Habitat amplifies impact in Nepal through partnership with Buildtech – reflections from Claire Szabo, CEO

Mar 7, 2019

Visiting Nepal

In June last year, I led a Global Village Build team with key partners – Israel Cooper, Managing Director of Buildtech and his team.
During this trip, we visited Habitat Nepal’s project activities in Eastern and Central Nepal, spending time with Habitat Nepal’s partner organization and Habitat homeowners.

We also visited a flood response community where Habitat Nepal had built 1300 temporary shelters.

One of the highlights for me was building a permanent home alongside Habitat homeowner, Kala (image below) – a member of a socially excluded community who lives with her five children and a daughter-in-law in one home.

It was a great time of celebration of the work being done in Nepal.

However the need is still great and there is more work to be done. Over 18,000 of the most vulnerable households that have not yet been able to access any kind of assistance since the earthquakes in 2015.

I am grateful that Habitat for Humanity New Zealand is continuing to support the work in Nepal alongside the partnership with Buildtech. Please join us in this important work.

Partnering with Buildtech

Under the leadership of Israel Cooper, Buildtech is committed to driving industry change and promoting human flourishing. Given the shared values between Habitat and Buildtech, the two organisations now work closely together helping to provide decent housing to families in need in both New Zealand and overseas.

Today Buildtech is involved in A Brush With Kindness projects in Christchurch and Auckland. Buildtech is also supporting homeowners overseas with decent housing through their multi-year ‘house for a house‘ sponsorship. This is where for every home Buildtech builds in New Zealand, the company donates the cost of a house in Fiji or Nepal to Habitat NZ.
Israel has also committed to recruiting his staff, corporate partners and suppliers to work alongside homeowners internationally through Global Village Builds.

If you would like to learn more about our corporate partnership program please contact us at [email protected].

About Habitat

Habitat for Humanity New Zealand is a not-for-profit organisation that works with partners to build or improve a place they can call home. Since 1992, Habitat for Humanity has built over 500 homes across the country, helping homeowners out of poverty housing, as they pay an affordable mortgage. Across the Pacific, Habitat for Humanity has built over 500 homes in Samoa and supported thousands of families into decent housing in Fiji, Samoa and Tonga through their disaster response programmes.