Architects for Aid ofrece dos plazas de
arquitectos/as para, uno para una misión de dos semanas en el Norte de Pakistán
y otra para un contrato de dos años en Timor Este. Enviamos la carta que hemos
recibido a nuestros suscriptores de Asforma. Aprovechamos para desearos unas
fiestas agradables y un feliz 2007.
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Hello again,
A4A have had an urgent request
for help from a couple of our partner NGOs perhaps you or a friend or colleague
may be able to help. If you would like to visit a rather chilly northern
Pakistan at short notice - this could be right up your street.... Thanks for your
help as ever!
Happy Christmas and very best
wishes,
Vicky and all at A4A
2 week mission, field conditions, post
earthquake Northern Pakistan, 3rd January for 10-15 days maximum.
Volunteer roles .
Architects with experience in seismic reinforcing techniques
for basic village housing and non-engineered structures are required. A4A will
be consulting with the local people in a region devastated by the earthquake
over a year a go to given them back the permanent housing they desperately
need. Further to the consultation, the design and training for the local
workmen, masons and carpenters, as well as the beneficiaries themselves, will
be given. This will enable them to be actively involved in putting seismically
safe buildings together within a tight materials budget. Basic 2 bedroom single
storey houses will be designed and then consultancy on the designs of a
hospital and a school building are required. The latter could be undertaken
from the UK in a very short time - ca. one week of office time. These are vital
projects that need to be started quickly as build will be executed from late
January. A4A is now making an urgent call to Architects or Engineers who could
undertake this trip or any consultancy. Can you help? Email Victoria.harris@...
or Victoria-harris@...
Paid Role
£60k per annum, East Timor. 2 year contract.
We are looking for a project manager, preferably
an architect, to run a project unit in the Ministry of Health in East
Timor. It will be for about two years and the pay is US$120,000 a year
all in. We have an Australian firm of architects supervising the
renovation of the main hospital in Dili and s/he would have to supervise them
in this role. We also have three district hospitals being constructed and
s/he would have to manage the construction of these. We have resident
expatriate engineers and local clerks of works but they need a lot of
management. All of these are being funded by the World Bank. There
are also two hospitals that are going to be built by the government.
Designs have been produced by a local consultant based on the other hospitals
but preliminary assessments show that the work needs much improvement. There is
also a small team of local engineers managing a small works maintenance
programme and they need managing also.
So we need a very experienced architect or
engineer who has managed similar projects in developing countries and who
should really have experience in the health field. And we need him/her
pretty quickly! Please reply urgently to Victoria.harris@...
Dr Victoria Harris Hon FRIBA
Chief Executive,
A4A
+44 (0)20 7466
1222
+44 (0)7771
711733
Registered
Charity No. 1112621
www.architectsforaid.org
10 Bonhill
Street
London
EC2A 4QJ
UK
A4A FUNDS PROJECTS, AND TRAINS AND
PROVIDES ARCHITECTS TO PROVIDE BETTER
SHELTER WHEREVER
THERE IS DISASTER POVERTY OR NEED.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Victoria,
this is Jaime the ASF guy you met in
Brussels. I have now reached Cape Verde and I am getting into the EU
projects which include some health centres and a slum improvement programme.
The EU has enormous quantities of money and thankfully they are moving towards
governmental budgetary support which means the local government will
increasingly run the show instead of experts from the EU.
Melissa from ASF-UK has forwarded to
me your advertisement for two positions: one in Pakistan and the other in East
Timor. Thanks for that. Before I can forward them around though, I must ask you
some details. As you know, one of the values and one of the main points of our
Charter is the non-substitution of local competences and local professionals.
On an exemplary note, Architecture & Développement (A&D-who has been
working in Pakistan), has an capacity building approach, that is they use
any opportunity to train people locally whilst assisting a construction
process. The North Pakistan project seems urgent and perhaps the only solution
is to parachute some expert there for two weeks. But is there no scope for not
just sending someone but also organising some kind of earthquake resistant
architecture workshop?
In any case, I can put you in touch with
an amazing Indian expert who was involved in the post-earthquake reconstruction
of Bhuj in Gujarat India. Sandeep Birmani < sandeep@... >,
heads an impressive movement of NGOs and is really well networked. Promoting
collaboration between Indians and Pakistanis is always positive. Perhaps, if
funds are available they could do more than just deliver a technical fix.
Concerning the second WB funded position I
am impressed by the salary level. Again if the position is opened to any
nationality I can suggest you forward the announcement to the Indian
Habitat Forum (INHAF) " inhaf@...".
The latter is a good reference for you since it involves hundreds of habitat
related organisations.
