Green Construction and WASH
Building sustainable hostels and safe environments for learning in rural Tanzania
UN SDGS 2,3,4,5,6,7,10,13,16,17
Lyra’s green construction and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) initiatives focus on delivering infrastructure that improves health, wellbeing and climate resilience. From eco-friendly hostels, to rainwater harvesting and solar-powered facilities, we prioritise sustainability and student wellbeing in every build.
Since 2017, Lyra has built hostels using our own green design. What makes Lyra’s innovative hostel different is primarily its low-carbon, aspirational design that takes the girls needs into consideration. Our preferred raw material is compressed earth bricks, or Interlocking Stabilised Soil Blocks (ISSB). Soil is the major raw material for a stabilised brick and the preparation only requires labour, making this one of the cheapest ways to produce bricks.
A small amount of cement (5-10%) is added to soil and manually compressed in a block press. The blocks are air-cured rather than fired. This is a low-cost, carbon-saving alternative to the traditionally used environmentally damaging fired bricks.
The central tenet of our model is to build eco-friendly, innovative low-carbon hostels for girls in government ward secondary schools where teenage pregnancies and dropout rates are the highest. These hostels provide girls with a safe space to live and study, giving them an opportunity to complete their studies. We build hostels on the request of, and together with rural communities. Communities contribute construction materials and labour, and as we hand over the hostels to them, continue to maintain and provide food for the girls, enabling those who live far from school to safely attend and study.
Since the beginning of the hostel construction program in 2012, there have been no reported pregnancies at our hostels, and a significant reduction of drop-outs.
To-date 16 hostels have been completed, housing 1,760 girls annually.
Eco-friendly Hostels
Built using local materials and sustainable techniques, reducing environmental impact while improving access to education.
WASH Facilities
Clean drinking water, handwashing stations, and menstrual health infrastructure ensure dignity and wellbeing in hostel environments.
Renewable Energy and Rainwater
Solar power and rainwater harvesting provide reliable energy and water to remote schools.
Help us build the next eco-friendly hostel
Lyra’s approach to construction is about more than bricks and mortar, it’s about building futures. By integrating sustainable practices with life-saving WASH facilities, we’re creating safe, inclusive spaces where students can make friends, enjoy their childhoods, and complete secondary school.