PAVILIONS for OKANA

a vision for a selfsustainingcommunity centre in Kenya

IntroductionThis summer a new concept has been realised. Two architecture students designed a community centre from natural materials to be built in Okana, Kenya. The last three months they have spend in Africa to construct the building. Now the next phase of the project is up. The possibilities to make the community centre self-sustaining must be explored.

We are Julius Bebber, Josefien Rots, Luka Peters and Charlie Roelse and we are four students from the Technical University in Delft, The Netherlands. The following five months we will be working on this project. The first two months we will spend researching the possibilities and learning about entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. The following three months will be spend in Okana to test our ideas with the community.

This project will be done together with the non-governmental, non-profit organization Sustainable Rural Initiatives (SRI). SRI is a local organization that tries to improve the quality of life for rural communities.

MissionOur mission is to help making Pavillions for Okana a self-sustaining project. We set up workshops, at least one to implement the BamGoo-bike, which the entrepreneurs can use to transport their goods. We analyse the working of Pavillions for Okana, and if it works well, it is a good example for starting similar projects in the area.

Julius van Bebber, Luka Peters, Charlie Roelse, Josefien Rots

ScopeWhen we arrive in Okana, we start with researching the current situation. We have to set up a local network and we have to naturalize with the daily routines and habits. We are going to analyse how the community centre works, what the business opportunities are in the area and what kind of knowledge is needed within the local community. Together with two designers we will build the first version of the BamGoo bike system. The next step is to test the bike system and check out if it has market potential. By implementing this bike system we can test if the local community is able to start their own non-agricultural business and with that, if they can make the community centre self sustaining.It is important that we have a flexible attitude when we arrive at Okana, because the situation of the community centre is still uncertain. This means that we need to use the different opportunities that arise. We are not planning to take over the business of the Pavillions of Okana. We want to show the community how to find opportunities and how to use them.

Problem AnalysisThe local community of Okana is in need of knowledge. There are a lot of resources, but they do not know how to use them. The area is very poor and the people live with the minimum of basic needs.

The people in Okana depend on agriculture. They cultivate maize, rice, millet, sugarcane and vegetables. Some of them also have cows, chickens or sheep. They all depend on the weather conditions. Because they all live from the same type of crops, a poor harvest affects the whole community.

There is a shortage in services. Often the power goes off, houses aren’t connected to the sewage, there is a lack of water or there is a flood (depending on the rain season). This makes it harder for the community to create a stable living for them self. The last few years the number of children attending school grew enormously, still the education

levels are low. Not all the parents understand that it is important, for them, but also for the community that their children go to school.

Okana is an area with a lot of water: rain, the lake and the wetlands. This means that Malaria is a big problem. Also a lot of people suffer from HIV/AIDS, because there is a lack of protection and knowledge.

Goal AnalysisBecause of the problems in Okana the community centre is being build. This will help to bring knowledge to the community and the most important thing; it will help them to get together.

The community centre is a good start, but to really address the problems that the people of Okana suffer from, there should be activities in the center that could help them to not completely rely on the weather. Also to keep the community centre intact, they have to earn money.

There are a lot of opportunities in Okana. There are a lot of resources in the area. Okana is a rural area, but it lies in between Kisumu and Ahero, which means that there are a lot of business opportunities.

40% of the inhabitants are under 20 years old. This is an opportunity for us, because this means they are still strong physically, and they are probably easier to motivate to do things differently. Most of them speak English because they are going to school, which will make communication easier.

In conclusion our opportunities lay with the young local people to find a different way than agriculture to make money, with the use of local materials in a bigger area.

Project OrganizationIn this part of the project plan a brief explanation of all the stakeholders involved will be given. Also the project team will be elaborated on, including the collaboration and task division.

