Secondary School and Dormitory
Year
2022 – 2023
Location
Santa Elena, Pangoa, Peru
Context
Rural
Size
4 dormitory modules
Service
Financial Support
Partners
Semillas Peru, Nord-Süd Brücken
Sustainability
Local employees, participatory processes, timber construction, capacity building, local materials.
Secondary School and Dormitory in Santa Elena, Peru
Context
In 2015, the organization Semillas built a school in Santa Elena that helped serve youth from Santa Elena and the surrounding region; it is the only educational facility in the town. Because of the school’s geographically strategic location, accessible to 14 other municipalities around Santa Elena, the student population has tripled since 2015. A dormitory was added by Semillas in 2019 to improve access to more students from the region. Even so, the dormitories had a waiting list and the excessive demand for places to sleep led to rooms outside of the dormitory to be used to expand the amount of sleeping space available.
Solution
Semillas, with the support We-Building, built an expansion to the school’s dormitory. This consists of four modules in total, which were added onto the dormitory without modifying the overall organization of the school grounds. The dormitory expansion added 24 spaces for students and 13 spaces for staff members, doubling the capacity of the student dormitory, and accommodating the students who were on the waiting list. The library, multipurpose rooms, and classrooms were renovated during the construction process, as well. A cold water and sewage system were created, and additional toilets were added to account for all 133 people who use the school.
Construction process
During the construction process, Semillas, along with five volunteers from the Italian NGO CPS, developed a construction school for 35 young people who were trained in woodworking and photography. Additionally, 15 workers from the region received further training in construction skills.
Sustainability
Wood, local bricks and stone were utilized in order to lower the environmental impact of construction. These are regionally available, which lowered transportation emissions, and allows for maintenance to occur more easily. The training of local workers enables maintenance to be carried out well, ensuring a longer life cycle for the building. Additionally, workshops on infrastructural maintenance pass on knowledge to the community on how to take care of the building’s infrastructure. Semillas will remain active in the area to support the building’s continued utility as well as the school’s needs.
The construction of the school began in November of 2022 and was completed in August of 2023.