HFH Malawi is currently responding to a flood disaster which has displaced more than 86,976 people in fifteen districts in the southern part of the Malawi. Among other response activities, HFH has trained 33 local builders on safe house construction skills in Chikwawa district. Chikwawa is one of the districts that have been affected by disaster caused by heavy rains and floods which have left 35,888 people homeless.
Through this training, HFH Malawi intends to increase the resilience of households and communities to future disasters by utilizing the skills and knowledge that the builders have learnt.
The builders have been equipped with flood resilient construction techniques which include standard depths and minimum heights for foundations of houses built in flood prone areas, protection of foundation walls and superstructures, importance of raised floors and use of damp proof sheets for moisture protection. The trained builders are expected to help the communities construct houses which can withstand disasters such as floods and heavy winds. HFH Malawi’s Construction personnel will continue to give the builders practical advice in their various construction sites until they master their skills. In this way, HFH Malawi anticipates that these builders will remain a useful resource within their communities and surrounding areas even beyond HFHM’s interventions. This is the fourth training that HFH Malawi has conducted. So far, HFH Malawi has trained 159 builders on safe housing construction techniques with financial support JTI Foundation and Kostal (a Germany company) in partnership with HFH Deutschland
