Timeline | Build Change

June 5, 2017

Clinton Global Initiative and Build Change hosted an event in New York City detailing our advancements in post-disaster reconstruction using mobile apps and drone technology.

May 9, 2017

Surakshit Ghar was officially launched by the National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) during a press conference in Kathmandu, Nepal. Surakshit Ghar (“Safe House” in Nepali) is a mobile application developed by Build Change for the NRA to provide remote technical assistance and safe construction awareness to Nepali homeowners engaged in the reconstruction effort….

May 8, 2017

The Simpson Strong-Tie Fellowship for Engineering Excellence was announced, and call for applications for the 2017-2018 fellowship began. The Fellowship program is the result of a recent partnership between international nonprofit social enterprise Build Change and global structural solutions leader Simpson-Strong Tie. Complementing the Simpson Strong-Tie goal to find solutions for structures to make them safer and stronger, the fellowship will allow innovative engineers the opportunity to provide impactful contributions to…

April 4, 2017

Build Change was selected as one of the Social Design Circle honorees by Curry Stone Design Prize. In conjunction with this honor, Elizabeth Hausler was featured on the Social Design Insights podcast.

March 27, 2017

Build Change was named a winner of the 2017 Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship by The Skoll Foundation. The Skoll Foundation presents the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship each year to a select group of social entrepreneurs whose innovations have already had significant, proven impact on some of the world’s most pressing problems, and invests directly in the promise of even greater impact at scale.

March 24, 2017

Our 2016 Annual Report is published. This year’s report was dedicated to the power of partnerships as a means to develop lasting change for communities.

March, 2017

March 22, 2017

Build Change was engaged by the World Bank to provide expert advice on home retrofitting alternatives to mitigate disaster risk in Guatemala City. This job is part of the World Bank “Resilient Retrofit of Informal Houses” project, focused on exploring marked based and subsidy approaches to retrofit existing informal houses, defining strategies that can be used to improve their structural performance in order to reduce risks of life and economical losses due to collapse in probable earthquakes in the region.

March 6-13, 2017

March 13, 2017

Our partners at RMS sent a team of their staff to visit our program in Nepal and had the opportunity to meet with our teams and local partners. Hear about their experiences in their own words in their blog entries on our blog.

March 7-10, 2017

March 7, 2017

Our Director of Engineering, Lizzie Blaisdell Collins was the recipient of the 2016 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute’s (EERI) Shah Family Innovation Prize. This prize honors young professionals within the field of earthquake risk reduction for their creativity and innovation. The prize was presented at the EERI 69th Annual Meeting in Portland, OR.

March 6, 2017

Our 2016 Year in Review video was published, this video included updates such as our earthquake app for Android devices, drone technology and school retrofits; as well as, updates on all of our programs across 6 countries.

February 23-25, 2017

February 23, 2017

On February 10, 2017, a 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck Surigao Del Norte, Philippines. From February 23-25, our team performed a post-earthquake reconnaissance investigation of the damage and response of school buildings and housing within the area. Our team completed the reconnaissance on February 25, their results will contribute to the development of retrofit manuals.

February 9, 2017

Our Founder and CEO, Elizabeth Hausler joined more than 150 social entrepreneurs in signing an open letter to President Trump, standing in solidarity against the Muslim Ban.

December 19, 2016

After the 2016 Aceh earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on December 6, our Indonesian reconnaissance team worked right away to assess the damage on-site. The team documented the damage of homes and schools in the Pidie Jaya region through the Build Change blog. The team also met with representatives from the Ministry of Education and organizations such as UNICEF and Save the Children while providing technical assistance. The team also took the time to visit homes in the Aceh Besar district, where Build Change had provided technical assistance in 2006; many of the homes in this area had little to no major damage.

November 7, 2016

Our team in Nepal successfully retrofitting a school in the Sindhupalchowk district, thanks to the efforts of local communities and supporters, over 100 children were able to resume their education.