The main stakeholders in “ Kickstart Okana” are Laura and Ellen. They are two architecture students from TU Delft that graduated with their project “Pavilions for Okana”. They have managed to actually realize their concept of a community centre and during this internship our project group is going to make sure this centre can become financially self-sustainable. Also involved in the pavilions is James Otieno, connected to the Sustainable Rural Initiatives (SRI). His organization is invested in the start-ups that will be connected to the pavilions and will be the stakeholder with whom will be worked closest.

As explained before, as part of this internship the BamGoo Bike will be implemented. The main stakeholders in this will be Sara and Serena, two ladies who designed this bike. They will be flying out to Kenya at the end of November to help with the final product and finding the right material.

With this comes the last stakeholder, Students for Sustainability (S4S). A student organization that links sustainable initiatives to companies willing to invest in these. Currently a process has started of getting them involved in de BamGoo Bike, which hopefully will give our project some initial funding.

This project team consists of four members. Charlie Roelse, the architecture student. Responsible for all the lay outs and leading the team. Josefien Rots, the management and technology student. Spokesperson of the group. Julius van Bebber, the second management and technology student. Handyman and researcher. And Luka Peters, the mechanical engineering student. Responsible for researching and writing.

The collaboration among the group as well as with our stakeholders has been running smoothly. We try to keep everyone up to date as quickly as possible and make sure we achieve the goals we set. We hope to successfully finish this internship continuing along these lines.

ProjectstructureOur project consist of two phases. The first phase is almost finished and took place in the Netherlands. In this phase we focussed on analyzing the situation and gathering as much information as possible to prepare our stay in Okana. We also made a business model for our project ( see appendix) and had skype meetings with the different stakeholders.

When we arrive in Okana, there are three sub-phases in our project. There is some overlap in activities, but for the project that would not be a problem but an advantage. We have an flexible attitude so we can switch between the phases of our project. The three phases are:- Analyse the community centre and the living habits in Okana- Build and implement the BamGoo-bike- Analyse implementation of BamGoo-bike as set-up for other workshopsEach of these parts are explained in the next paragraphs.

Field researchFirst we will focus on the field research. We are planning to arrive in Okana at the 5th of November. First we have to get used to the culture in Okana, and find out how the community centre is being used in the first weeks of its existence. To achieve that goal, we’re planning to have some informal interviews with residents from Okana. We analyse how they live, what they do every day and how the community centre influences their lives. It is important to have in mind how the inhabitants of Okana see the community centre and what they want to achieve with the centre. For our further project, the understanding of the living in Okana has a lot of benefits.

In particular, we have to find information about how and how many bikes are used in Okana. For the implementation of the BamGoo-bike (sub-phase two of the project) we have to find out more about the bike-use in Okana. We also have to do some field research about the quality of roads, so we can analyse if the bikes can hold the bambooconstruction to transport goods. Besides, we are going to search for partners and materials in the area around Okana which can help set up the build of the BamGoo-bike. As a part of that, we are doing a local market analysis.

BamGoo-systemWhen Sara and Serena, the designers of the BamGoo, arrive at Okana, we are going to implement the BamGoo. We have to analyse how the material we use works, if everything is working the way we want to and if the construction is strong enough. After that we implement the BamGoo in Okana. We have to find one or more people in Okana who can use a BamGoo, and also want to use it. Sara and Serena are the helping hand with building the BamGoo, we are responsible for the implementation of the BamGoo. When Sara and Serena will leave Okana ten days later, it is important for us that we have the knowledge of building the BamGoo.

The final phase of the project will consist of evaluating everything we have done and analysed and discuss this with the local community.

Planning16th of Octobre Finishing the research on bamboo

21th of Octobre Meeting with Laura en Ellen, the designers of the center

23th of Octobre Finishing the research on bikes

27th of Octobre Midterm review

Risk managementOur journey will begin in Nairobi. We will stay there for two nights to get used to the different climate and culture. Then we will travel by plane to Okana.

We sleep in a house on the terrain of SRI and they will help us to blend in. They are used to communicate with western volunteers and they will learn us the local habits.

The main religions are Christianity and the Islam. This means that we have to wear appropriate clothing when we go out. We also need to respect the opinion and the skills of the locals, because we need to work together as a team. We cannot place ourselves above them. Hierarchy is important in Okana and the rest of Kenya. We have to respect the older people and the people who have more authority than us, but we also have to set our own boundaries, and communicate them.

In December there are elections and there is a chance that it could get very dangerous, because of unrest under the population. There are demonstrations in Kisumu and Nairobi at the moment, so we need to pay attention to that. In Okana is one tribe so we won’t have any issues in the village itself. In recent years there have been violent attacks by Somali Terrorist groups, but this is mostly in the North East of Kenya.

It could occur that our project has to be cancelled or that we need to change it drastically. When that happens we need to keep calm and try to make the best out of it. We know that there is a change and we are open to a new project in that case. It also could be possible that the local people refuse to work with us, if that happens we will meet with the NGO and we will consult about our problems and come up with a solution together.

30th of Octobre Finishing the research on the local market

3th of November Departure from Amsterdam to Nairobi, Kenya

5th of November Departure from Nairobi to Okana

6th - 13th of November Naturalize with the local people and their ways and find out what they want to do and what their ideas are on the project

14th - 27th of November Searching for partners and materials in the area around Okana and do a local market analysis

27th of November Sara and Serena arrive in Okana (the designers of the BamGoo)

27th - 9th of December Together with Sara and Serena we will make the first local BamGoo

10th of December Jowi’s wedding

11th - 23th of December Testing the BamGoo

23th - 6th of January Christmas holidays

6th - 30th of january Focussing on the continuation of the project. This will consist of evaluating the BamGoo project and evaluating the community centre together with the users. 30th January Flying back from Nairobi to Amsterdam

2th of February Final presentation

ReportThe last decade there have been multiple architectural projects in developing countries with the goal to improve the living conditions. It turns out that often these projects have problems in the long haul. The (western) project developers raise money for the building, they construct it and then they leave. It is not clear who has the responsibility for the expenses and the maintenance.

This project distinguishes itself because, directly after the building has been build, we are travelling to the location to figure out how the building will manage itself in the future.

By implementing the BamGoo bike we will test if the inhabitants of Okana are open for a new way of generating money (not only agriculture) and if there is a demand in the Kisumu area for these kinds of products. By testing this we can also see what the effect is of the newly build community centre and if it is working the way as it was supposed to do. All this information we can deliver as feedback to Laura en Ellen and also to other developers. Pavilions for Okana is a pilot project and the idea is that there will be built more.

In addition we will build the BamGoo prototype together with the local community, so they can learn how to use local materials and build it themselves. We will try to put the product on the market, together with them, so they can learn how to do business. We will develop a business model for them, that they can use after we leave.

This project is a pilot. This means that we are not sure that the community centre is going to work in the long haul and that we are not sure that the BamGoo system will work. Our main goal is to do research as much as possible and reflect, evaluate and communicate with all the stakeholders, to find out how the project will stand as long and as good as possible.

ContinuationWhen we leave Okana after our stay of three months, our goal is to leave a self-sustainable community centre behind. The continuity of our project will be meaningful in the future. After our stay in Okana we will always be available to give advice to the people in Okana, but we will be less involved to the project. For that, it is important to create responsibilities and find people in Okana who want to take those responsibilities. When there are people assigned for specific tasks, the continuity of the efficiency of the community centre will be accomplished and retained.

One example is to find a person who carries the responsibilities of the community centre itself. Practical responsibilities like opening and closing the centre, but also the responsibility for the financial state of the centre. Another example is the responsibility for workshops like the BamGoo. We have to find someone who can take over the BamGoo workshop and we have to devote the knowledge of the BamGoo bike to this someone, so that he or she can go on with the BamGoo project. This is the example of one workshop, but there will be more workshops in the community centre and those will also bring responsibilities.

The various responsibilities give a handhold to make this project a continuous project and will lead to a self-sustaining community centre in Okana.

Bamgoo system on a bike

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