Congo - Kinshasa

ECO-CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN KISANTU

Construction of educational and health infrastructure, promotion of ecological agriculture, environmental conservation, vocational training.

An initiative of INITIATIVES PAYSANNES POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT INTEGRAL

Overview of the project

The project is part of an environmentally friendly approach, particularly with regard to the cutting of trees for brick firing. With good soil available in the city of Kisantu, most of the population builds with fired bricks, which require wood. Forests and even fruit trees are disappearing as demand continues to grow. Fired bricks are produced for sale, and young people have turned this into a lucrative business. With wood becoming scarce and climate change also affecting agriculture, fauna and flora, we have opted for an innovative project and have a manual press for manufacturing compressed earth bricks and bricks stabilised with cement or lime. We have a team trained by a Belgian technician to acquire skills in this field. The project will train young people in need for other similar structures and thus become a pioneer in new ecological architecture. Our actions can be seen at ipdikitemo.com.

Objective

Train young people who have dropped out of school in masonry using compressed earth bricks. Improve housing by combating the use of fired bricks. Raise public awareness of new environmental challenges and changing habits in the construction industry. Promote the use of local materials.

Level of progress

Ongoing research

Project timeline

19/03/2026 au 18/04/2026

Quantitative results

Ten young people benefited from this training in skills acquisition.

Qualitative results

At this stage, we are looking for resources and do not yet know how to move on to the evaluation stage. Nevertheless, we have built a few houses in Kinshasa at very low cost.

Financing

The machine was financed by young people from Kiwanis in Villers-la Ville, Belgium, and we took care of customs clearance.

About the
organisation

INITIATIVES PAYSANNES POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT INTEGRAL

GUY PEPIN NZALA
COORDONNATEUR
pepinnzala@gmail.com
00243906969075
  • Construction des infrastructures scolaire et sanitaire
  • Promotion de l’agriculture écologique
  • Préservation de l’environnement
  • Formation professionnelle, menuiserie et maçonnerie
  • Formation en coupe et couture
  • Formation du personnel soignant
  • Formation des enseignants
Other partners / supporters

No partners