The European Union (EU) and UN-Habitat today launched a book titled ‘Building, Owning and Belonging’ about owner-driven housing reconstruction, featuring lessons learnt and good practices from the last three decades till today. The book focuses on Sri Lanka and includes case studies from other countries, including India.
Sri Lanka has been internationally recognised for providing ‘homes’ and not just houses since the Million Houses Programme of the 1980s. Ever since, Sri Lanka has demonstrated the value of building together with the active contribution of the people. It has also showcased how effective it is to support local actors with affordable financing and technical assistance geared towards stimulating locally-sourced supply.
The European Union has been able to build on the success of Sri Lanka’s owner-driven approach to housing reconstruction since 2007. The EU has assisted returnee families to build more than 20,000 houses and another 2,400 are expected to be completed before 2020. The various EU grants to owner-driven housing reconstruction amount to EUR 65 million.
Over 40,000 people, including female-headed households, families of persons with disabilities and families with missing persons have directly benefited.
Valuable contributions to the EU-funded book have been provided by implementing partners such as UN-Habitat, Habitat for Humanity, Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB), Practical Action (now Janathkshan), the International Federation of the Red Cross, World Vision, the Auroville Earth Institute and other donors such as the World Bank, the governments of Australia, Switzerland and India.
They have all been instrumental in making the owner-driven reconstruction of over 100,000 houses a success.