Nairobi, 12 May 2017 - The 2016-17 World Habitat Awards winning projects received their trophy at the twenty-sixth session of the Governing Council of UN-Habitat at the United Nations office in Nairobi, Kenya on May 08, 2017. A Roof, A Skill, A Market in West Africa and More than Housing in Switzerland were selected as winners of this prestigious award. The award was established in 1985 by the Building and Social Housing Foundation in partnership with the UN-Habitat. Each year two awards are given in conjunction with UN-Habitat to projects that provide practical, innovative, solutions to current housing needs, with a particular focus on decent, affordable, adequate and sustainable housing.

A Roof, A Skill, A Market operates across five West African countries in the Sahel training hundreds of local people to create vaulted roofs using sun-dried mud bricks. This technique replaces unsuitable materials often used for housing and has resulted in over 2,000 homes being more affordable and comfortable.

More than Housing is one of the largest and most ambitious cooperative housing projects in Europe resulting from the collaboration of more than 50 different cooperatives which led to the development of thirteen environmentally friendly buildings. This socially diverse community lives in 400 housing units and has access to facilities such as retail units, meeting areas and large shared spaces.

This annual World Habitat Awards are a great way of identifying, celebrating and promoting good practice in housing projects that seek to further affordability and sustainability in housing globally.