Ecobricks for building safe, resilient and affordable housing
Project leader
Fair Entreprise Network (Sweden)
Local partners
Build Up Nepal Engineering – BUNE (Nepal), Community Impact Nepal – CIN (Nepal)
Associated partners
Engineers Without Borders (Sweden)
Amount of co-financing
EUR 175,000
- Nepal
- 2023
- Completed
Challenge
Nepal is a major seismic zone, frequently prone to deadly earthquakes. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a recession in the construction industry, weakening micro-businesses in this sector. What’s more, in Nepal, the production of fired bricks is responsible for 37% of CO2 emissions, which are known to contribute to global warming. This production is also harmful to air quality and contaminates the Himalayan glaciers.
Innovative solution
The partners propose to develop an innovative ecological brick technology with low production costs, using local soil and sand as base materials. No combustion or fuel is required. The technology developed will also make buildings more resistant to earthquakes. The partners aim to train micro-entrepreneurs in the construction industry in the production of these eco-bricks, while at the same time enhancing their skills in business management and commercial strategy.
Impact
- Strengthening of 72 commercially viable and more resilient micro-enterprises, enabling the creation of 1800 skilled jobs
- Building 1,162 safer, more resilient, affordable and climate-friendly houses for the most vulnerable households
- Reduction in CO2 emissions (120,000 tons in 2 years)
Photo credit: Fair Enterprise Network
Targeted Sustainable Development Goals
-
1,800 jobs were created within the supported SMEs.
-
102 microenterprises were supported, 72 of which became financially viable
-
1,162 new affordable, resilient and environmental-friendly houses have been built by the microentrepreneurs supported.
-
Ecobrick technology avoided the emission of 120,000 tons of CO2 in two years, compared with the bricks traditionally used.
