When it comes to the impact of the climate crisis, Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries. It suffers from recurring natural disasters that are expected to worsen over the long-term. In 2022, major floods affected the Sindh district, resulting in one third of the country being under water and 33 million people left destitute. According to a joint study by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, Pakistan suffered $32 billion USD in damages and economic losses and will need $16 billion USD to rebuild and rehabilitate it. 

Objectives:

The aim of the project is to provide low-cost safe housing to some of the most vulnerable families affected by floods, but also to ensure their selfsufficiency through sanitation, water access, food security, disaster mitigation and livelihoods development. The project did not take the approach of direct post disaster reconstruction; instead, it facilitated a mass community self-build programme. 

The communities involved in this project are remote, have few resources and often have a poor understanding of the structural vulnerabilities of buildings. The project extends to partnering villages as resources and capacity allow, and everyone in the village is invited to take part (and they usually do). The Foundation makes no distinctions on the basis of race or ethnicity, but most of the communities supported belong to the minority Hindu community. 

The approach of the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan aims to change perceptions of the current humanitarian aid model, replacing international colonial charity with ‘humanistic humanitarianism’ which is based on benevolence, empathy, solidarity, generosity and compassion. Its philosophy of ‘Barefoot Entrepreneurs’ aims to end the cycle of dependence and replace it with a culture of self-reliance. Charity gives way to a barefoot knowledge sharing mechanism which lifts people out of a state of apathy and replaces it with pride and dignity.

Key Features:

Direct Assistance. In an attempt to change in thinking to humanitarian aid, and to empower residents, Heritage Foundation of Pakistan requests that sponsors provide assistance directly through Mothers’ Committees, avoiding intermediary costs. This mechanism boosts the morale and confidence of 5 rural women. The mothers are mostly non-literate but have now learnt to sign cheques and act with greater responsibility. Mothers Committees are responsible for distributing materials among households and for payments to vendors and suppliers. 

The Committees also make arrangements for knowledge sharing and training to households to achieve the following stages within six months: 

Stage I: Rights-based components: one room house, one chulah stove, shared eco-toilet (one for two households), shared water handpump (one for eight households), shared solar light (one system for 12 households). 

Stage II: Food security by growing vegetables, rearing chickens, fishing and dehydrating fish and farm produce. 

Stage III: Flood mitigation through barriers of community forests, swales, and aquifer trenches. 

Stage IV: Training of barefoot entrepreneurs fulfilling local unmet needs. 

Structural resilience. The homes are made of prefabricated bamboo panels. The design is based on a traditional hut known as chauhra which normally gets washed away. Although the buildings look like chauhras they are octagonal in shape (and around 12 feet in diameter), with studier walls and use different materials: bamboo has replaced traditional timber and more recently, steel. The plastering now includes lime, increasing water resistance. The improved model has increased resistance as it slows water entry, and better recoverability as it incurs minimal damage and can be repaired quickly and easily post-flood. It includes an elevated threshold, uses locally available materials, and has room for storage. Unlike the traditional hut, the new version is based on tying the entire structure together to make it disaster-resilient: 

1. The octagon shaped is inspired by the traditional construction of circular chauhras, a form adopted in rural areas of many countries in Global South, due to its strength in withstanding disasters. 

2. The bamboo prefabricated panels, made by trained artisans, are strong and resilient. The technique of cross bracing is drawn from old dhijji construction found in the North of Pakistan. This consists of cross bracing in wood and was found to withstand the 2005 earthquake. Instead of wood it uses bamboo which is more widely available, and by connecting all pieces together it withstands any movement. 

3. The panels are anchored into lime concrete pads by using a length of L-shaped steel that firmly ties the structure to its foundations. 

4. The light conical roofs, which replicate the traditional form, are made of bamboo and designed to be much stronger than the traditional timber roofs. The roof joists are anchored into prefabricated wall panels with bolts. 

5. The filling of the panels and roof varies according to locally available materials. In the case of the present construction, the walls consist of matting made of reeds woven by women. The walls are treated with stabilized lime-earth renders while the roof carries thatch panels. These materials provide sufficient insulation while the thatch roof panels allow for air to move throughout. 

Disaster preparedness: each cluster of three to four families also has a double storey ‘look out’ building which provides extra refuge on the upper level and also acts as storage space for belongings. 

Land tenure: In the area of Sindh where this project takes place, around 50% of the households own their plot of land. The project makes no distinction between those who own the land title and those who don't. These are all extremely poor communities that have been left destitute in the aftermath of the disaster. For many households it will never be possible to obtain the title. However, they have never come across any eviction cases. Because of the vernacular architectural expression, the homes built through the project are perceived as katcha or impermanent structures - one of the reasons why they pose no threat to landowners. 

The barefoot model, which is the backbone to this project, has been developed and expanded from the Foundation’s award winning Chulah programme. It is based on community collaboration, mutual support for training needs and the development of a local market where barefoot entrepreneurs conduct local improvements and are paid a fee by households. The principles of the barefoot model are: 

1. Maximizing the potential of the existing ‘Barefoot Ecosystem’ - applying three Zeros: Zero Cost (to the donor)/Zero Carbon/Zero Waste methodologies leading to Zero Poverty. 

2. Focus on social and ecological justice through humanistic architecture fostering pride, dignity, and well-being, and preventing depletion of the planet’s resources. 

3. Delivery of unmet needs through Barefoot Entrepreneurs with a particular focus on women. 

4. Low tech, low-impact non-engineered structures for shrinking the ecological footprint in construction, using green skills and sustainable, locally sourced materials.

