Innovation Awards Finalists
Public Policies Finalists
This category focuses on policies across all government level that help to reduce housing deficit while taking into considerations the specific needs of minorities, vulnerable and marginalized populations.
Municipality of Dakhila Toujan
Tunisia
Toujan is a Tunisian village historically inhabited by the Imazighen (Berber) tribes. Most of its original residents have left their ancestorial land, leaving behind old homes that have deteriorated. The project aims to restore these homes and help residents strengthen their ties with the village and encourage those who have left, to return. With a focus on reviving artisanry and craftmanship, the project which began in 2018 and aims to re-energize the local economic cycle, create jobs and bring back tourism to the area.
The project activities include establishing public spaces, rehabilitating old mosques especially those with unique architectural designs, and traditional olive oil pressing mills in an effort to preserve history and culture. The project directly benefits 135 families. 120 homes have been restored and 40 women have received training in traditional crafts and artisanry. 5000-10,000 residents indirectly benefit from the project as well as university students and academics specialising in archaeology, architecture, traditional artisanship and craft and local culture.
Palestine Green Building Council
Palestine
To enhance the resilience and uplift living conditions for the refugee camp residents and make it easier for them to afford & pay for their electricity bills, the Palestine Green Building Council along with UNDP and the local authorities collaborated to provide better energy solutions in the Qaddura refugee camp.
The pilot project targeted 14 households, introducing energy efficient solutions and retrofit concepts to the existing buildings and to measure the impact of these interventions. Interventions included replacing windows and doors and introducing wall and roof insulations, lighting and electric appliance replacement and solar heaters, with the objective of reducing the financial burden on families and the CO2 emissions. The project was designed with the intention to replicate it not only in camps, but in homes with low insulation.
Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund (SHMFF)
Egypt
Housing for All Egyptians is a governmental housing program that addresses the significantcant shortfall in public servicethrough promoting well-located units in near-to-work centers across Egypt's 27 governates. With the ambitious target of delivering one million adequate and affordablehousing units in new and old cities, Housing for All Egyptians aims to create new urban cities withaccess to all services as of 2024.
Through its cooperation with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) and Ministry of Finance (MOF) the initiative targets to facilitateand subsidize affordable mortgage interest rates for low-income households and improve their financial accessibility to obtainhousing units. Working collaboratively with the public sector to improve performance of the housing sector.
The program to date, has constructed over 802,000 units (76% of total government housing production), and has contributed to the national housing plan; increasing the urban area from 7-14%while decreasing building on agriculture areas, to create new safe, healthy housing ecosystems. More recently, the fund has been working on implementing a new “Green Social Housing Initiative” in cooperation with Housing and Building National Research Center that targets 25,000 green, social housing units.Its successful model has inspired other countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Senegal and Uzbekistan and the Fund continues to share its experience and learnings through joint agreements, forums and conferences.
ShelterTech Finalists
This category focuses on technological innovations (product & services) from the private sector that provide practical solutions to affordable and/or sustainable, resilient housing challenges, and can be commercially scaled and replicated to increase impact on low-income households and communities.
Société industrielle de SOIB
Tunisia
The Tunisian start-up has collaborated with research centers and academic institutions in Tunisia and abroad, establishing itself as an innovator in sustainable construction solutions. It has capitalized on the country's availability of construction resources such as marble, sand, gravel and gypsum; developing environment-friendly construction materials and creating building moulds that do not require a binding agent such as cement.
The moulds which interlock, reduce dependency on usage of cement by 90% and hence reduce construction costs. The moulds provide thermal insulation, and are earthquake- resistant and bulletproof. Easily dismantled and reinstalled, they have been used for homes, eco-tourism and agricultural projects across Tunisia. Production is energy efficient and can create as many as 5000 jobs in country with high unemployment amongst its youth.
Zelij Invent
Morocco
Zelij Invent aims to support construction stakeholders towards net-zero emissions through housing solutions that utilize eco-friendly practices and green technologies. The company transforms plastic waste into construction material. Its 50% plastic waste and cost-effective production process creates RECYBLOCK; a hollow block that can be used the same way as cement hollow.
