We are happy to announce that Habitat Guatemala has been named a Bronze Winner of the #WorldHabitatAwards 2019!

This award is a UN-Habitat initiative that recognizes and highlights innovative, outstanding and revolutionary housing ideas, projects and programmes from across the world. 

Habitat for Humanity Guatemala participated with its  Healthy Homes for Humanity  program. This project provides families living in poverty with three basic services to improve their health and quality of life: a smokeless stove, water filter and sanitary latrine. It began in 2019 and is now active across all of Guatemala’s 22 administrative departments. Over the past few years, the number of Healthy Homes solutions implemented has increased by an average of 16% each year, benefitting around 300,000 marginalised and vulnerable people through improved health, dignity and self-empowerment.

Families are involved in the entire process and learn how to assemble, use and maintain each product. Each family makes a 5% contribution to the cost, the remainder of which is funded through the programme’s $675,000 USD annual budget.

Families are involved in the entire process and learn how to assemble, use and maintain each product. Each family makes a 5% contribution to the cost, the remainder of which is funded through the programme’s $675,000 USD annual budget.

“One day when I was having a conversation with my sister in-law about all of the problems that my family faces, she told me about Habitat for Humanity Guatemala. She put me in contact with them and I was happy to participate in different trainings so that I could learn how to use and better care for my products – a stove, a latrine, and a water filter. The best part was that my neighbours and other members of the community were going through the process at the same time – we were able to work as a team to make this project a reality.” – Alain Sicay.

David Ireland, Chief Executive of World Habitat, said: “These simple, low-cost interventions have made a huge difference to hundreds of thousands of people in one of the poorest countries in Latin America.”

The World Habitat Awards judging panel said: “This is a really practical and affordable solution to improve the quality of people’s homes, embedded in the local context and culture. They are achieving basic improvements at the individual house level, and significant scale at a national level. Whilst focusing on the absolute poorest families in one of the poorest countries in South America, they are making a huge difference to the health of thousands of Guatemalans.”

Each year the World Habitat Awards are presented to the most outstanding and innovative housing projects from across the world. In 2019 almost 200 projects and programmes entered the Awards.

You can learn more about this award at the following links: