Primarily for reasons of sustainability, the Hydraform Building System has proven very popular with NGOs all over the world.
One such organisation is the Malawi-based Krizevac, which has been active in the country for a decade or more and focuses on empowering poor and underdeveloped communities to lift themselves out of the mire. A key programme supported by the NGO is the Beehive Centre for Social Enterprise in the Chilomoni region of Blantyre, Malawi.
Unlike many other NGOs Krizevac listens, and when the community made it abundantly clear that it wanted opportunity rather than money, the NGO responded by procuring two Hydraform M7MI interlocking blockmaking machines. Once the community had been adequately
trained in the correct use of the equipment, it set about making blocks and building.
As a result, the township has been transformed with the construction of an IT centre, schools, a children’s centre, admin centre, refectory as well as staff and volunteers’ housing. The two Hydraform blockmaking machines are still in situ and operating as a stand-alone enterprise, tendering for work across the region.
At the same time, a number of other enterprises have been created, including computer and plant rental operations. The Beehive Centre is also equipped to act as a hub of support so that entrepreneurs in Malawi can start new businesses.