Rebuilding in Haiti After the 2021 Earthquake: An Interview with Haiti Project Manager Pierre Paya

Build Change has been working in Haiti since 2010. Can you tell us more about what you’ve been doing and your impact to date? Build Change has been supporting families in Haiti to repair and rebuild their homes to withstand future earthquakes in a way that supports livelihoods and long-term economic recovery. As part of this, we work with builders and blockmakers to increase local capacity and improve the quality of construction materials available on the local market.   Over the past decade, Build Change has worked in the Port-au-Prince area, in Cap Haitien and Trou du Nord in the North, and in the Southern Peninsula following Hurricane Matthew. Since the 2021 earthquake we have concentrated our efforts in the Les Cayes region, in the south. The technical and financial assistance we’ve provided since 2010 has resulted in more than 135,000 … Read More

TED TALK – DURABLE HOUSING FOR A RESILIENT FUTURE

About the TalkDurable housing for a resilient future. Around the world, natural disasters destroy thousands of lives and erase decades of economic gains each year. These outcomes are undeniably devastating and completely preventable, says mason Elizabeth Hausler — and substandard housing is to blame. It’s estimated that one-third of the world will be living in insufficiently constructed buildings by 2030; Hausler hopes to cut those projections with a building revolution. She shares six straightforward principles to approach the problem of substandard housing: teach people how to build, use local architecture, give homeowners power, provide access to financing, prevent disasters and use technology to scale. “It’s time we treat unsafe housing as the global epidemic that it is,” Hausler says. “It’s time to strengthen every building just like we would vaccinate every child in a public health emergency.” This talk was ... Read More

Build Change CEO Delivers Vision of Housing Resilience at TED Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 25 — Dr. Elizabeth Hausler, Founder and CEO of Build Change, delivered an impassioned TED Talk to the organization’s “We the Future” conference in New York, joining thousands of other social entrepreneurs and activists in calling for a renewed commitment to building housing resilience and battling poverty in the developing world. The marquis event at the TED World Theater in Manhattan celebrated the 73rd annual opening session of the United Nations General Assembly. “It’s time we treat unsafe housing as the global epidemic that it is,” Hausler said. “It’s time to strengthen every building just like we would vaccinate every child in a public health emergency.” Around the world, natural disasters destroy thousands of lives and erase decades of economic gains each year. These outcomes are undeniably devastating and completely preventable, Dr. Hausler said, and substandard housing … Read More

5 Lessons on Leadership from the AMEX Leadership Academy

The American Express (AMEX) Leadership Academy is an annual training program which was launched in 2009 at Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University through a partnership with AMEX. More than 270 managers from over 90 organizations have been served and benefited through the program. The curriculum focuses on the skills needed to run a successful nonprofit, while recognizing cultural nuances and molding specific lessons to different nonprofit niche needs. Each program targets up to 30 emerging leaders from around the world. Three Build Change staff attended the program in early 2017:  Haiti Program Manager Gaspard Pierristal, Indonesia Program Manager Mediatrich Triani Novianingsih, and Lead Structural Engineer for the Philippines Carl Fosholt. Each took away important lessons that are advantageous to their leadership skills and styles both in Build Change and as young professionals developing their careers. According … Read More