European Union Supports Habitat for Humanity in Vanuatu
* * *
EU To Fund Building Center

PORT VILA, 2nd November 2004: Habitat for Humanity Vanuatu and the European Union
are joining hands to establish a 2.1 million Vatu (US$19,400     ) building center in the
Tagabe community near the Port Vila Airport.
 
The center is also being supported by a generous grant of 60,000 Vatus from Barry Bailey,
general manager of QBE Insurance (Vanuatu) Limited.


The center will introduce new building
technologies to Vanuatu, such as
traditional and non-traditional methods
of construction, including the use of
concrete interlocking building blocks,
a technology that is widely used in the
Philippines and other nations.
 
The project, which has been endorsed
and sanctioned by the Vanuatu Internal
Affairs and Economic and Social
Development departments, will train
disadvantaged young people in
traditional and Western building
methods. It will also work with current
and future Habitat homeowners and
will promote construction training at
rural training centers.

"The building center is a good example
of how non-governmental organizations,
the government and communities can come together," said Loucine Hayes, national
director for HFH Vanuatu.



Supporting Habitat: Charge d' Affaires Costas Tsilogiannis
of the European Union delegation in Vanuatu announces
the agreement between the EU and Habitat for Humanity Vanuatu
 Additional facets of the center's work include disaster preparedness and response, support for small business startups, and management training.

In the speech he gave during the signing ceremony, the chargé d'affaires from the EU office,
Costas Tsilogiannis, stressed the importance to involve civil society organizations in the
development process.
 
"The Cotonou Agreement offers a promising framework for the participation of non-state
actors in all ACP member states. New opportunities are created for NSAs to participate in
all aspects of EU and ACP development co-operation. Continuous efforts will be made to
ensure that NSAs have full participation in the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement,"
he explained, and encouraged civil society organizations to take advantages of the
opportunities available in the coming years.

A recent UN ESCAP report noted that housing poverty is an issue of growing concern
throughout Vanuatu, especially in Port Vila, where squatter communities and sub-standard
housing have become common in the past 20 years. The report calls on government
agencies and NGOs to act now before the problems worsen. Otherwise, Vanuatu could
face problems similar to those now being experienced in other parts of the world.


Partners: Denise Shu-Mei (left), project manager of the Non-State Actors Program for the European Union,
and Loucine Hayes, national director of Habitat for Humanity, Vanuatu, at the accord signing

Hayes noted that studies have shown that crime rates, health and educational achievement
are often correlated to housing conditions. Communities with sub-standard housing tend to
develop problems in all these areas.
 
The first workshop at the building center will be held during the last week of November,
when 11 trainers from different islands working with the Vanuatu Rural Training Centers,
and ten disadvantaged youngsters and ten Habitat homeowners will learn how to produce
and build with interlocking concrete blocks.
 
Compared to other countries, commercially produced concrete blocks are expensive in Vanuatu, and this technology will be cheaper and easier to use for construction in both
rural and urban areas.
 
"Each rural training center will be donated one block mold that they will be able to use in
the outer islands to promote this new technology," Hayes said. "This is just the beginning
of our partnership with VRDTCA."
 
Mark Lani, the center director, has been active in housing construction and education in
Vanuatu for decades. He has provided a building for the center to use in Tagabe for
construction purposes and for workshops. He will also instruct classes and, with the
assistance of Habitat for Humanity Vanuatu, he will oversee the day-to-day management
of the center.
 
"I am very thankful to God to be able to work with Habitat and the European Union on
this project," Lani said. "I truly think that the building center will make a big impact on life
in Vanuatu.”
 
This project implemented by Habitat with the assistance of EU NSA is a six-month pilot
project, and during this time one of the objectives is find a sustainable model for the
center that will allow it to exist without additional aid.
 
Habitat for Humanity has constructed 21 homes in the Port Vila area since HFH Vanuatu
was established in 2001.


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