The lead agency for this project is the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan who have been working to build community resilience for 20 years. The Foundation’s ‘humanitarian architecture’ has been conducted in all provinces of Pakistan to deal with recurring floods and earthquakes. Through the process they have developed zero carbon/zero waste approaches, that reduce the use of concrete, steel and other industrialized materials. Instead, their climate resilient structures use a combination of bamboo, lime and earth.  

The project has built 6,300 housing units at a cost of $150 each, totalling $945,000. Funding was entirely provided by 14 private donors wanting to support a sustainable housing solution. Money was deposited directly into community bank accounts and distributed by the Mothers’ Committees.  

This approach empowers communities and fosters trust between sponsors and beneficiaries. The project aims to become self-sufficient, with the foundation covering supervisory costs and residents paying small fees to Barefoot Entrepreneurs. No government funds are involved. The long-term vision is to achieve a completely self-sustaining model where communities use their savings from the project to support future activities. 

Social impact
Since the project started, there has been heavy rainfall resulting in surrounding villages suffering displacement. The holistic eco- villages however remained secure and have been able to provide refuge to others. Residents feel confident and secure enough to offer hospitality to visitors as they have done on several occasions, including over 70 university climate volunteers, both from abroad and local universities.

The programme includes food security measures, involving planting orchards and vegetable gardens, and poultry and fish farming. Residents become healthier as their nutrition improves.

Mothers’ committees are now also using resources to build village school rooms. Out of 60 villages, 30% of the villages have built school rooms with their own savings.

Environmental impact
The approach is based on low-impact, low tech methods and locally sourced natural materials, to drastically reduce embodied energy.

The Heritage Foundation of Pakistan has been innovating with materials since the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, where the organisation recycled materials such as stone, mud and wood from collapsed houses, adding lime and traditional cross-bracing (dhajji) to create stronger buildings. Another local material, bamboo, was later tested and proven in housing displaced populations in the Mardan region. The use of these materials was then further developed during post-flood reconstruction in the Swat region in 2010, using multiple bamboo joists and cross-bracing to carry heavy roofs, withstanding subsequent flooding and several feet of snow.

The project’s motto is ‘Zero Carbon/Zero Waste leading to Zero Poverty’. The project attempts to make use of all available resources in the area, in order to implement the most economical, affordable, locally sourced methods. The measures include:

• Construction of zero carbon structures for houses, eco-toilets, earthen platforms for safety, earthen chulah stoves, low energy lime which absorbs carbon from the air and bamboo which acts as a carbon sink, making all structures entirely carbon neutral.

 • Introduction of community forests and other plantations for carbon capturing and to prevent soil erosion.

• Creating aquifer trenches and swales to replenish the aquifer for greater fertility.

 • Use of waste materials including debris of collapsed structures, human and livestock waste, agricultural and farm waste, food waste, and miscellaneous waste. For example, using left over fabric scraps as material for quilting, old sacks for potato farming and flood protection, old chemical drums for inexpensive water suction mechanisms from canals, and old oil drums as bases for floating structures.

Financial impact
The programme relies on peer-to-peer knowledge transfer to help destitute villages gradually achieve a holistic model. Teams of barefoot entrepreneurs guide the process and after 15 days households are on their way to begin fending for themselves and are able to become food secure within a couple of months.

 Barefoot entrepreneurs are paid a small fee by each household and are able to earn a substantial amount because of the large numbers of households they help. Residents do not pay for their housing but contribute with their work and pay a small fee for the services of the barefoot entrepreneur that supports their construction.

 Household incomes increase as people are trained as barefoot entrepreneurs and start selling their services and products in nearby villages. The specialisation of entrepreneurs is based on the unmet needs of the poor and the huge need that exists. Examples include the production of mud/lime bricks, roofing and reed matting, and fish and poultry husbandry.

The Sindh region is amongst the poorest in Pakistan: 37% of the population live in poverty and almost half live in rural areas. Residents already lost what little they had in the severe floods of 2010 but were faced with even more tragedy 12 years later. By this time, traditional construction with wood had ceased to be a viable option due to deforestation. Consequently, steel replaced timber, but the dangers of this came to light in the flood of 2022 when houses collapsed under the weight of waterlogged roofs and foundations were compromised causing dangerous injuries.

The traditional response from international organisations is to build brick and mortar homes which are seen as more resilient, but this also has its problems, not least the cost. The region operates under a feudal system, with many residents not having (or being able to achieve) ownership of the land they live on. Although the possibility of eviction is generally quite low, the system favours certain types of structures over others: remote landlords have less tolerance for construction perceived as permanent, preferring housing that uses traditional construction methods which is seen as temporary.

Heritage Foundation of Pakistan’s approach presents a viable alternative to colonised aid and a solution to the multitude of challenges, by building self-reliance within communities.

The Barefoot Entrepreneur model’s strength lies in its ability to expand with minimal external aid. The recent launch of a Mothers’ Committee savings program is expected to accelerate this growth. 

Initially supported by private sponsors, the project has expanded from 1,000 homes in 13 villages to over 6,300 homes across 60 villages. Its impact is spreading organically, as neighbouring communities begin their own projects. 

To spread this success further afield, HFP is developing a training program in partnership with Re:Arc and Spiritual Chords. This program, set to launch in Malawi in 2024, will share the model’s principles. Additionally, training videos on YouTube share knowledge about safe building techniques worldwide. 

By fostering community self-reliance, building resilience, and empowering residents, the project offers a pathway to long-term sustainability and dignity for some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. This innovative model has the potential to be replicated, offering hope, choice and control to countless communities struggling with poverty, displacement, and the ever-increasing threat of climate change.