Start Somewhere

Start Somewhere is a non-profit limited organization from Munich with 11 years of experience in development cooperation in one of the largest slums in Africa: Kibera, Nairobi (Kenya). The vision of Start Somewhere is the sustainable improvement of living conditions in the slums of this world. In concrete terms, Start Somewhere is developing a flexible, reusable, cost-effective and fireproof construction system for buildings in slums. The resulting hollow concrete blocks can be assembled and disassembled by hand as a modular, mortarless plug-in system. For the first time, any angle can also be realised steplessly in the floor plan. In this way, the first school building is to be constructed as a pilot project in Kibera by 2020. Start Somewhere wants to enable the slum residents to produce the hollow concrete blocks themselves in a factory on site and thus erect better buildings in the slum. Jobs and a local construction industry are created to keep the added value in the slum.