Bangladesh loses between 1,000 and 2,000 square kilometres of land to flooding each year. For the families living in the most vulnerable delta regions, this is not a distant statistic — it is the rhythm of their lives.
The Nijera Kori builders collective, founded in 2016 by a group of women engineers and architects, has developed a low-cost elevated home design using locally sourced bamboo and reclaimed materials. Each home costs less than $400 to build, withstands Category 3 flooding, and can be assembled by a family in three days.
Over 18,000 homes have been built to date. The waiting list runs to 60,000 families. But the collective's most radical innovation is not the house — it is the training programme that turns flood survivors into flood-resilient builders, giving communities not just shelter but agency.