Past editions

Dare to Share!

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:12:09 +0000

Martín Meléndez

The Dare to Share fair held at Swiss Development Cooperation headquarters in Bern at the end of March, attracted more than 125 participants from all over the world in a knowledge sharing endeavor that included workshops, exhibitions, small presentations and bilateral meetings.

Ecomaterials: connecting science and the grassroots

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:16:27 +0000

Science plays an increasingly important role in modern society, in an interconnected and globalized world that debates alternatives about growth and how to protect our planet from total destruction. Thus, it is important to diminish the gap between scientific results and their manifestation in a product or service, especially in developing countries that have weak infrastructures and inadequate interface mechanisms between science and practice.

An Ecovillage in Bangladesh

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:18:53 +0000

Kurt Rhyner

We traveled for about four hours from Dhaka , the capital and mega city (8 Millions of inhabitants) to the east. The main river of the country, which is up to five kilometers wide, we crossed by ferry, which was filled with many buses, trucks and people.

Visit to Ceramic Museum in Switzerland

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:25:25 +0000

Kurt Rhyner

A group from EcoSouth recently had an opportunity to visit the Ceramic Museum in Switzerland . Historically, bricks and tiles made of burnt clay have been among the principal construction materials in Europe throughout the centuries, and the colleagues were interested in learning about pre-industrial brick production.

Planning of Salvadorian seminar about popular housing

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:26:44 +0000

The salvadoranian office of the Irish NGO Trocaire and EcoSur are organizing, together with various local NGO's, a seminar-workshop around the theme alternatives for popular housing. During the past years Central America, and especially El Salvador, has lived through many experiences in house building, many on governmental level, some on the community level, and even the general public has gone through this process. This seminar-workshop seeks to analyse some of these experiences and open up a vision of bringing together the technologies, materials, mechanisms of planning, management and house construction, with emphasis on rural housing. The morning seminar includes international experts on different themes and there will be a debate about the fundamental principal of technologies, materials and forms of management. During the workshop there will be a chance to learn directly how to produce and/or use the materials and systems, and in a second phase learn about some projects and their results through an exhibition of posters.

Nicaraguan architect shares ideas in Ecuador

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:28:01 +0000

Nicaraguan architect Marcos Macanche recently worked together with the technical team at Ecuador on the concept, details, and building systems for housing project they are developing together with the Riobamba Credit and Saving Cooperative. His time in Ecuador not only was an opportunity for much interchange, it also served to share the idea of participatory design that is a foundation of Sofonias housing project.

Dynamic women tilemakers en El Salvador

paulcoyote@gmail.com (Administrator) — Fri, 05 Nov 2004 19:29:14 +0000

The women from the workshop La Tejita in San Rafael are a dynamic group. They don't just sell tiles to individuals and projects, they also are thinking of diversifying the production. It is possible that they will do the basic technology transfer to a women's group in an other community, which is interested in setting up a workshop. The five workshops, which were built up by the women's association Las Mélidas after the 2001 earthquakes in El Salvador, produce tiles of high quality and, on top of this, their workshops are incredibly orderly and tidy, the moulds still look like new after two years of use.