Nachali Girls Secondary School

Engineers Without Borders – the Netherlands (EWB-NL) is donating engineering expertise to develop the Nachali Girls School project in collaboration with our local partner in Malawi. The project is located in the northern region of Malawi, the Karonga district, a rural area that lies approx. 650 km from Lilongwe, the capital.

There is an acute shortage of (secondary) schools for children in Malawi, especially for female children. Many children have to travel long distances each day to reach their school. Schools are also short on staff and education materials, and often don’t have proper public facilities, such as electricity, clean water, and sanitation.

The local community in Karonga has made a plot of land available for the secondary school to be built. Local artisans have recently completed the first three school buildings containing seven classrooms. The school buildings still require a roof structure.

In addition to the roof structure, the school requires teacher’s housing, a multipurpose hall, girls’ hostels, a water reticulation system with a solar water pump, and sanitation facilities (latrines and hand washing basins).

Engineers Without Borders is delivering engineering expertise for all these project requirements, in cooperation with local water authorities, local contractors, and the ministry of education of Malawi.

The completion of the school buildings will provide 240 female children with secondary school education, starting in 2023.

The project contributes to the following UN SDGs:

• 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
• 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

The school will also provide the community with casual labor. This labor will be focused mainly on facilitating the running of the school, e.g. care for the buildings, custodial services, kitchen services, etc.

Finally, the school will stimulate local business and service development. Food for the school children will be sourced from local farms and the presence of the school will spur on development of a local health center as well as facilities to provide water and electricity.

EWB-NL is providing the architectural planning/design of the campus buildings:

•  Spatial planning
• Program of Requirements
• Organizational planning
• Aesthetic design of the site and buildings (based on standard drawings)

We are also providing the structural design of the roof structures and campus buildings:

• Drawings
• Calculations
• BoQ

Finally, we are providing the water reticulation system on site, in collaboration with the local water board:

• Drawings
• Calculations
• BoQ

The build of the school classrooms and administration building is privately funded by our local partner.

We require additional funding for the teacher’s housing, sanitation facilities and water reticulation system.