October 26, 2016

The team of engineers who responded to Hurricane Matthew in Haiti published this technical reconnaissance report with their findings.

October 11, 2016

Lloyd’s Charities Trust, the grant-making charity of the Lloyd’s insurance market, supports efforts to relieve suffering and help people rebuild their lives in the face of disaster. On October 11, 2016 we established a new three-year partnership with LCT, which will focus on building climate and earthquake resilience in informal settlements in Metro Manila and reducing seismic risk in informal neighborhoods in Medellín.

September 21, 2016

Build Change was featured in the Opening Plenary Session of the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, and then Founder & CEO Elizabeth Hausler participated in the breakout session “What We Know Now: Applying Lessons Learned to Advance Haiti’s Future” as a part of the Haiti Action Network.

September 11-16, 2016

September 11, 2016

Our partners at RMS sent a team of their staff to visit our program in Nepal and support with projects on the ground there. Hear about their experiences in their blog entries on our blog.

September 6, 2016

The team of engineers who evaluated the west coast of Ecuador after the earthquake there in April 2016 compiled a reconnaissance report detailing their findings, which is now available online.

August 3, 2016

Today we began one of our first housing retrofits in Bogotá, Colombia after many months of designing, approval processes, and preparation.

July 28, 2016

Elizabeth Hausler Strand and our Latin America team participated in the beginning of a strategy for Medellin – Antioquia to become part of 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation. We are working on the project “Strengthening Community Risk Management” alongside the Rockefeller Foundation and ELADES.

June 25, 2016

Build Change was chosen as one of the 100 organizations to be featured during Impact Journalism Day 2016, when 55 newspapers worldwide highlight positive innovations from more than 110 countries. Two French language papers, Le Soir in Belgium and L’Express de Madagascar, featured articles alongside two English language papers, The Straits Times in Singapore and The Philippine Star.

May 4, 2016

The training center in Trou du Nord, Haiti was officially opened Officials from the local government, USAID, CANADO Technique, CECI, Global Communities, DFS Construction, and Institut National de Formation Professionnelle (INFP) were among the guests we were honored to host.

May 2016

May 1, 2016

Our team in the Philippines hosted 12 engineers and technical staff from the Bhutanese government. Representatives from the Bhutanese Ministries of Works and Human Settlements, Education, Health, Culture and Disaster Management attended. They were interested in learning about confined masonry, to see whether the technology can be transferred to Bhutan.

April 30, 2016

Global Director of Engineering Lizzie Blaisdell led our team to Ecuador after the earthquake on April 16 that left 26,000 people homeless. She was accompanied by Juan Caballero, Director of Programs and Partnerships for Latin America, who is from Honduras and is currently based in Bogotá, Colombia where he leads our resilience program for Latin America. Project Engineer Walter Cano, from Colombia, was also on the trip, bringing a South American perspective to the team along with his expertise in structural engineering.

April 25, 2016

One year after the devastating earthquake in Nepal, our team there shares the story of supporting many rural communities in rebuilding their homes, schools, and lives.

April 20, 2016

Our 2015 Annual Report is published. This year’s report was dedicated to innovation as a means of building positive, permanent change.

March 28, 2016

On March 28, 2016 the Department of Public Works and Highways officially endorsed our Residential Design and Construction Guidelines in the Philippines. These guidelines give visual, easy-to-understand instructions for each step in the process of building a disaster-resistant house, and were created to incorporate materials and technologies already available to local communities.

March 2016

March 1, 2016

Build Change Board of Directors welcomes two new members: Grace Hanson and Mary Lou Zoback.

January 28, 2016

Build Change won the OpenIDEO Urban Resilience Challenge with our project to proactively retrofit slums in Metro Manila.

January 22, 2016

Build Change as an organization is registered in Nepal.

December 18, 2015

Elizabeth Hausler is featured in this video and blog series by the World Economic Forum in conjunction with the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneurs Program.

