UNHCR, KU hold contest for designing refugees’ shelters

KUWAIT: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has wrapped up a competition in architectural designs of shelters for Bangladeshi refugees engaging young Kuwaiti architects and freshly graduated engineers. The competition was held in coordination with the Kuwait University College of Architecture, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Arab Consulting Engineering Office.

Nisreen Rbaiaan, the UNHCR representative in Kuwait, said in a statement that the holding of the competition, capped with awards’ distribution to winners, coincided with the forthcoming World Refugee Day (June 20), indicating that the UNHCR report, regularly issued on this occasion, revealed that number of compulsory refugees worldwide exceeded 110 million. Rbaiaan said the competition was held for engaging the youth for innovating solutions for mounting and complex challenges facing stakeholders seeking to secure housing for people who had to flee their homes.

Walid Al-Bahr, KFAED acting director general, affirmed support for the young Kuwaitis, praising the distinctive partnership bonding the fund with the UNHCR, indicating at joint efforts for overhauling refugee camps’ infrastructures and backing up host communities. Bahr has added that the fund participation in the contest has come in line with its belief that the Kuwait youngsters are the basis for sustainable development.

For her part, Dr. Sheikha Al-Mubaraki, the acting dean of the KU Architecture faculty, said the college participation in the activities was intended to boost engagement in architecture and merge the sector with humanitarian tasks. – KUNA

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