Gawad Kalinga and My Shelter Foundation launched the Designer Villages Challenge in IIE’s Kaufman Conference Room on June 16, 2009. The global competition to design disaster resilient low-cost community villages that can be built in developing countries located in the tropics was initiated by 2006 Hubert Humphrey scholar Illac Diaz from the Philippines. The project brought together local and international architects to find solutions for low-cost residential building designs in the developing world, especially those that constantly face natural disasters like typhoons and earthquakes. The challenge will result in the first green and disaster-resistant low-cost community in the Philippines.

IIE was pleased to promote the project of a grantee whose innovative work is funded in part by the Fulbright Legacy Fund. IIE is building an endowment to energize and extend Fulbright’s mission and impact: the Fulbright Legacy Fund. FLF awards provide support for Fulbright grantees and alumni to leverage their experiences abroad by building connections between people and institutions to help share knowledge and address urgent global problems. By extending the Fulbright experience, this unique endowment enables the Fulbright Program to enhance its impact in an increasingly globalized world.

IIE was also happy to host this event on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, administered by IIE for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the 90th anniversary of IIE’s founding in 1919.