A hub for economic empowerment

The community of Bagong Silangan in Quezon City introduces a social enterprise center that showcases economic empowerment and alternative building technologies.

Called the Vincentian Social Enterprise Center, this 71-sqm innovative bamboo-based facility is Base Bahay’s second special Cement-Bamboo Frame Technology (CBFT) structure that will open doors for more job and livelihood opportunities for the local community.

The structure, with eight stalls, each with roughly 8.41 sqm floor area, is a blueprint for sustainable architecture, highlighting the potential of bamboo structures to seamlessly integrate within urban landscapes.

The center’s distinctive design features a long gable roof, supported by wing-like diagonal struts that extend from the studs to the roof frames, blending aesthetics and functionality.

Base, a non-profit organization initiated by the Hilti Foundation, provides alternative building technologies that enable a network of partners to build comfortable, affordable, disaster-resilient and environment-friendly structures with social impact. To date, it has built over 1,200 homes in 15 communities in the Philippines, over 400 homes in four communities in Nepal and two model houses in India. It also has six bamboo supply facilities across the country and another in Mindanao that is currently under construction.

The Center is part of a larger program by Base to construct bamboo structures within the community in Quezon City, complementing the existing 50 housing units and the recently completed community center serving as a post-harvest facility.

Part of these initiatives is the Planting for Productivity Project (P4P), a collaborative effort involving Base, Hilti Foundation, Ayala Foundation Inc., and the Quezon City Government, to build a more food-secure future for households and communities through urban farming.

The P4P is strategically divided into two phases — AgriKaya, which focuses on empowering households through home-based farming, promoting self-sufficiency and healthy eating habits, and AgriKita, which aims to spur urban farming and entrepreneurship to offer livelihood opportunities to households.

These undertakings can provide a big boost to marginalized communities, especially in the face of minimum wages falling short for families of five to meet basic needs. Studies have shown the significance of urban farms in providing families with a steady and practical supply of nutritious food.