December 8, 2015

Kate and Bheng from our Philippines team attended the first ARISE Philippines General Meeting. Kate spoke about achieving high potential for impact if ARISE members commit to tangible action, which relies on knowledge creation in terms of disasters as they apply to the Philippine context.

November 3, 2015

Our Haiti program signs the first ever agreement between Build Change and a program country government. The Housing Construction and Public Buildings Unit (UCLBP in French) has partnered with us to complete various projects in 2016 and 2017.

October 8, 2015

Elizabeth Hausler, founder and CEO of Build Change, gave the CEE Distinguished Lecture on October 8, 2015 at UC Berkeley College of Engineering.

July 10-12, 2015

July 10, 2015

Build Change Haiti participated in the first annual Haitian Olympiad Skills Competition, a first-of-its kind contest organized by the Haitian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (CMAH) and the National Institute of Professional Training (INFP), with the support of USAID’s Local Enterprise & Value Chain Enhancement (LEVE) Project. The competition took place at MATCON 2015, Haiti’s first-ever construction exposition and trade fair hosted by the Haitian American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham Haiti).

Build Change responds to Nepal Earthquake

May 5, 2015

Build Change responds to Nepal Earthquake, sending team of engineers.

June 29, 2015

March 29, 2015

The 2014 annual report celebrates 10 years of Build Change and includes 10 lessons for 10 years, updates on our new programs in Colombia, Guatemala, and the Philippines, and stories from the field. Learn more about our impact since 2004!

March 16, 2015

Our sub-office in Lhoskeumawe, Indonesia is open! See this location.

March 13, 2015

As of March 13, 2015, Build Change is now a Social Welfare and Development Agency in the Philippines, the equivalent of nonprofit status.

February 19, 2015

Our engineering team visited several damaged schools in Guatemala as part of a field study for retrofitting to make these schools safe again. Students are attending class in this building.

Eusi and Helen

December 1, 2014

Eusi and Helen lost their home to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. They received training and technical assistance from Build Change while they rebuilt their home, with support from partner Cordaid. Just two months after they completed their home, they sheltered 17 neighboring families from the powerful Typhoon Hagupit in December 2014.

November, 2014

November 29, 2014

September 2, 2014

Build Change celebrates its 10th anniversary with the rollout of a new logo and this website.

August 22, 2014

Build Change secures local registration in the Philippines, which will enable stronger partnerships with the Philippines government in support of safe reconstruction and disaster risk mitigation throughout the country.

May 2014

May 1, 2014

David Friedman join the Build Change board of directors.

May 2014

May 1, 2014

Build Change signs a memorandum of agreement with the World Bank Global Program on Safer Schools. Build Change expands its mission to include schools as well as residential units and Sig Anderson joins the Build Change board of directors.

March 28, 2014

Rockefeller Foundation profiles Build Change’s work in the Philippines, featuring Build Change COO Gordon Goodell.

March, 2014

March 1, 2014

Build Change expands the better building materials program in Haiti, working with local small businesses to create jobs, produce stronger blocks and market them to the general public. Read Nicolas Chevelon’s story. Word

February 12, 2014

Le Nouvelliste, the national newspaper of Haiti, features the innovative partnership between Build Change and Sogesol, the microfinance subsidiary of Sogebank, in Haiti to bundle technical assistance with housing microfinance, the Kredi Bel Kay program. Read the story here.

January 2014

January 1, 2014

Build Change registers in Indonesia as a local non-profit, Yayasan Bangunan Cemerlang Indonesia (YBCI), which means “brilliant building”, opening the door to local partnerships.

December, 2013

December 2, 2013

Build Change engineers visit the Philippines and start training local engineers in safe construction.

November 18, 2013

NPR includes Build Change’s work in a story on how and where to rebuild in the Philippines.

October 15 and November 8, 2013

October 15, 2013

Two events hit the Philippines; the Bohol earthquake kills 222 people and typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) wipes through the central Visayas, killing 6,340 and destroying 1.2 million homes and schools. Build Change decides to open a program in the Philippines.

