A child writes "Home" with chalk on a gray concrete wall.

Build Beyond

An innovative fund transforming homes and lives across Asia and the Pacific

Regional priorities

Half of the global population living in poverty resides in Asia and the Pacific. Housing-related issues in the region are severe, and continue to get worse.

Complex and interconnected challenges prevent families from improving their living conditions. Swift action is needed to build not only decent housing but also beyond. We do this by promoting projects and solutions that lift up the community.

Discover our projects.

Challenges

The fund tackles four main issues across the region.

Lack of decent housing and facilities

Over 500 million people live in slums across Asia-Pacific. A billion live without basic sanitation, and 500 million do not have a clean water supply, so diseases are rife. Also, 160 million have no electricity. Numbers are rising rapidly.

Climate and environment emergencies

Low-income communities often endure harsh living conditions and unhealthy local environments. The escalating impacts of climate change have serious consequences.

Financial and social inequity

Families with informal work and low incomes lack financial security and social equity. Many do not have documented tenure of their homes. They lack basic services. There are few opportunities to work their way out of poverty.

Inadequate housing policies and systems

Proper homes and facilities are unaffordable for many. Yet, government policies and housing systems do not work for the people who need them most.

Four objectives

Build Beyond funds locally led initiatives to transform lives through improved housing conditions. A diverse range of projects deliver real improvements in four interconnected ways.

Build

Construct better, more affordable housing. Renovate existing structures. Provide essential facilities.

Sustain

Improve the local environment. Enable communities to cope with the effects of accelerating climate change.

Empower

Narrow the wealth gap by improving people’s financial security and social equity.

Influence

Share knowledge. Inspire others to build even more. Influence positive changes to housing policies and systems.

Long-term impact

The benefits of adequate housing on individual and social well-being are under-appreciated. When strategically placed, even modest investments in housing-related projects can yield significant and enduring impact. Projects supported by the fund contribute to fifteen of the United Nation’s seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.

Learn more about the impact of decent housing [PDF].

Learn more about housing and the SDGs.

How Build Beyond works

We crowd-in gifts to our endowment. The annual returns provide seed money for projects.

Habitat teams propose innovative solutions to local challenges. The best ideas are selected and developed into proposals. 

Businesses and institutions co-fund individual projects. Quick, measurable results attract more investors. Successes also lead to positive influence in the housing sector.

Graphic that shows a bar a graph growing over time, with the returns from the endowment fund being used toward funding projects.

Follow

Get updates about Build Beyond on LinkedIn.