A new agreement was signed between UNOPS and Sustainable Housing Solutions (SHS) Holdings – a leading provider of high-quality, affordable living solutions focused on resilience and sustainability. The innovative scheme will holistically address both the need to scale up the construction of homes and reduce the cost of mortgages so people in low and middle-income families can afford to buy their first home.
The partnership is the latest step in UNOPS Social Impact Investing Initiative (S3I), which aims to attract financing from the private sector to national development projects in emerging markets. The agreement aims to utilize proven innovative technologies to accelerate large-scale construction projects in some of the world’s most challenging environments. The technology is earthquake and hurricane resistant and is compatible with the utilization of renewable energy and non-toxic insect-repellent properties. The projects will provide job opportunities and training programs for communities to develop skills in the construction of affordable homes.
UNOPS and SHS will begin to work on projects this year in Ghana, India, Kenya and the Caribbean, to help build more than 260,000 affordable homes. The concept aims to provide a ‘turn-key solution’ to reducing the current shortfall of tens of millions of decent dwellings.
“The Sustainable Development Goals call for new and bold partnerships. We now bring together expertise, ideas and financing from a broad range of partners – including governments, the public sector and also the private sector. By working together, sharing the same goals, we can begin to make a real difference to people’s lives,” said UNOPS Executive Director, Grete Faremo
The new partnership will also explore new opportunities in the renewables market. UNOPS will work with MYRA-SHS Energy, a subsidiary of SHS which focuses on investments in renewable energy projects and associated infrastructure. Together they will support projects which increase clean and efficient energy supplies for more than one billion people living without access to electricity.
Original source: UNOPS
Published on 25 March 2019
