Designing a Sustainable School for Girls in Togo

Support University of Idaho architecture students traveling to Togo, Africa, so they can enhance educational opportunities for girls who receive on average three years of education: https://uandigive.uidaho.edu/project/15503

Students will interact with the local community to understand their needs before creating a conceptual design for a sustainable girls’ school. The school will be part of S H E | Style Her Empowered, a non-profit organization founded by U of I marketing grad Payton McGriff to create education and employment opportunities for women in the nearby area of Notse.

S H E has a small office in the center of Notse, but is looking to expand and build a new campus with a girls’ boarding school, offices, and dormitories. Architecture students will travel to Togo in September to learn about the physical and cultural context of the project before spending the rest of the semester on masterplans and building designs for the sustainable school campus.

Notse is located an hour north of Togo’s capital, Lome. The semi-rural village with nearly 20,000 inhabitants is credited as the birthplace of the Ewe people. The Ewe tribe spans through Ghana, Togo, and Benin and has one of the oldest and richest cultural traditions in the West African region.