Introduction

3. Introduction

Sustenance and health is a human right, and this begins with food. Thus, the Women's House will make food its governing principle, from eliminating three-stone fires to building a nutrition supporting permaculture landscape. Encouraging low-tech ventures, like rocket stove construction, the women’s house will support educational workshops that enable the disbursement of knowledge throughout the community. By attracting women to a safe, communal cooking space, the centre will enable other far-reaching gender equity programs to run alongside the basic but fundamental task of cooking.

The Women’s House will nurture the empowerment of women through practices such as participatory design and self-help construction. The use of sustainable building practices like superadobe will allow a female workforce to learn this methodology's basic skills and share them with thelocal community. Teaching and implementing low-tech systems like rocket stoves, greywater management, compost toilets, water collection, and basic pump construction will allow for ongoing self-determination whilst improving the local WASH standard.

An integrated permaculture landscape will improve access to nutritious food, increase livelihood opportunities, and improve soil fertility. Moreover, the initial implementation of the landscape will leave local women with the knowledge required to expand, manage and maintain the landscape in the long term.