LCM Stories Juliènne St. Tosangana

Today I will be following up on Local Changemaker Ambassador juliènne Doppenberg-Difukidi

Just to refresh your memory Juliènne founded TOSANGANA (TOUS ENSEMBLE) in 2006. The projects are situated in Kinshasa, Congo. Together with her local partner she put up many projects that focus on education, empowering women and agriculture.

The Tosangana foundation and local partner Femmes and Action Tosangana (FAT), have built a Multifunctional Women's Center in 2009 and in 2010, they also added a primary School. The school has been extending since that time Julienne was in Kinshasa a few months ago to see how things are progressing and shares her findings:

Juliènne:” The purpose of this project visit was to gain more insight into the expansion of the school complex. I was curious about how the collaboration between all parties (local partner organization, school board, students, parents, and teachers) was organized, and which innovative techniques were used in the construction.”

Juliènne:” The project leader gave us a short presentation about the work that has been done. After that we were given a tour around the building. Various aspects were discussed, such as the restrooms, play equipment for the toddlers, catering for the teachers, the installation of water in the schoolyard. The construction work is going well, materials have been on time and the workers are doing what has been agreed on and they presented the receipts “

Juliènne:” I found the explanation of the sustainable building materials used and the attention paid to child development and the well-being of the workers particularly interesting. Old bricks have been re-used in the new construction. In addition, there is a lot of attention for energy-efficient installations, the idea of​​solar panels was also discussed.”

Juliènne:” What struck me most looking back at the project visit is the scale of the project and the diversity of stakeholders involved. There is a clear vision not only to build new classrooms but also to create a vibrant school complex with space for culture, restaurants, and education. Collaboration between various disciplines appears to be a key success factor. One point of attention that was mentioned is the challenge of noise pollution from car traffic. Solutions are being sought for this.”

Juliènne:” This visit gave me a good understanding of the complexity of this development project. I learned that, in addition to technical and construction aspects, social and economic factors also play a significant role. For me, this means I want to pay more attention to the roles of various stakeholders and the importance of sustainable choices in the design phase.”

You can find more information about Tosanga on: www.tosangana.com