As a final note and hoping that A4A and
ASF find more solid grounds for collaboration I would like to say that I
believe we (architects) have things to offer to developing countries but
often we undermine what is available locally (knowledge, technologies,
professionals). For the ASF network it is fundamental we make sure we do
not become a network for the privileged only and that if we send someone on a
mission it is because it is a necessary complement to local
needs. For instance, when I went to Tamil Nadu with A&D for
post-tsunami reconstruction my role was 1. to find local architects to do the
job on a long-term basis, 2. to assist the local engineers in developing a
participatory and environmentally friendly design approach, 3. to make
sure the during the building process local masons were trained in locally
available appropriate technologies. When I left two Indian architects
took over with two-year contracts.
I am sure I am not saying anything new. Do
let me know about the contents and I will forward it all to ASF-International
partners.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
--
Jaime Royo Olid
Chargé de Programmes
Délégation de la Commission Européenne
à la République du Cap Vert
Achada de Santo António
C.P. 122 Praia
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello Jaime,
...
Your question is important Jaime and we work with
exactly the same principles that you do, in our projects. Interestingly, the
NGO we are working with, Muslim Aid, has sought the help of local expertise and
in fact have a local architect, but they came to us, with the architect
himself, as seismic mitigation architecture is not taught as part of the
curriculum in Pakistani or Indian Universities. This is something that may
change in future, but for now still hampers their redevelopment work
considerably. We are re-working their architect designed school and hospitals
with their architect as the seismic mitigation just wasn't adequate or even
present for that matter. For a zone expecting earthquakes every few years or so
this meant many hundreds of patients and children at a serious and needless
risk, without question.
But for the major project in January, what A4A is
providing is training in this seismic mitigation to beneficiaries and builders
themselves as well as community liaison to kick start the design and build. We
will be teaching a subset of the local people some specific carpentry and
building skills related to the rebuilding of their 300 houses so that they are
able to take these same skills and pass them on to each other. Importantly, it
will also enable them to participate in working on their own houses when build
starts. The training given to the local people will tie in with the architect's
site analysis that we will be working on and with the seismic analysis and
plans for the new houses that we will be doing. This is all based on seismic
reinforcement techniques that their architect locally was not aware of nor
trained in. We will also, in the process, hand over the management of the
project having conveyed information and skills to the local personnel and the
beneficiaries.
This is an almost pure exercise in capacity building
and giving the people precisely what their architect does not have (and has
asked for) and then handing over the project to the local community and local
NGO. The NGO on the ground was also grateful for the help in community liaison
and we will be taking on this role as well to give the people the best possible
briefing on the work, the aims and how they will be affected and involved. One
of our architects is fluent in Urdu and so will be able to explain technical
architectural information in local lay language.
So what we have here is a combination of huge urgency
and the assurance of the capacity building being key. What we are offering is
emphatically not available locally and undermining the local professionals is
simply not going to be part of this.
With reference to the permanent role in East Timor we
have been asked to act in the capacity of networker and spreading the
information on the role. We are not the operational NGO so the way they work
and role is under the control of the organisation heading that. What was
specifically mentioned by the recruiter for the role - who is a friend/contact
of Jeni's - though was that again, the local skills are not there. This has to
be brought in from outside to get the work done.
We have these questions on a regular basis and perhaps
I could direct you to our own website where the Mission Statement and Aims of
A4A - the equivalent of your Charter - are? They make it clearer that capacity
building is our emphasis and that we don't work on a project where we are
taking the role of a local worker away, or undermining local capacity.
Again, the suggestion of the workshop is a good idea,
so much so that we have already done this in the last week! And will be
repeating this several times during the trip we are seeking to execute in
January. This is the main MO.
I really can't emphasise too strongly that our two
organisations absolutely concur on this point and we really could not be agreeing
with you more, nor acting in a way that you would be anything other than
delighted about. Without blowing our own trumpet too much this project is
absolutely exemplary in terms of both our charters/missions.
Melissa has previously asked the same question and
received similar answers in response to other notifications of new projects. I
hope we can reassure ASF UK/(Worldwide!) for the long term, and that you won't
feel you have to worry about our forgetting this core value. It is close to
both our hearts! �
Your contacts that you have sent us are really
appreciated. As is the whole email actually - thanks so much for being in
touch. As you know I am really keen to collaborate and work more closely as we
are all hoping to make the same differences. I would really like to chat more
about our projects. As you know we are pushing ahead with the database of
response architects. We have the support of the ACE and UIA, AFH remain in the
loop since the Brussels meeting and hopefully we can do much more together in
future. Please do keep in touch!
Good luck in Cape Verde Jaime!
See you soon Jen!
Love and Merry Christmas,
Vicky
Dr Victoria Harris Hon FRIBA
Chief Executive,
A4A
+44 (0)20 7466
1222
+44 (0)7771
711733
Registered
Charity No. 1112621
www.architectsforaid.org
10 Bonhill
Street
London
EC2A 4QJ
UK
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