Since its founding in 2003 Solid House Foundation has been a habitat organisation, in which the main themes are:
Capacity building
has fast become a major topic among nonprofits and management support organizations (funders, associations, training centers, consultants, etc.) that provide services to nonprofits. There are a variety of definitions for capacity building. Perhaps the most fundamental definition is “actions that improve nonprofit effectiveness” (from Investing in Capacity Building by Barbara Blumenthal, published by The Foundation Center) or actions that enhance a nonprofit’s ability to work towards its mission.
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Empowerment
Although it is a contemporary buzzword, the word empower is not new, having arisen in the mid-17th century with the legalistic meaning “to invest with authority, authorize.” Shortly thereafter it began to be used with an infinitive in a more general way meaning “to enable or permit.” Both of these uses survive today but have been overpowered by the word’s use in politics and pop psychology.
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Environment
The totality of circumstances surrounding an organism or group of organisms, especially the combination of external physical conditions that affect and influence the growth, development, and survival of organisms.
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Gender
Sometimes it is hard to understand exactly what is meant by the term “gender”, and how it differs from the closely related term “sex”. “Sex” refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women. “Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
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Housing satisfaction
Housing well-being (satisfaction) refers to the residents quantitative positive and negative views of the house, their ownership, state of maintenance, meets the needs of the occupants and the neighbourhood. When a house fails to meet the cultural standards or the family needs, satisfaction levels are believed to be lower and residents will move sooner. A strong correlation found in studies is satisfaction and house-ownership.
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Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the set of basic physical and organizational structures needed for a society to function. It refers to roads, water supply, waste water, flood management systems, communications (internet, telephone lines etc). Other infrastructural necessities to support a community may include a market or factory necessary for livelihood / income generation. The term ‘Infrastructure’ may also pertain to social services such as schools, hospitals and communal ablution blocks.
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Ownership
Ownership means that the government of the beneficiary country and not the giving countries make decisions pertaining to policies, priorities and action plans. The poor countries receive thus more power of control as to the way in which the development-aid funds are spent.
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Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions.
Social Housing
Current rates of population growth and rural-urban migration, particularly in developing countries, have a serious impact on living conditions in human settlements. It is estimated that 1.1 billion people live currently in inadequate housing conditions in urban areas alone.
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WASH (water, Sanitation & Hygiene)
World leaders meeting at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 committed themselves to attaining the Millennium Development Goal 7, target 10 which aims to reduce by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015.
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Training
Organized activity aimed at imparting information and/or instructions to improve the recipient’s performance or to help him or her attain a required level of knowledge or skill. Solid House Foundation believes it is important for the underprivileged to develop into independent individuals who are aware of their own power and potential. Training is a tool to reach that goal.
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Micro Mortgage
Microcredit is a small loan given to entrepreneurs with a small income. Through financing, the poor gain vital access to credit. With it, they are able to generate income, support their families and sustain their communities.
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