Development and Promotion of Bamboo Housing Technology in East Africa

     1. To incorporate local tradition and design into bamboo housing systems.
     2. To test conventional bamboo building systems in Kenya and assess their implementation through action research sites, training and demonstration buildings.
     3. To demonstrate engineered bamboo housing technologies in Kenya (that will be processed in Ethiopia).
     4. To improve sustainable production and marketing of modern bamboo housing through value chain analysis and technology research.
     5. To build local capacities to sustainably produce and supply bamboo materials by training local communities to cultivate, manage and pre-process bamboo resources for the housing industry.

METHODOLOGY
The proposed research will be Action Research. Project partners and related stakeholders will be directly involved throughout the project cycle from problem analysis to project implementation and monitoring and evaluation. There are several objectives of the project and for each objective different methodologies will be applied. The research will take place in Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya and some of the activities will be specific to only one or two countries and while others will be carried out in all three countries.

Research Activities	Ethiopia	Uganda	Kenya
Establishment of facility for pre-fabricated bamboo housing panels	Yes	No	No
Design of bamboo housing with cultural aspect	Yes	Yes	Yes
Construction of conventional bamboo model houses	No	Yes	Yes
Demonstration of engineered bamboo buildings	Yes	Yes	Yes
Capacity building for conventional bamboo building	No	Yes	Yes
Value chain and technological research	Yes	No	No
Capacity building for bamboo processing technology	Yes	Yes	Yes
Capacity building for bamboo management and pre-processing	Yes	Yes	Yes

   Note: Value chain and technology research will focus only on Ethiopia at this moment due to budget limitations. However, they are important in Uganda and Kenya also and the lessons learned from Ethiopia could be applied in those countries with further studies.

The research base will be Ethiopia and a large number of capacity building and technological activities will take place in the country. Professionals from Uganda and Kenya will be invited to participate in capacity building and technical training activities. The project will establish a pre-fabricated housing factory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and some houses from the factory will be brought to Kenya and Uganda for demonstration. Similarly, two bamboo community centers will be built each in Kenya and Uganda using the technology, with full participation from local professionals and beneficiaries.

        
    Bamboo Roofing

People participation and gender aspects of the project
This project will be implemented with the full participation of local partners, professionals and beneficiaries. Slum dwellers will be fully involved during the construction of the prototype houses. Local farmers, especially women will be trained in best-practice bamboo management and pre-processing techniques. Women will especially be encouraged to manage and lead the pre-processing cooperatives. INBAR's project in Tripura, India has shown great impact on women, as they can process bamboo at home and in addition to their house keeping chores, thereby offering opportunities for self employment and income generation. This project will adopt similar model of self employment for women and disadvantaged groups in the communities.

        
Shyam Krishna during a Monitoring workshop

For more information contact the following: INBAR:

Shyam Krishna Paudel
Bamboo Housing Programme Coordinator
No. 8, Fu Tong Dong Da Jie, Wang Jing Area, Chao Yang District, Beijing 100102, P. R. China
Post Address: PO Box 100102-86, Beijing 100102, P. R. China
spaudel@inbar.int

or

Kenya Country Collaborator

Prof Jacob Kibwage
South Eastern University College
(A Constituent College of the University Of Nairobi)
P. O. Box 170-90200, Kitui, Kenya
Tel. 020-2413859 (Kitui), 020-2531395 (Nairobi)
Cell : +254 722-479061
E-Mail     :  jkkibwage@yahoo.com