October 2013

October 4, 2013

Build Change would not have been possible without Martin’s inspiration. Martin continues to serve on the board of directors.

October 2, 2013

RMS supports Build Change and becomes a Global Platform Partner.

October, 2013

October 1, 2013

Martin Fisher, Co-Founder and CEO of KickStart and chair of the Build Change board of directors, hands the chair over to Paul VanderMarck.

July 2, 2013

A Mw= 6.2 earthquake hits near Takengon, Aceh, up in the coffee-growing mountains, killing 35 people and damaging or destroying 4,300 houses. With USAID OFDA support, Build Change starts an innovative, low cost per impact program to mobilize community members to provide technical assistance to over 2,500 homeowners to rebuild. Build Change implements a large-scale awareness program through radio and flyers, and is successful in convincing many homeowners to rebuild from timber instead of masonry.

June, 2013

June 13, 2013

Degenkolb Engineers, Build Change and the Haiti MTPTC win the SEAONC Award of Excellence for the Haiti Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit Guidelines. This award is for outstanding achievement in the development of structural engineering practice and concepts through the analysis, design, evaluation and/or testing of structures resulting in the preparation of a study, research project, guideline or reference standard. Click here to learn more.

April 23, 2013

The World Economic Forum publishes Build Change’s blog post “What Latin America Needs to Know About Earthquakes” in anticipation of Build Change’s expansion to Latin America. Read it here. The Inter-American Development Bank picks it up a few months later and translates it to Spanish.

Jan, 2012

January 3, 2012

Build Change publishes the first of three primers requested by USAID, “Building Back Housing in Post-Disaster Situations – Basic Engineering Principles for Development Professionals”

2012

January 1, 2012

In partnership with Cordaid, Build Change implements the first large-scale retrofitting technical assistance program in Haiti, impacting nearly 1,200 houses. Read Oramene Lamarre’s story.

October 2011

October 1, 2011

Elizabeth named a 2011 Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year for the US.

July 2011

July 1, 2011

Elizabeth is honored by ELLE as one of “9 for All Mankind”, nine women who are educating, rebuilding, doctoring, employing, and sustaining the world.

June 2011

June 1, 2011

Elizabeth wins the 2011 Lemelson-MIT Award for Sustainability

Caterpillar, 2011

March 1, 2011

In Indonesia, Build Change expands a partnership with Caterpillar Foundation to train vocational students and teachers, reaching over 6,000. In Haiti, Build Change spends most of the year developing retrofitting guidelines and training people, waiting for someone to start deploying cash subsidies for materials and labor for housing reconstruction. The money in Money – Technology – People is so far missing; a stool with two legs cannot stand. These short courses are good for building awareness but have limited long-term impact on skills development because they are not done on-the-job while rebuilding homes.

October 2010

October 1, 2010

Hilti Foundation becomes a major partner and donor and takes a board seat. With the Hilti Foundation support, Build Change builds a senior management team, which eventually grows to 10 people on the 10th anniversary, 50% women.

September 2010

September 1, 2010

Build Change writes an article chronicling the experience in trying to shift donors and agencies to homeowner-driven reconstruction, published in Innovations journal and released at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, where Elizabeth is a speaker on an innovative design panel. An essay by Dr. Hausler on the Build Change homeowner-driven model in Haiti is featured in the Innovations Journal, published by MIT press and the Clinton Global Initiative. Read the essay.

August, 2010

August 1, 2010

Build Change starts work in Haiti by providing critical guidance on the repair guideline being developed by various agencies, pushing it more toward a retrofit guide, and signing an MOU with the Haiti MTPTC, which remains in place to this day.

