The houses, built from traditional mud bricks and CGI tin roofing sheet on the site of previously destroyed homes, are in Molo, Uasin Gishu and Lugari districts in the Rift Valley province, some of the areas worst hit by the civil unrest .
The conflict triggered by the contested result of the December 2007 presidential election, displaced some 350,000 people, of whom some 200,000 have returned home from camps since the new coalition government launched Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Return Home) in May.
But government estimates suggest that as many as 60% of families are returning to a damaged or completely destroyed homes and communities will need to be largely rebuilt to restore confidence and stability, according to IOM's Regional Representative for Eastern and Central Africa Ashraf El Nour.
"IOM's pilot project is adopting a rights based approach working in close collaboration with the community. In order to boost the local economy, IOM is also purchasing all the construction material locally and employing local people to work on the project," he says.
"But as many as 40,000 more houses still need to be built or repaired in order to induce other displaced families to return home to their farms. IOM is therefore looking for funding to build an additional 12,000 homes after this pilot scheme is completed in November," he adds.
For further information, please contact Ashraf El Nour at IOM Nairobi, Email: aelnour@iom.int or Jerotich Seii Houlding, Email: jseiihoulding@iom.int
