Urban environment

Improving the livelihoods of Kassala town population

A project on Improving Urban Environment has been going on since 2005. The project has succeeded to connect Wau Nour settlements to the town water network and served about 2,000 households - over 49,808 individuals.

Self-help funding for shelter

The majority of the inhabitants of Wau Nor and Kadugli in Kassala are living in inadequate shelters. They are frequently affected by floods, health hazards, fire and termites. The high cost of building a house, lack of credit and lack of job opportunities prevented the poor from acquiring houses.

In participation with the community, engineers and builders, characteristics of an appropriate design were reached using locally available materials (clay). Two models were demonstrated, a core house of one sleeping room and a living room that costs $1200 and a second model of 2 rooms, a living room and a kitchen and costs about $4500. 21 builders were trained in the new designs.

A local community-managed shelter association (Sawa Sawa) has been established and supported with a community-managed revolving fund. Fifteen low-cost house models were built for families on easy loan basis: 30% down payment is requested to be paid by the beneficiary and 70% to be paid in installments in a 18 -24 months period.

A Self Help Group (SHG) was established enable the poor to advocate and seek support with respect to shelter, land tenure, environment, income and employment. Over 200 latrines were built in participation with the WES project and the community itself.

In 2007 Sawa Sawa won the World Bank marketplace prize of $20,000 that was used to fund more house constructions and 100 income generation opportunities some of which are non classical creative interventions and service provision enterprises such as power generators serving localised grids.

In terms of construction technologies, the project succeeded in promoting the vaulted roof widely and tested ‘zero energy’ models for building schools at reduced cost by 30% compared to other classical construction techniques.

More information on the Practical Action housing model and Self-Help Groups in Kassala