Summaries of HIV/AIDS Projects in Africa
Working with LWR Partners

Mali—Consolidation of Woodless Construction Technique

Partners: LWR and the Development Workshop Mali (DWM)

Mali is located in the semi-arid region of Africa, immediately south of the Sahara Desert. Drought and over-consumption of wood and organic materials over the past twenty years has led to a depletion of local wood supply also leading to soil erosion and progressive desertification. Fuel wood is the single cause for concern, but wood for building is unquestionably the second. Most houses in poor communities are small round mud-huts with grass roofs or earth block houses with flat wooden roof. The woodless construction technique introduced in the Sahel in the 1980’s, eliminates the need for wood for flat roofs by using earth, an abundant building material to construct vault or dome roofs. Local masons will build the walls and the roofs from ordinary mud bricks formed in simple rectangular moulds, smoothed by hand and dried in the open. While the wide adoption of this technique will ensure better balance between human settlement needs and natural resource management through reduced dependence on rapidly disappearing trees, it will also allow the local masons and masons organizations to improve their livelihoods.

GOAL: To gain financial and organizational autonomy by improving its capacity to design and implement project activities and an aggressive marketing strategy. DWM will facilitate the establishment of masons organizations and their eventual autonomy through continued training of local masons in improved construction techniques and construction business management skills. The project is also expected to increase local demand for building using the technique.
LWR’s accompaniment strategy will include addressing DWM organizational gaps, facilitating networking with other local and international NGOs and ensuring that verifiable objectives and indicators are set following a baseline study.

OBJECTIVES: LWR’s partner, DWM will:

" Improve organizational capacity of DWM.

" The organization will also work towards attaining financial autonomy and will be able to cover 40% of its operating costs at the end of the project period.

" Environmental conservation.

" Aggressive marketing and awareness raising activities will lead to increased local demand for buildings using the woodless construction technique and 30% of constructions in villages will be using the technique by end of year 2.

" Improve environmental conservation with the reduction in the demand for construction wood.

" Improve livelihood of masons.

" Improve the capacity of 80 masons from trainings in new construction techniques and business management skills, and through established four masons organizations, they will be working towards autonomy and able to cover 20% of their operating costs. Masons association and members income and livelihood will improve from increased demand for buildings using the woodless construction technique.

Approved Project Support: $124,880

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