Étiquettes
développement durable, education, human right, SDG/ODD/ODS, Sustainability, Sustainable life
It is often said that education lies at the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is a basic Human Right and the most effective way to create eco-friendly societies. But we often forget that to educate our children for the future, we need to provide them with schooling infrastructures. That is an important part of the work done by We-Building, an association of volunteer architects based in Berlin (Germany). I had the opportunity to interview Laura Gómez Agudelo, the co-founder.
Hello Laura. Thanks for making me discover the work of We-Building. Can you tell me a bit more about why you co-founded this association? What was the rationale?
First of all, we feel privileged to have access to higher education, and it should be the case for everyone, regardless of where you were born. We see it as a responsibility to provide under-resourced communities with school opportunities. I co-founded We-Building after having worked as a construction manager in Ghana. With Ivan Ralis, the other founder, we wanted to combine ecological, economical, and social aspects in one project.
And how does this translate in reality?
For us, social sustainability means empowering children and their communities to escape the vicious circle of poverty. Then, ecologically speaking, we focus on carbon-friendly architecture combining sustainable building material, and local knowledge and artisanship. Then, economically, it costs 20 times less to build a school for 300 children in Ghana than in Germany. Plus, the construction work provides job opportunities to locals.
On your website, you say that your goal is “to fix underlying infrastructural problems”. What are these infrastructural problems?
11% of primary-school-aged and 20% of lower-secondary-aged children don’t go to school (data from UNICEF). One of the reasons is the lack of access to schools in the nearby areas and insufficient mobility infrastructures, especially in rural areas, where children are twice more likely to be out of school than in urban areas. Education is a way to escape from poverty as children from the poorest households are five times more likely to be out of school.
So tell more about your current projects. What exciting construction projects have you worked on?
So we have three schools under construction in Malawi, Colombia, and Peru, and we are collecting funds for another project in Haiti and in Ghana, to be started in 2022. We have built the River of Blessing Academy in Ghana, which follows a holistic approach to teaching including art shows and science presentations. I would like to emphasise that the project ideas don’t come from us, but it is a request from local organisations. The project is jointly developed based on their needs. It is true that we work mainly on schools because we strongly believe that education is central to the SDGs: education enables socio-economics mobility, reduces inequalities, increases resilience, etc.
How does it work? After a local organisation makes a request?
The local organisation does the biggest part of the construction management, which usually lasts 6 months. We mostly are volunteers at We-Building. We support the organisation and travel there (sometimes taken from our holidays in our paid job), in order to gain additional knowledge. With the pandemic, we had to supervise remotely and request regular updates from the local organisation. Actually, we keep in touch with them after the end of the construction phase, to assess whether the project provides the expected benefits in the long run. Do the children regularly go to school? Are teachers satisfied with the facilities? Ect. Feedbacks from the beneficiaries and the local organisation are essential to improve our knowledge and the impacts of future projects.
You mention the pandemic. How has it impacted the work you do?
It has increased the costs of our project by a lot! Just timber and steel have experienced a 200% increase in price! And they are at the basis of any construction. For example, for our project in Haiti, overall costs have risen by 40%. We used to travel, but can’t anymore. This has forced us to postpone some projects, as the research for local materials and local construction aspects online is impossible, especially in rural areas. Surely, working online improved the coordination and efficiency of our 20 volunteers and ourselves!
The COP26 happened at the end of last year in Glasgow. What are the sustainable challenges in architecture in your opinion?
In Germany, 40% of greenhouse emissions come from housing and construction, more than the transport sector. Despite it, architecture is only starting to be addressed in the public debate around sustainability.
The way we build can tackle climate issues before the problems occur, simply by paying attention to material and adapted techniques, for example, we used cross-ventilation techniques in our project Darmang Community School in Ghana, to reduce energy consumption since there is less need for electric fans. We favour local natural resources when possible, and use conventional material when resources are scarce, and new processes are unknown by the communities.
I just would like to add that raising awareness is important, that’s why we promote local ambassadors and artisans of specific material, and traditional building materials that were regarded as unmodern, but are efficient materials. We do it in Berlin too. We have workshops where we encourage children to play with clay after we explain the ecological benefits of it.
Thank you, Laura. I wish you the best in the future endeavours of We-Building.
A.
If you wish to collaborate with me, please contact me at my mail address: asemaphore01@gmail.com