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[ FAQs ]

Q What is Article 25 literally doing to add value in projects? How does it work?

A If you contribute a pound to support Article 25 how much would you expect to see reaching the project on the ground? 90p? 75p?. in fact, the benefit of a pound in Article 25 hands typically creates at least £4 benefit to the project on the ground. Often vastly more. But how?

This is because the built solution with the addition of Article 25 skills can be bigger, better, more appropriate, more efficient, more sustainable and with more community support. Often all of the above. A school that would have catered for 350 children now caters for 1300. A community building budget of £20,000 is now two community buildings for £25,000. And so on. And this is not including the harder to quantify "intangible" benefits of robust community consultation and the immeasurable costs of knowing that builds we have supervised in earthquake zones are certainly better seismically mitigated than without our input and lives and livelihoods have genuinely been protected. In many cases the project could not have happened without us at all.

Q OK quantify that 4x "leverage" for me again

A We assessed our first 2 years work and found we had raised £250,000 of cash to use on our projects (both in the field and for the prep and follow up and support that happens in  the UK for projects.) We found that we had added £1,000,000 of value in professionals time in the field ALONE. At least this much time and value is contributed again in terms of the work for projects back here in London as well.  (This was calculated by using the most conservative (ie cheapest!) RIBA rate for an architectural assistant.) We haven't even begun to consider all the UK research and workshops, training, advocacy and other initatives! Not bad.

Q: What are the Article 25's Aims and Objectives

A: Article 25 was set up provide better shelter and "build back better" for those in need, working alongside partner NGOs.  We aim to promote social equity and adequate shelter as a human right. Article 25 aims to provide built environment professionals and to provide project personnel to work with aid organisations, charities, community groups and NGOs on relief and development wherever there is poverty or need.

Article 25 has worked with international and local NGOs providing skills and expertise on construction projects, consultancy on post-disaster reconstruction, as well as offering advice on post-conflict conservation and rehabilitation. We attempt to ensure that we bring sound development practice to our projects and assist our partnering NGOs to find the best solution for the communities' needs, using methods that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

Article 25’s objectives include maintaining the skills of a database of humanitarian and development professional from the built environment who can work on and contribute to our projects worldwide.

Q: What is the Article 25 Methodology?

1. Getting together with a Partnering NGO / Charity – There are 3 approaches: a) the NGO as client b) NGO as partner c) NGO as advised party. We undertake beneficiary needs-based interventions from the preliminary needs assessments through to construction and completion.

2. Article 25 recruit, train and manage UK professional volunteers to work alongside the staff team. We work up an initial site analysis and conduct the required research and, importantly, establish relationships with partnering NGOs and beneficiaries. This takes about 1-3 weeks for the initial phase. [See Footnote 1]

3. Our staff then return to the UK and work on building designs and programme management before committing to a longer intervention (usually project/build management and execution phase follows soon after the inital visit). The execution phase can be anything from one to six months.  In restoration projects the work may continue further into the future and where we have developed a long term relationship with an NGO we may stay involved and work on projects long into the future.

4. It is recommended that architects who want to work on Article 25 projects undertake a some Article 25 provided courses. We also recommend a couple of courses from other providers. These include RedR's Essentials of Humanitarian Practice and Centurion's Hostile Environments course. Course content is currently being proposed and prepared for curriculum 2008 for the Article 25 portfolio.

_{^{Footnote 1:  The initial research trips are very productive and have the added benefit that they uncover problems, are highly appealing to working architects and firms who want to contribute manageable time blocks. They enable Article 25 to start support for a further committed month-or-more timescale having achieved buy-in from research participants. Short assessments also provide very valuable information and preliminary findings that can be used by our partner NGOs even if the project is taken no further. For example, site evaluations have been found to be faulty and have been corrected, vernacular architecture and materials can be researched (as can many other aspects) giving information which can inform other projects and actors, projects can be costed to give a preliminary feeling for the level of commitment required from donors, and architects the length of the committed intervention phase can be accurately estimated and key personnel met and engaged with and the project assessed for viability in very many ways. New NGOs have also been found and engaged with uncovering new projects for A4A during short research trips.}}

Q: With which sector do Article 25 identify? Architecture or humanitarian?

A: Both. There have traditionally been very different images and ideals underpinning the two sectors. Since the tsunami there has been a move to include more emphasis on development, rather than just disaster relief on the humanitarian agenda. This new way of working uses many of the principles described within the “development practice” ethos and employs the skills of architects to improve shelter and settlement planning as well as alleviate suffering after catastrophic events. Building work is part of the process of the intervention, not just the way to reach an end product i.e. a building.) We hope to try and inspire inclusiveness in communities and interest in the built environment in our schools and university programs.

Q: Who is our client and who is not our client? The ultimate beneficiaries or the partner NGO?

A: We work on a case by case basis, but there are three general methods: NGO as Client, NGO as partner, NGO supported (i.e. leaning towards treating the beneficiary as client). It depends on the needs of the project. Invariably the NGOs we work with are experts in caring for the beneficiary groups they serve. They have years of experience. We would never want to "parachute in" and impose the kind of solution we think would work best. Invariably the beneficiaries are the experts in that field. So the key is to get the information we need. We also try and learn from all our projects so that if there are complaints about an aspect we try to find what they could be and avoid the same mistake again. No intervention can be flawless.

Q: How are we and our projects funded?

A: Article 25 receives donations from companies, individuals, trusts and foundations to fund the work we do. We also run events and challenges to raise funds. Most of our staff are volunteers so we make our funds go as far as possible. We have a waiting list of professional volunteers of exceptional standards through our Built Environment Action Register. However, because we provide full support, management and monitoring to all our projects in-house we work hard to fundraise for this vital service. Our core staff are key to the projects success. We also often cover the expenses of working on the projects, including visas, travel, vaccinations and accommodation; in some cases we fund the build undertaken or collaborate with other NGOs to achieve the final project funding.  Projects are always different and projects come to us that are both funded and unfunded. We work to negotiate the best support package we can. As we do not pay our volunteers, our project funding is predominantly to benefit local economies and beneficiary groups which gain in terms of both the skills being shared and work being created, as well as from the final built solution. We emphasise community participation and have expert staff who deal with this area.  We also save funds from being wasted on unsustainable or unsuitable solutions and we leverage every penny of funds available for every project.