The Lebone project objective is to teach green building and social entrepreneurial skills to the youths and selected individuals from marginalised communities.
The Lebone Village project in the Mangaung Metro Municipality
Lebone Village, established in May 2000, provides a safe haven for orphaned and vulnerable children, and children affected by AIDS and HIV. In addition, Lebone Village also provides services to the poor and marginalised communities in the Mangaung Metro Municipality. Lebone Village is situated on the outskirts of the city of Bloemfontein, in an area called Bloemspruit. In a bid to secure the future of the Lebone youths through skills development, Lebone Village is pioneering a green building project in collaboration with the Centre for Development Support based at the University of the Free State. Lebone Village, through social entrepreneurial activities, is dedicated to bringing hope, dignity and support by providing holistic care to all their beneficiaries. The University of the Free State received grant funding from the Government of Flanders to operationalise the Lebone Village green building project. The grant funding is administrated through the Office of the Accountant General (OAG) in the National Treasury, and forms part of a 5 year programme called Technical and Management Support (TMS). The Lebone Village project is one of several projects in response to the TMS Programme’s Key Result Area 1: Laying the Groundwork for Future Project Design and Implementation.
It is envisaged that this project will be the first stepping stone to actualise the initial vision of Lebone Village to create a mini-village where children can learn to be self-sustainable and live in self-created “family units”. The project objective is to teach green building and social entrepreneurial skills to the Lebone youths and selected individuals from marginalised communities. A three week building internship will be hosted by Los Técnicos from 24 November to 12 December 2014. Los Técnicos are leading pioneers in green building technologies in Guatemala and Latin America. Los Técnicos will be assisted by building apprentices affiliated to a local non-profit company Start Living Green. During the three week workshop, 15 trainers and more than 50 interns will build a climate-resilient arts, crafts and cultural hub that can be utilised for a variety of entrepreneurial activities. Natural Building Collective is providing additional natural building support for the Lebone Village project. The intention of this project is to set the stage for a policy dialogue on pro-poor green building implementation in developing countries. The arts, crafts and cultural hub is designed in such a way that it can serve as inter-continental global flagship project on how green building practices can lead to less reliance on government intervention, while creating an environment conducive to self-sustainability and cultural preservation while opening up opportunities for green social entrepreneurial activities. All documentation, filming, manuals and building plans will be open source and made available for use to anyone interested in replicating the hub. For more information on the building project contact Anri Holder ()
