safe - background & activities, january 2012
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Low cost housing &
Affordable Innovation Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur
District, Bangladesh.
Rev 2. November 2011
Simple Action For the Environment (SAFE)
Registered under: Niraporth Bangladesh Songstha (Safe
Bangladesh Organisation, SBO),
Sundarban Village,
PO: Ramdubihat, Upuzila: Sadar Dinajpur.
Social Welfare Registration No: DINAJ/2133/10
Introduction
The aim of our organisation is to:
Reduce the vulnerability of low income households to environmental hazards such as flooding
and strong winds.
We do this through improving rural house building techniques and environmental
initiatives such as tree planting.
We aim to increase community self reliance by creating skilled and informed local builders,
craftsmen and house owners. We will promote tried and tested techniques that build on
existing construction practices.
For our ideas to spread people must want to choose to spend their money on our improved
techniques. To do this they must be affordable and available, and households must
understand how our techniques work and their benefits. This document will set out the
background behind these techniques and the process we will use to disseminate them.
Background
SAFE is an NGO based in the Dinajpur region in the far north west of the country.
Sundarban Union
Northern Bangladesh
Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur District, Bangladesh. December 2011
Although Dinajpur does not suffer from the severe storms that affect the coastal region of
the country, localised flooding does often occur and strong winds in September and October
regularly cause damage to houses. Dinajpur also lies in the highest earthquake risk zone in
Bangladesh. Dinajpur’s economy depends largely on agriculture, the area being famous for
its rice. Approximately 40% of its population are landless labourers. It also has a large
Hindu population, over 20% according to the 2001 census.
SAFE is a small NGO consisting of three full time staff. It has been officially been operating
since 2009 months with support from Housing and Hazards,
(www.housingandhazards.org), an international group of building professionals working to
promote affordable hazard resistant housing. SAFE have also implemented projects in
partnership with UNDP, Australian High Commission and British Women Association
(Dhaka). SAFE’s founder, Azit Roy, has been involved in low cost housing projects for over
14 years. He has worked with Housing and Hazards since 1997 when he helped to pilot a
series of building for safety workshops in collaboration with shelter after disaster specialist
Ian Davis. He has also worked with. local institutions BRAC University and Bangladesh
University of Engineering & Technology and as a consultant on post disaster housing
projects in the south of Bangladesh for UNDP, Oxfam and International Union for
Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2007 he was involved in the construction of a school
made from mud and bamboo (www.anna-heringer.com/index.php?id=31) in the Dinajpur
region which has since won the Agha Khan award for architecture. Pulin Roy, the
programme coordinator, has a background of NGO work in health and education sectors
since studying at the Social Leadership Institute of Xavier University in the Philippines.
SAFE has successfully run ‘building for safety’ workshops and tree planting projects. Their
latest workshop was hosted in partnership with Housing and Hazards and RedR UK
(www.redr.org.uk) in which 15 international participants teamed up with local builders, the
local community and BRAC university students to construct a demonstration house.
Having operated for several years and being run by members of the local community SAFE
is trusted and respected in the work that it does. Its’ staff are charismatic and popular
Participants at the last building workshop in September with (almost) finished demonstration house behind
Pulin Roy – SAFE programme coordinator
Ajit Roy - founder of SAFE
Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur District, Bangladesh. December 2011
members of that community and they are well placed to successfully implement this
program.
The theory behind what we are doing
There are two elements which underpin our activities:
1. Using methods that are appropriate
2. Communicating these methods in a way which people understand and will
remember
Appropriate building techniques are those which are affordable (incl. low-income
households), and use materials which are available and techniques which can easily be
learnt.
To this end the building techniques that SAFE promotes are based on both academic
research1 and local experience2. They are modest technological innovations or design
changes that will strengthen or improve parts of the house which are particularly weak and
vulnerable to the local climate.
They use readily available materials such as mud or bamboo so as still to remain affordable
for low income groups. The average cost of these extra techniques range from between 8%-
20% of the original cost of the house. One example is the use of a small proportion of
cement to stabilize mud walls, making them much more resistant to flooding, rain water
and insects.
1 Two recent publications which encapsulate this approach and many of these techniques are: Mallick, F. H. et al. (2008). Improved design and construction of rural housing in Noakhali. IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature); and Iftekar, Dr. K. A. (2005). Handbook on design and construction of housing in flood prone areas of Bangladesh. ADPC (Asia Disaster Preparedness Centre). Available at http://www.sheltercentre.org/library 2 Carter, M, (1997). Rural housing and affordable innovation. Housing and Hazards. Available at www.housingandhazards.org
Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur District, Bangladesh. December 2011
Rather than using these techniques to produce a single design to be indiscriminately copied,
SAFE promotes a range of ‘Building-for-Safety’ (BfS) options which can be replicated to suit
the individual. This approach acknowledges that no two houses are the same – people have
different aspirations, family sizes, occupations and budgets, and as such will need different
houses.