April 16, 2010

Wired includes Build Change in a blog on rebuilding Haiti: “This is why Build Change doesn’t win a lot of these cool, prestigious awards,” Hausler says. “What we do is very low-tech. It’s not very fancy. It’s not really anything new. It’s just improving an existing technology, but by doing that we reach so many more people with locally appropriate solutions.”… LINK: Wired Covers Build Change’s Work

March, 2010

March 2, 2010

Build Change goes to Haiti, meets these homeowners on the edge of Leogane, who have already started rebuilding. They have invested their own resources in building a safer building, and are eager for more information on disaster-resistant construction. The first sign that the homeowner-driven model can work in Haiti.

January 18, 2010

The New York Times features Build Change in an article about rebuilding after Haiti: “Managing Disasters with Small Steps”

January 12, 2010

A catastrophic Mw = 7.0 earthquake hits near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Over 100,000 people were killed; 250,000 housing units lost. The previous day, the Build Change board of directors endorsed an expansion plan to Latin America to work with people to build safe buildings before an earthquake strikes; that expansion is put on hold.

September 14, 2009

October 14, 2009

The Jakarta Globe Covers Build Change Work in Padang

September 30, 2009

Another earthquake hits West Sumatra, proof of concept for Build Change: none of the 655 homeowners who followed Build Change minimum standards for safe construction have damage in this earthquake. Build Change expands operations again, supporting NGOs such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, and Save the Children to provide technical assistance for safe housing reconstruction and builders training programs. While external agencies promote temporary shelters and masonry structures, Build Change supports the local government in promoting timber frame buildings, already common and preferred, and a cash plus technical assistance rebuilding model (homeowner-driven reconstruction).

August 28, 2009

Elizabeth wins and Ashoka-Lemelson fellowship.

May 5, 2009

Near the first anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake, NPR All Things Considered runs a story on Build Change’s homeowner-driven reconstruction program in China. LINK: NPR Story on Rebuilding in China

April 24, 2009

Natural History New Zealand films a documentary to air on National Geographic about the Wenchuan earthquake, featuring a series of interviews with scientists and engineers including Dr. Elizabeth Hausler.

April 2, 2009

Paul VanderMarck, Chief Products Officer with Risk Management Solutions, joins Build Change board of directors.

November 12, 2008

Build Change wins the Tech Award for Technology Benefiting Humanity in the Katherine M. Swanson Equality Category.

Tumen Township

July 1, 2008

In China, Build Change partners with the Tumen Township government and a local NGO to implement a successful technical assistance programs. All elements are in place – Money – Technology – People. Money: the government provided sufficient funding for rebuilding a basic house. People: they provided enforcement (through our team of Chinese construction professionals) and incentives for following the standards. Build Change empowered homeowners with the knowledge and technology to build safely (Read Xing Dayan’s Story). Technology: confined masonry is the commonly preferred structural system, for which there was already a building code in China. Our value-add was to make it understandable for homeowners, builders, and technical college students.

May 12, 2008

Mw=7.9 earthquake in Wenchuan, Sichuan, China levels entire villages, kills 69,195 people with an additional 18,392 missing, and leaves at least 5 million people homeless. Many collapsed buildings are multi-story, made of poorly confined masonry walls with precast concrete plank roofs. This building type is common in China, Central Asia and Eastern Europe and likely to result in more devastation in future events.

March 28, 2005

March 28, 2008

Mw=8.6 earthquake off Nias island rocks Aceh, a few days after Elizabeth arrives in Banda Aceh. Build Change hires its first three staff: an Indonesian engineer, an Indonesian architect, and an Indonesian quantity estimator, and begins designing and building houses with Mercy Corps in Lampisang and Keunue eu, Aceh Besar. The partnership with Mercy Corps has continued through other earthquakes in Indonesia, China and Haiti.

January 10, 2008

Build Change begins operations in West Sumatra, providing design advice to 655 homeowners who receive small grants from the Indonesian government to rebuild. Many homeowners cannot afford to build confined masonry buildings well; Build Change begins promoting timber frame with masonry skirt wall, a common building type in West Sumatra.

