EWB Challenge - Habitat for Humanity Vietnam

In 2012 Engineers Without Borders Australia and Habitat for Humanity Vietnam have worked together to identify a range of relevant student projects. Students are invited to develop innovative and appropriate project solutions that can make a real contribution towards the sustainable development of the Anh Minh district within the Kien Giang province on the Mekong Delta.

This years challenge has been separated into six design areas including housing design and construction, water and sanitation, energy, waste management, transport and information communications and technology.

The Mekong Delta region is located in the Southern tip of Vietnam, it is one of the most productive agricultural regions in South East Asia, providing up to 50% of the Vietnam’s rice requirements. Despite its importance it remains one of the poorest regions in Vietnam, lagging behind the rest of the country in areas such as education, and infrastructure. As an important agricultural region, the Mekong Delta is particularly vulnerable to environmental problems, and without sustainable management the future is uncertain.

Habitat for Humanity’s vision for the Mekong Delta is a place where every family has access to safe housing, a clean water supply, and sanitation facilities. In the past year HFHV volunteers have built and repaired 87 houses. HFHV has also run a microfinance program to help locals afford to upgrade their sanitation systems, as well as providing financial education and scholarships. HFHV places a high priority on sustainable solutions for their construction and repair projects, and using environmentally friendly building materials.

EWB Challenge Program & Design Overview

Participate in the 2012 EWB Challenge to assist the development of the An Minh district in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. You can download the design brief and program guidelines below:

 

EWB Challenge Design Brief

EWB Challenge Design Brief - Habitat for Humanity Vietnam Appendix

2012 EWB Challenge program rules

2012 EWB Challenge submission requirements

2012 EWB Challenge review criteria

Design Considerations

• Aligns with Habitat’s goals and values
• Design should be innovative, low cost, small-scale, affordable and appropriate.
• Design should take into account cultural customs, local norms and religion.
• Proposed solution must be sustainable through considering the way that local materials, skills and knowledge of the local community are used.
• Designs should be durable and take into account the natural environment, including disasters and climate change and sustainable land management.

Program Resources Summary

The following is a summary of the resources provided to help you gain a deeper understanding of life in the An Minh district, Vietnam. 

 

Design areas:	Raw data:	Other resources:	HFHV background:	Previous year reports:
Housing and infrastructure	Annual rainfall data	Environment, society & culture	HFHV Vision, Feb 2011	2008 Chalenge
Water supply and sanitation	Average relative humidity data	Video - Life in An Minh (walkthrough of typical family home)	HFHV Annual Report	2009 Challenge
Energy	Poor households survey	Kien Giang government development priorities	Overview of HFHV - Slideshow	2010 Challenge
Waste management	Borehole water quality test results	Field interviews in An Minh district	HFHV Project Overview	2011 Challenge
Transportation	Vietnamese Provinces Map		HFHV Fact Sheet
Information communications technology	Kien Giang Province Map		HFHV Kien Giang credit project
	An Minh District Map		HFHV Kien Giang Rainbow Village project
	Building material costs		HFHV Kien Giang WatSan capacity building project
			HFHV Ha Tinh disaster recovery project
			HFHV Quang Nam natural disaster project
			HFHV Thai Binh housing and sanitation project
			HFHV Tien Giang housing upgrade project

 

Origin of the EWB Challenge

The Engineers Without Borders Australia Challenge (EWB Challenge) is an Australasian design program for first-year university students. Students work in teams to develop conceptual designs for sustainable development that contribute towards real international development projects. Follow this link for more background information.

 

Get involved with EWB

The EWB Challenge is one of many programs supported by Engineers Without Borders Australia. To become an EWB member or to contact your local chapter please click here.