Through moving away from using sand as integral component of construction material, and using recycled plastic instead, the company believes it reduces dependency on sand extraction which cause coastal erosion and disrupt ecosystems of oceans and seas. The company has effectively activated its local community for recycling efforts and collaborated with them to develop production techniques and workshops.
The project aims to target households with no access to decent housing in Africa, municipalities and cities committed to sustainability in their efforts to build or maintain infrastructures and green-tech-oriented construction companies. 639 people have participated in the awareness raising and recycling efforts and five cities in Morocco have used the blocks to build houses and/or restore infrastructure.
Konn Technologies
Jordan
The populations of the MENA region is expectedto grow by 40%-50% by 2030. To keep up withthis demand, there is a need for 10 million new affordable homes in Jordan, Egypt, KSA, and Iraq inthe next 10 years. But worldwide, most projects have defects, and more than 80% run over the time and budgets allocated.
This is largely due to the lack of innovation and technology integrations and the outdated practices.Konn addresses this problem by creating innovative technological solutions for fast and affordable production of high-quality housing. It employs offsite and modular construction methods, adapted for the local environment and economy; making sustainable homes attainable to a large number of people, by using modern design and construction technologies to deliver individual homes that are manufactured offsite and assembled onsite in 8-10 weeks.
The technology aims to improve the quality of residential units in terms of indoor temperature and air quality, make housing safer and more durable at affordable prices and shorten the time for construction by 75%.
Best Practices Finalists
This category focuses on policies across all government level that help to reduce housing deficit while taking into considerations the specific needs of minorities, vulnerable and marginalized populations.
International Center for Human Sciences (CISH)
Lebanon
Triggered by the ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon and the dependency on fuel-driven energy solutions, the International Center for Human Sciences was inspired to initiate a pilot project that would utilize energy efficient solutions and install solar panels in UNESCO heritage sites.
By joining global efforts to mitigate effects of climate change and similanteously contribute to preservation of historical sittes, the center aims to position itself as model that can be replicated across the Arab region. CISH stands ready to shift to an eco-friendly sustainable center serving the community.The center will publish a guide that allows other sites to transition to sustainable and energy efficient solutions.
Public Works Studio
Lebanon
The Housing Monitor (HM) is a community housing tool developed by Public Works Studio to protect and advancehousing rights in Lebanon. Operational in Beirut and its suburbs, and expanding to cover more cities, the tool is usedby residents from various marginalised social groups to report on housing vulnerabilities and eviction threats.
In response, Public Works Studio provides individualised legal and social services, gathers tenants around shared grievances, and produces knowledge on trends in housing injustices in the form of reports, memos, and stories. In doing so, it empowers marginalised city dwellers to claim their housing rights, while raising attention over detrimental housing policies in Lebanon that have affected vulnerable residents.
To date, Public Works has received more than 700 housing violation and eviction threat reports, for which consultations, legal tips, and landlord negotiations were provided, and tens of evictions were deterred. A specialised emergency reporting channel for city dwellers impacted by the Beirut blast was also created, and over 15 post-Beirut blast community meetings with impacted bene carries were conducted. There is considerable potential to replicate in the MENA region given the current rights-to-the city movements happening in Arab cities. There are activists in Tunis, Cairo, Baghdad, Amman and Kuwait advocating more inclusive, just and sustainable cities.
SHAWER
Egypt
The central question of SHAWER’s team in the midst of the Covid 19 pandemic, was is it possible for the built environment to be ready and equipped to protect people in the future from the dangers of diseases and epidemics?
Its researchers thoroughly reviewed all local and international codes, references, and regulations relating to protecting the built environment against diseases and epidemics and assembled them into a single, reliable scientific and technical framework, and presented a purely Egyptian system for assessing and developing the built environment in the post-pandemic stage.
Futhermore, SHAWER (the Arabic word for consult) wanted to present a new and post- pandemic architectural trend inspired by the country's rich heritage, and founded on scientific and applied technical bases that promoted public heatlh and hygiene. A reference code was designed that focused on critical issues such as climate change, sustainability, and urbanization, and integrated epidemic mitigation and adaptation framework and policies.
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