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Burkina Faso: Technical Workshop on the Efficient Use of Resources in the Building and Construction Sector

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; October 14, 2021 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), in collaboration with UN-Habitat, launched the Technical Workshop on the Efficient Use of Resource in the Building and Construction Sector. Different international institutions support the Government of Burkina Faso in the efficient use of resources for buildings through two initiatives. First, the GGGI provides support as part of its “Energy Efficiency and Cooling of Social Housing” project under the Clean Cooling Collaborative. Second, the UNEP, UNOPS and UN-Habitat provide support through the “SDG 12 Program for Resource Efficient Housing”. These two projects are funded by One Planet.

This technical workshop aimed to:

  • inform stakeholders about the two initiatives and their planned activities;
  • understand the instruments, policies and/or mechanisms for promoting natural resources and efficient approaches to energy implemented by the building and construction value chain stakeholders;
  • comprehensively identify the challenges and opportunities related to the consideration of sustainability principles in the building and construction sector;
  • have a complete mapping of the stakeholders in the building and construction sector and discuss the establishment of a multi-sectoral team of experts.

This workshop brought together about fifty (50) participants from the value chain sector: the Ministry of Urbanism, Housing and Cities, the Ministry in charge of Environment and Energy, the scientific research sector, private social and professional organizations in the building sector, building materials manufacturing companies, associations, civil society organizations, and United Nations agencies.

His Excellency, the Minister of Urbanism, Housing and Cities, Mr. Bénéwendé Stanislas Sankara, the chairman of the ceremony said in his opening speech, “The government has adopted several plans and strategies to accommodate the energy efficiency to the building sector, but little progress has been achieved. We need long-term planning and concrete activities that will facilitate the integration of sustainability in the building sector and the implementation of the NDC. I encourage participants to this workshop to have a fruitful talk in this direction”.

The combined effort of UN-Habitat and GGGI is aimed at enabling strong institutional ownership of the process of transforming the building and construction sector, especially the housing sector, into a resource-efficient, low-carbon and climate-resilient sector. Through our joint actions, a community of practice from stakeholders will be established to identify priority areas, needs, challenges and opportunities, to carry out the advocacy for sustainable buildings, and actively participate in the implementation of the two projects. In addition, awareness campaigns for the public and key stakeholders in the sector on environmentally friendly building techniques will be organized.