Build Change

Latin America: Exponential progress in Colombia has led to the improvement of over 110,000 homes nationally to date. Build Change's critical contributions since 2014 have helped develop, implement, and scale housing programs that better incorporate disaster resilience, while driving essential policy changes, permitting and subsidy reforms, and hundreds of millions of dollars in public investment. In 2022, the construction phase of the Build Change-supported program Plan Terrazas got underway, to support 1,250 low-income households in vulnerable informal housing in Bogota with risk management and poverty alleviation through a combination of structural home improvement and expansion. Building on the learning and success of our work in Bogota, we also launched a program with the housing authority of Bucaramanga, a city situated above one of the highest concentrations of seismic activity in the world, Build Change is supporting the city to integrate resilience into its existing home improvement programs, to initially make 560 homes more earthquake resilient. In Honduras, damages from climate hazards are expected to double in the next 20 years. Build Change's program with the Honduran Red Cross has been helping families in the flood-prone Sula Valley to adapt their homes against hurricanes and flooding while also addressing relevant seismic risk.

Philippines: Build Change delivered training to 300 homeowners and 45 builders in Cebu and Bohol provinces as part of our post-Typhoon Odette assistance work with the Philippines Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF). Build Change is working with local microfinance partners to incentivize preventative home strengthening and make it accessible to low-income families. In 2022 our innovative home strengthening loans with technical assistance enabled hundreds of women in the Philippines to make critical structural improvements to their homes before the next disaster.

Innovations: In 2022, the Engineering, Design and Technology team expanded Build Change's capacity and position as a trusted advisor and innovator for other development agencies, donors, governments, and organizations for resilient housing through excellent, client-focused program solutions. Key achievements include: developing "Resilient Housing in a Box", supporting the Institute for Building Technology and Safety with the development of a regional capacity-building strategy, and providing continued remote system support and technical capacity building to the Dominica Housing Recovery Project.

See Schedule O - Program services for the Caribbean, Indonesia, Nepal, Advocacy, Housing and Finance and the United States programs.