APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY
Expanding upon Build Change's experience training builders and government officials to rebuild safe houses after earthquakes in Indonesia and China, Build Change is developing and implementing construction vocational training courses in earthquake-devastated Haiti. This course will have four levels:
- unskilled labor, youth and unemployed with no construction experience will be introduced to basic skills and employed as labor
- semi-skilled builders, those with some experience, will be given practical training and assigned to apprenticeships
- master builders will be certified in specific trades and employed to work on construction sites and teach apprentices, and
- site foremen will receive instruction in construction quality assurance and management.
Build Change will partner with other agencies to place course graduates in paid positions within ongoing reconstruction programs. The courses will build upon vocational training programs in place prior to the earthquake in Haiti; additional modules on earthquake and hurricane resistant construction will be added in close cooperation with Haitian training institutions. The course curricula, once piloted and tested, will be provided to Haitian training institutions to implement on a large scale.
IMPLEMENTATION, TIMELINE, AND DELIVERABLES
Training and job placement of 500 construction personnel by September 2011. Personnel will be identified from local areas in which reconstruction is ongoing, and placed in reconstruction projects funded by other agencies.
- Development and adoption of training curricula by at least 2 Haitian training institutions will be completed by September 2011.
The January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti destroyed tens of thousands of homes, killed over 200,000 people, and made a million people homeless. Many of the deaths and economic losses could have been avoided with minor improvements to common building methods. However, simple, easy-to-implement building standards have not been disseminated through the population, and Haitian builders have not had the opportunity to develop their skills through training programs or on-the-job apprenticeships. The earthquake has exacerbated the unemployment problem in Haiti; now that basic needs are being met, many Haitians list jobs and opportunities to earn income as their biggest need.
Build Change has extensive experience working with and training local homeowners, builders, engineers and government officials to understand and apply earthquake-resistant construction principles and techniques. Partner organizations that wish to provide seismic-awareness training to homeowners, construction training to builders or technical training to engineers, including retrofit training-of-trainers, are encouraged to contact Build Change for further details.
Partners interested in seconding experienced Build Change engineers capable of completing technical evaluations and designs, supervising the implementation of the designs and providing on-the-job training to builders on the construction site are also encouraged to contact Build Change.
Build Change also seeks partners who want to support this and other innovative, sustainable programs that create permanent change in construction practices in developing countries.
Please contact Build Change at [email protected] or 303-953-2563 to discuss these or other partnership opportunities, or visit www.buildchange.org to learn more.