When communicating these techniques, SAFE understands that the most effective way of
learning is ‘learning by doing’. We partner with local households to build or repair a new
house which they will use after construction. By involving local builders, the household and
others from the community in the work we ensure that the new ideas are firmly
understood. The house also then remains a lasting advertisement to the rest of the
community.
We also understand that if these techniques are to be replicated people must understand
not just the techniques themselves, but also why they are important. As part of the
workshop we provide advice and explanation about why the techniques work and how they
fit in to a general approach of building for safety.
Our approach is focussed on the process rather than the product. By this we mean that it is
the process, i.e. the partnership with the household, the involvement of local builders, the
teaching methods; these are more important that simply producing a house. This approach
will ensure that the ideas and techniques stand a much better chance of spreading to others
in the immediate and surrounding community.
Our planned activities 2012
SAFE will continue its work in the rural area of Sundarban, focusing on a relatively small
geographical area consisting of around 500 households in total. If our demonstration
buildings are concentrated in a smaller area we believe that the ideas will have a much
better chance of spreading.
Azit Roy with the song team at the start of a building for safety workshop
Photo of building techniques -
MC
Map of Sundarban Union showing area of focus for SAFE activities 2010-11
2km
Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur District, Bangladesh. December 2011
We will also be implementing a housing project in an urban area - a slum called Jorgen
Babur Mart in Dinajpur town. Our participatory approach with the community there has
been similar but with different designs appropriate to the place.
Our activities can broadly be divided as follows:
Urban Programme
1. Pilot project to construct 10 demonstration houses and community centre in Jorgen
Babur Mart – a slum area of Dinajpur town. This work follows from our successful
participatory design process and construction of 1st house in 2011. Download the report
at http://safebangladesh.wordpress.com/reports/
Rural Programme
1. Building for Safety workshops. These are 2 day long workshops with up to 20 people
from the local community and local builders. We encourage both men and women to
participate and attendance at our previous workshops has been evenly split. The
workshops include practical sessions eg. mud wall building, but also sessions on softer
subjects such as house maintenance and the longer term financial benefits of certain
techniques. We aim to hold one workshop during the construction of each
demonstration house.
2. Construction of demonstration houses. We will assist with the construction or
repair of houses for willing households using our improved construction techniques.
Together with the household and local builders we will design and plan the
construction and select appropriate techniques. These are options that suit the house-
owner’s wants and needs, and are in line with what the owner would have originally
paid, costing between 10-20% extra. SAFE will subsidize approximately 50% of the
cost of the house.
3. Provide material support and advice to householders using our techniques. We
will provide follow up visits to communities to reinforce the messages from workshops
and encourage their use in future building works. Subject to funding we will subsidize
Work being completed on demonstration house built Sep 2010
Workshop participants involved in costing exercise
Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur District, Bangladesh. December 2011
the additional costs of construction work using our BfS techniques for low income
households (households that own less than ½ acre of land).
4. Construction of community centre We aim to construct a local community centre in
partnership with the local community. The community has participated in the planning
of the project, which will be managed by community committee and who will donate
land and labour for the construction. The centre will be used as a pre-school for 25
pupils, and to hold events - weddings, funerals, public meetings.
The design will promote sustainable materials and construction techniques in line with
our existing approach. Refer to a similar design report in “Community Centre Design
Proposal” available http://safebangladesh.wordpress.com/reports).
5. Partnership with learning organisations. We will continue our existing partnerships
with BRAC University, Housing and Hazards, Exeter University (UK) and RedR-UK to
offer opportunities for students and professionals to participate in our workshops and
construction of demonstration houses.
6. Tree planting. Working with the communities above we will carry out tree planting
activities. The trees provide future protection from wind and will prevent soil erosion
and we include small workshops to demonstrate this. We use selected indigenous
species of trees and work with communities to select the type of tree and carry out the
planting – often using trees that will later bear fruit or have medicinal uses. We give
communities enough ‘buy in’ to ensure that they will look after the trees as they
mature. Since 2008 we have successfully planted approximately 1000 trees in
partnership with the local government Depending on funds we will aim to plant 700
trees in summer 2011.
7. Income generating activities. We will pursue the development of private
construction work whose profits will subsidize the activities of SAFE.
We hope that you like the sound of our organisation and our plans for the coming year.
There is no doubt that what we are trying to achieve will be a long term process – when it
comes to education and changing existing practice there are no quick fixes. We invite you to
Implementing Building for Safety in Dinajpur District, Bangladesh. December 2011
help us start to make that change - if you are interested in supporting SAFE further or
would like to find out more please contact:
In Bangladesh:
Azit Roy, T: +880 (0)1726 007 343, E: azit_sorkar@yahoo.com
John Arnold, T: +880 (0)1753 858 660 E: johnarnold700@yahoo.co.uk
In the UK:
Robert Hodgson (Housing and Hazards), T: +44 (0)1884 821239
R.L.P.Hodgson@exeter.ac.uk
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