A new NV building for the Nongre Crafts and Culture Centre in Bolgatanga, northern Ghana, comprising a meeting room and a small library for the use of local children and their families, was completed in March this year. Their original timber and zinc roof building had been badly damaged in a storm several years ago.

Funds for the NV construction were raised by staff and students of the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University of Vienna, and the associated Young Earth Builders group. Four architecture students from the University were involved in initial discussions about the design of the building, and also documented its construction as part of their degree work.

Construction was carried out by NV artisan builder Samuel Kogo and his team in liaison with AVN’s National Coordinator Emmanuel Atubiga. The Director of the Nongre centre, Adombila, and his staff are so pleased with this building, so much more robust and comfortable than their original one, that they hope to have a second NV built alongside it next season.

October 16th last, the Department of Construction Techniques and Civil Engineering of Bolgatanga Polytechnic and AVN-Ghana signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to define and implement a pilot dual curriculum (theory and practice) for the training of construction technicians and the wider mobilisation of the entire adapted housing sector.

The first stages of this agreement involve the creation of a collaborative framework between the Polytechnic and AVN to identify the responsibilities and working methods of each party and to promote a multi-actor network of training involving not only the students, teachers, and Trainer Masons, but also experts in social entrepreneurship and other actors of the sustainable construction sector. A relevant action and fund-raising plan has been defined.

The Bolgatanga Polytechnic University is the first institution to have entered into such a technical agreement with AVN.

• Download the MoU