Involving Communities

Our approach is to support community initiatives and respond to their needs, to their projects. This is critical to ensuring local ownership of the work which in turn leads to care for the finished building.

So we look to involve our community partners at all stages in the project journey. Here are some examples of how we involve and learn from our African partners:

• Butempa villagers took part in community planning workshops to advise the project architect on the design of their new class-rooms

• Over 100 people have been collecting sand and gravel at St Agness School and are now learning to make bricks and tiles

• Residents of Chawama community in Lusaka are taking part in a trial of various latrine designs

• 12 women from a co-operative in Chongwe helped us to design our prototype low-cost ‘Cool-House’ for Zambia

This two-way flow of ideas has many advantages: first it ensures that the proposed project really is needed. Secondly, gathering information and working on ideas together ensures we design the best solution. Finally, active involvement gives villagers the opportunity to learn new skills, gain new experiences and realise their potential.

Genuine community participation builds ownership and pride in the end result. And we never leave them adrift when we complete a project – all work undertaken by Build IT International is in areas where the school is supported by a partner educational charity, for example, Zambian Open Community Schools (ZOCs).