Socio-Ecological Housing in Cameroon: Climate Change Resilience for Rural Communities by Lake Chad and Logone

This project aims to provide safe, durable and friendly homes in the rural area of the Far North Region of Cameroon. In 2014, 74.3% of people in the area lived below the country's poverty line estimated at 931 Francs CFA 1 per day (National Institute of Statistics [INS], 2015a). This is mainly due to structural underdevelopment and climatic hazards, which limit prosperity and the potential to rise out of poverty. Since 2012, floods and violence from the Boko Haram group affect frequently the local people. This situation has led to health, food and even housing-related problems. Several organizations, as well as the government, have mobilized to offer support through medical aid and the supply of necessities (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA], 2019). However, access to sustainable housing is one of the crucial problems, which remains unsolved. This situation affects mostly women, which deal with poor living conditions and constantly have to rebuild their houses, as men frequently migrate to the city in search of better income. This project proposes using plastic bottles as construction material to build sustainable and ecological housing, allowing the rural population to be safer and reduce the risk of pollution in urban areas. The goal is not only to build houses, but rather to build the capacities of people, mainly women by providing green building techniques based on experience from other parts of the world, without changing their identity of cultures. Access to sustainable and safe houses will allow women to focus on other income-generating activities that promote employment and self-reliance.