The Holcim Foundation works with some of the brightest young minds in architecture, urbanism and design. This network aims to boost the exchange of knowledge and rate of innovation across the building sector - and empower a community of young changemakers around the world.

In 2023, the Holcim Foundation launched the Next Generation Ambassadors Program to provide financial support and opportunities for students and young practitioners to accelerate exploration of their impactful ideas for the construction sector and sustainability policy processes.

Our six Next Generation Ambassadors work together to enable the transfer of sustainable solutions ideas across regions. They focus on building a culture that amplifies the exchange of the latest thinking and best practice in sustainable design

Through this program and in collaboration with local organizations and universities, the Next Generation Ambassadors have the chance to act as catalysts of change by designing, coordinating and implementing two sustainable, socially inclusive – and deeply collaborative – building projects.

The two projects are joined under the thematic umbrella Clinic of Care, intent on a collaborative and holistic approach that entails working closely with communities and local stakeholders to understand needs and create a culturally, financially, and climatically appropriate built response.

The interventions comprise a maternity ward expansion in the Tanzanian village of Nkweshoo (situated on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro), as well as the adaptation of abandoned Indonesian vernacular housing (within the village of Keniten in the Yogyakarta Sultanate of Indonesia) into a rehearsal space and cultural venue for a traditional dance collective.

The Next Generation Ambassador Program follows on from the Research in Practice Grant (RPG) program offered by the Foundation to support ground-breaking, practice-related research in the field of sustainable construction. Between 2018 and 2023 the RPG program funded the following projects: