Building Burundi Like many landlocked countries, building material in Burundi is quite expensive. For professional construction, either cement blocks or fired bricks are used. The cement blocks are rather expensive though, and the fired bricks heavily tax the environment as they are fired in wood ovens and are made of fertile clay grounds which no longer can be used for agriculture.Oskam V.O.F. from the Netherlands and Cocogel SA from Burundi aim to provide an environmentally friendlier and cheaper alternative by introducing compressed earth blocks (CEB) to the Burundian market.The applicant, Oskam V.O.F. has been in CEB business for more than twenty years, and has developed its own earth block machinery which has been successfully introduced in many countries around the world.Local partner Cocogel SA is a construction company focusing on building schools and public buildings mainly. As such, Cocogel SA is interested to introduce CEB building to its clients.The partners will establish a joint venture that will be headquartered in Bujumbura. The production equipment for making CEB will be mobile though, allowing the joint venture to produce CEB on site. Transport of construction material can thus be reduced to a minimum.The interesting thing about CEB production technology is that it requires only locally available ingredients (loam and lime), it requires no external energy sources other than a generator to operate the mixer and the hydraulic press (thereby saving on precious wood reserves) and the bricks are ready for use in just a few weeks’ time.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)Employees will be treated similarly as Cocogel SA is already treating its current employees. With regard to environment, the partners will conduct an environmental impact assessment on every construction site they enter. The environmental impact of CEB production is very limited though, as often the soil which needs to be taken away for the foundation of a building, can already be used as ingredient.The partners will actively promote the use of CEB, and convince people that this is the environmentally friendly solution of the future.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsThe partners will offer almost double the local minimum wages for the construction sector.In addition, the company will offer 100% coverage of medical expenses for all employees, spouses and children.Safety regulations and safety equipment and clothing will be in place.•	Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeAlthough UNDP introduced Hydraform CEB machines in the past, these machines are not operational anymore as the equipment was not durable. The quality of the CEB was too low and prices too high.At the moment, no construction company is using CEB technology in Burundi.•	Chain effectsThe impact on local customers will be enormous, as the CEB bricks are easier to handle and cheaper than the traditional fired bricks. The price per square meter is much lower as a mason can lay bricks much faster because of the larger size of the CEB and because of the standardised size as well. Cement is no longer needed as loam mortar with lime can be used.Altogether, it may be expected that local construction companies can lower their costs for building and hence can offer better quotations to potential clients.At least 10 construction companies will be trained by the partners.For consumers, houses built with loam stones provide a better climate inside the house, because of the absorption and evaporation of moisture in the blocks. As such, temperatures and humidity remain more stable throughout the day.•	Impact on the sectorBecause of the open days and the participation in trade fairs and the like, it may be expected that some other companies become interested in entering the CEB market and buy their own CEB producing machines. This may lead to new entrants in the market.•	EnvironmentAs mentioned before, the production of CEB does not harm the environment. The landscape hardly changes as soil needs to be taken away for the foundation anyway, so this soil will be used to produce the CEB.CEB provides an alternative to the problematic production of fired bricks, which uses fertile clay which should be used for agriculture, and which consumes a lot of wood, causing deforestation and erosion.•	Position of women18% of the workforce will be female. To establish a mobile production company for compressed earth blocks in Burundi, capable of delivering 1.6 million blocks per year to the local market.