earth, including the vault-shaped roof. This technical solution brings multiple benefits. It firstly adapts housing to the effects of climate change through better thermal insulation, reducing in-house temperate by around six degrees compared to standard houses. Nubian vaults are also long-lasting, with some of the oldest vaults existing for more than 3,000 years. Furthermore, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to a minimum compared to houses with metal sheets. The local vegetation cover is persevered, since no more wood or straw is cut for the construction. Last, the local economy is strengthened through a labour-intensive construction technique, providing employment for young people.
The diffusion of this innovative solution relies on the establishment of a market for Nubian vaults. The Association Tind Yalgré developed a territorial methodology to establish such a market. The project follows a three-pronged approach. It firstly creates a favourable business environment by mobilising three community-based organisations to offer trainings in the Nubian vault construction and publicise the project.
Secondly, it mobilises and trains the apprentices, local craftsmen, and masons in the construction technique to reinforce technical knowledge and self-employment skills. Thirdly, they raise awareness and promote actions of the technique among rural families. All measures are supported by financial incentives of about 20 per cent of the building costs of a simple 25 square meters dwelling to poor communities.
The project cooperates with actors of the communities (region, provinces, and municipalities) and regional services in charge of vocational training to provide long-term support for educational systems.
GALLERY
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
IKI Small Grants supports Association Tind Yalgré in their organisational capacity development through:
- Provision and training on digital tools, focusing on Kobocollect
- Reinforcement in complaints management
- Management of communications tools with focus on social media and ATY’s website.
ABOUT THE ORGANISATION
The province of Kourwéogo is subject to a disturbance of its ecological balance, such as land pressure, degradation of vegetation cover, land, and decline in soil fertility. To deal with this situation, a group of peasants came together to create the Wend Goudi group of Zan. Since 1989, the group’s actions have intensified and in 1994, the Tind Yalgré Association was born. The association brings together active members concerned with fighting against food insecurity that threatens the province and to qualitatively transform their living conditions. Tind Yalgré is an expression in Mooré expression that means ‘In the hope of a future enlargement’.