Habitech International promotes three types of business packages (micro, small and medium to large-scale) to establish building material producers to supply either housing projects or the construction market in general.
All these packages are modeled on private sector enterprises, create
employment and provide income for those hired in the local population while generating profits making them sustainable, as they don’t pollute, degrade the environment or contribute to greenhouse effects.
As its name indicate the goal of Habitech is to research, develop and transfer housing technologies that can better respond to local housing demand of low income families, contribute to socioeconomic development in a sustainable way.
We have been addressing the problem of delivering affordable housing by developing building material and construction techniques that can be used by unskilled labour which while lowering the cost of housing procure good, solid and durable houses that can resist earthquakes, floods and typhoons. Houses built this way consistently undercut traditional and conventional construction system by as much as 30 to 50%.
We believe that local populations should be involved in the production of building materials and in the construction process itself. After all it is their houses that are built. Construction projects can be successful if they are rooted in the community, present innovative solutions and address livelihood by making it possible for some people to earn a living and generate income from these projects.
We have been instrumental in the establishment of building material production and distribution centers for in low-income settlements with the aim of reducing costs for self-help and mutual aid builders. We are aware that we are only facilitators, filling a gap that must legitimatize expectations giving access to technology, building capacity and propagating it through the raising of funds.
Habitech has transferred technology to many housing projects in cooperation with international and national institutions, NGOs, housing cooperatives, the private sector and low-income community groups. We participated in the delivery and establishment of more than one hundred and fifty production units in Afghanistan, Buthan, Cambodia, Cameroon, Fiji, Ghana, Haiti, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand and Vietnam.
Our approach has been recognized by the United Nations Human Settlements Program and the international community as contributing to housing and economic development through the transfer of technology and has been compiled in their Best Practices database for others to learn from and incorporate in their own work.
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