August 15, 2007

Mw=8.0 earthquake near Pisco, Peru kills 519 people and destroys over 58,000 houses. Elizabeth visits the area in early 2008; many commercial building owners following good practices in rebuilding new confined masonry buildings, while homeowners lack access to engineering advice and construction supervision needed to rebuild safely. While trying to raise money to start a program in Peru, the earthquake happens in Sichuan and shifts Build Change’s course to China.

March 6, 2007 and September 12, 2007

March 6, 2007

Two earthquakes hit West Sumatra and Bengkulu in the span of about six months; Build Change begins to wind down the program in Aceh and plan the move to West Sumatra, where the homeowner-driven model is more likely to work, given the low involvement of foreign NGOs and the Indonesian government’s pending shift to cash plus technical assistance housing reconstruction model.

October 2006

October 1, 2006

That some organizations don’t care about construction quality, or lack the ability, will or budget to enforce it, starts to become evident in Aceh.

September 2006

September 1, 2006

Build Change develops design and construction guidelines for confined masonry single story homes, Build Change expands to providing design reviews, train the trainer programs, and inspection services to other organizations such as CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Oxfam, and IOM, impacting over 4,200 homes by the end of 2007.

May 26, 2006

Mw=6.3 hits Indonesia near Yogyakarta, killing more than 5,700 people. Build Change does a reconnaissance study which uncovers some very compelling photos of why buildings collapse and why they don’t.

March 17, 2006

Build Change joins the Draper Richards Kaplan portfolio of social entrepreneurs.

First houses in Aceh

March 12, 2006

Build Change finishes its first houses in Aceh. They are called “best in Aceh” by a team of Indonesian academics and engineers. Ibu Ruslan AB says, “now I can sleep at night”.

Person of the Week

March 6, 2006

Elizabeth featured as abc NEWS Person of the Week on World News Tonight.

December 26, 2004

Massive Mw=9.1-9.3 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean causes devastation throughout the region. Given the enormous need for housing in Sumatra, Indonesia and the high likelihood of additional seismic activity there, Elizabeth abandons plans for starting first programs in India and Iran and focuses on Indonesia.

Build Change incorporated

September 2, 2004

Build Change incorporated in State of California as Center for Earthquake Resistant Houses. A few months later, changed the name to Build Change.

Echoing Green Fellowship

June 10, 2004

Elizabeth wins an Echoing Green Fellowship, providing the seed funding and confidence to start Build Change.

May 2004

May 1, 2004

Elizabeth visits Iran twice, in May and October of 2004, planning to start a technical assistance program in the areas hit by the Bam earthquake, noting deficiencies in construction practices on newly built houses. Unfortunately, Build Change’s application for a license from the U.S. Treasury Department to work in Iran is turned down.

December 26, 2003

Mw=6.6 earthquake near Bam, Iran kills 26,271 in the early morning hours, many crushed by heavy roofs on weak walled buildings.

2003

January 1, 2003

True to the “learn first” part of the Build Change model: Elizabeth spends a year in India on a Fulbright Fellowship studying and assisting with the post-earthquake housing reconstruction in Gujarat, and visiting areas hit by the 1993 Killari (Maharashtra) earthquake and the 1999 Chamoli (Uttaranchal) earthquake.

Build Change 2003

January 1, 2003

Using the Gujarat homeowner-driven reconstruction model as inspiration, Elizabeth formulated the Build Change theory of change, and the Build Change six step model. We would not build houses for people, but instead use a technical assistance model and leverage the financing of others as incentives for safe construction.

January 26, 2001

Mw=7.7 earthquake in Kachchh near Bhuj, Gujarat, India kills over 20,000 people and destroys over 400,000 homes. It got Elizabeth’s attention: why do so many people die when an earthquake happens in a developing country? It’s not the earthquake that kills people, it’s the collapse of a poorly built building. A man-made problem with a man-made solution. So it started as an engineering challenge and a social justice issue: everyone deserves the right to a safe house.