Colombia: Safe, healthy, and sustainable construction in poor neighbourhoods (Construya)

The project

The project includes a skills development program in the informal construction sector in Colombia. The project was launched in April 2011 with financial support from the Hilti Foundation and between 2011 and 2018, more than 25,000 construction workers and more than 6,000 homeowners received training. An impact study carried out in 2018 concludes that trained construction workers were able to increase their income by 1,332 Swiss francs (CHF) per year and in 60% of cases they have built safer houses than unskilled workers. At the end of 2018, the training courses were so deeply rooted in the national vocational training institution SENA and in the other two main private partners, Homecenter and Cemex, that they were able to implement the courses independently.

In this final phase of the project, 2019-2020, we are supporting established partners, who are already familiar with these training methods so that they can independently train 6,200 construction workers and 80 new trainers across the country. Swisscontact aims to demonstrate the following elements of systemic change to achieve the desired impact:

• Scalability: Sustained high performance of construction workers trained in courses provided by existing core partners (SENA, Homecenter, Cemex) and by four new private partners.
• Behaviour: Construction workers overcome their bad practices, owners closely examine their own homes, trainers understand how to collaborate with informal workers, and companies integrate training into their business strategies.

At the same time, we are supporting four new partners so that they can learn more about the training methods and about coordination with SENA and train 2,000 construction workers (800 of whom are also entrepreneurs) in the cities of Bogotá, Cali and Bucaramanga. The goal is for private and public partners to integrate the courses into their clients' strategies by 2020 and then continue to deliver them independently.

Thanks to the training courses, at least 10,000 homeowners know that they must take structural measures to reduce the vulnerability of their homes to in order to face extreme weather events and earthquakes, and also to improve the use of natural light and have a good ventilation.

Watch this video to find out about the alliances with private sector partners, which were key in the creation of innovative training methodologies.

Financing partners

This project is financed by Hilti Foundation, among other donors. As part of the Swisscontact Development Programme, it is co-financed by SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA).