Habitat for Humanity’s Youth BUILD 2012 challenges 1 million young supporters in the Asia-Pacific region to raise funds and draw attention to the urgent need for decent housing.

Since January, volunteers have used their social and digital networks to encourage people to donate to Habitat for Humanity via the peer-to-peer fundraising platform www.habitatyouthbuild.org, to spread awareness as widely as possible and to encourage other young people to take part in building homes on May 12.

On that day, 5,000 youth put their raised funds to work in China, Indonesia, India, Thailand and the Philippines, where volunteers simultaneously built as many as 250 Habitat homes.

As part of Habitat India’s Youth BUILD launch in Bangalore, a “Youth for Habitat” concert was held in Mumbai. The hundreds of young people who turned up for the concert also heard volunteer leader Sneh Koticha share memories of her first Habitat build at the age of 16: “It was not only about the house and a healthier life for one family, but also the chance for one young girl to have an education,” Koticha says.

Habitat Johnson County in Warrensburg, Missouri, has initiated a partnership with the University of Central Missouri and the Warrensburg school district to involve local students in Habitat’s fundraising and construction efforts.

Some of the volunteers will come from Central Missouri’s construction management classes and from the building trades program at Warrensburg public schools. “This is going to engage students in service learning while literally helping us to capture the spirit of building community,” says Charles Ambrose, president of Central Missouri. “Students will have an opportunity, in many cases, to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom to a real-life setting and attain new skills that can benefit them the rest of their lives.”

“This is such a positive move for us,” says Mary Solomon, board secretary at Habitat of Johnson County. “There’s a wealth of opportunity for us to benefit from.”

In 2010, Habitat for Humanity International announced the MicroBuild Fund, which will provide financial and technical assistance for families making their own housing improvements. Nearly USD$50 million has already been committed, and research is under way to determine where that money can be put to use.

“Communities in need benefit from having a committed, long-term local institution willing to invest in them and their basic shelter and infrastructure needs,” says Patrick Kelley, Habitat for Humanity International’s director of international housing finance. “MicroBuild and Habitat’s national office partners identify those key institutions and get capital to them to expand their offerings.”

Lebanon is one country already being targeted. MicroBuild team members recently visited Habitat Lebanon to see how capital could best be made available to Lebanese families working to build decent housing for themselves and their family. The funding would be channeled through responsible microfinance institutions working in tandem with Habitat Lebanon.

Two pilot projects are helping Habitat Guyana learn how to structure its first Habitat Resource Center. Once established, Guyana’s resource center will provide housing-related services that enable poorer families to sustainably improve their housing conditions at a pace they choose.

“These pilot projects will help us identify what communities need and will let us test the best services that address those needs,” says Rawle Small, Habitat Guyana’s national director. Support could include technical construction assistance, life-skills training and community development projects.

One of the pilot projects is under way in the indigenous village of Nappi, near the Brazilian border, where Habitat Guyana staffers are surveying housing needs and trying different types of housing solutions, including a revival of local, traditional building methods, like burnt-brickmaking. Elsewhere, Habitat is partnering with Guyana’s Ministry of Housing to help vulnerable families attain the financial literacy and training necessary to access incremental housing programs.

A little over 15 years ago, the 1996 Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project jumpstarted Habitat’s presence in Hungary. Since then, 1,500 families have obtained better housing through Habitat’s partnership. Still, poverty housing remains an urgent issue and recent foreclosure crises have exacerbated the problem.

Habitat Hungary is responding by developing a more vocal advocacy strategy to complement its construction efforts. At the end of 2011, Habitat celebrated its 15th anniversary with a daylong housing forum in Budapest. Experts, policymakers and business leaders joined representatives from more than 40 Hungarian nonprofits.

Taking a holistic, deliberate approach to housing needs has become a Habitat hallmark. By the end of the conference, Habitat Hungary had devised a strategy to petition the country’s government to do the same. The goal: convince Hungary’s political leaders to adopt a national policy to combat poverty housing and clarify avenues of assistance for low-income families.

On Dec. 20, 2011, Peace Corps volunteers Lena Jenison and Elizabeth Alden Landis died in a car accident in Mozambique. The two education volunteers arrived in Mozambique for training last September and had just begun their work at rural schools in December.

“Alden and Lena were both committed and dedicated Peace Corps volunteers who were excited to teach in their new Peace Corps communities,” says Aaron S. Williams, director of Peace Corps Mozambique. “This is a tragic loss for the entire Peace Corps community.”

In April, Jenison’s and Landis’ friends had the opportunity to provide a lasting memorial. Staff from Habitat Mozambique helped the mourning volunteers organize a “Peace Corps Memorial Build.” The Peace Corps volunteers helped construct a Habitat house in honor of Jenison and Landis, a long-term tribute to the young women’s passion to serve Mozambique families in need of a hand.