The Green Shelter Project: Promoting Socially Just Eco Architecture
Lawyers for Good is carrying out research into the Green Shelter Project, an eco-programme that’s been implemented in Pakistan to bring marginalised communities out of abject poverty and into a place of economic self-reliance and stability.
We are evaluating the effectiveness of the Green Shelter Project with a view to implementing the same framework in flood affected regions of Malawi.
It’s a holistic project that provides sustainable materials for shelters and community structures, training in green construction, entrepreneurship, craftsmanship and agriculture, and education to women and children. Beneficiaries of the project, who were previously homeless or reliant on alms, give a month’s voluntary work on community projects in return. The project supplies affordable and ecologically sound building materials such as bamboo, mud and lime for the new homes and community structures – which are zero carbon and built to a Disaster Risk Resistant model.
The community build also includes eco-toilets, water pumps, earthen stoves and a women’s centre. From this position of dignity in their living standards, communities are able – and motivated – to find productive employment. In Pakistan, this has included the production of glazed tiles, footwear from recycled materials, and hydroponic fodder.
Read more about Yasmeen Lari, the architect who designed the shelters used in the Green Shelter Project. Yasmeen is Pakistan’s first female architect and one of the most successful providers of disaster relief shelters in the world.
Pakistan: A Traditional Future on Al Jazeera
Yasmeen Lari on Dwell