Girls Dormitory Compound

Iteja, Tanzania

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The Girls Foundation of Tanzania

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Milembe Secondary School

Girls Dormitory Compound

Iteja, Tanzania

Firm

Scattergood Design

Type

Educational › High School

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2023

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

The dormitory compound at Milembe Secondary School in Iteja, Tanzania was designed as a prototype for rural school districts throughout Tanzania. Building these self-sufficient dorms at existing secondary schools can provide more opportunities—faster and closer to home—for girls to excel at their studies than typical, single-sex campuses.

Milembe Secondary School is located in Misungwi District, 50 KM southeast of Mwanza, Tanzania’s second largest city, near the shores of Lake Victoria. More than 50% of the residents live in poverty, and education for girls remains low, especially at the secondary school level.

The compound includes two dormitories housing 50 girls each, with bathing and composting latrines, a dining pavilion, matron house and guard house within a security wall. Buildings are easily adaptable to varied topography and phased construction, and angled placement of dormitories relative to the entry creates a welcoming, secure central space that can be used for sports on weekends. Suitable for locations with no access to district electricity, water or sewage, the buildings incorporate sustainable, easily-obtained materials and can be modified to meet local customs and craft.

All components can be brought to the site by pickup truck and all site fabrication accomplished without power tools, using basic carpentry and masonry skills. Key features include: rainwater catchment in cisterns with raised tanks for kitchen and bathing, supplemented by a deep-water well on campus; half-trusses cantilevered over corridor walls to minimize wood and weight; light monitors and end vents to increase daylighting and ventilation; exposed granite walls at the Dining and Hygiene buildings; custom concrete block screens shading clerestories at the dining hall; and custom steel grilles and gate.

The compound was completed in 2022 with one dormitory. The dining hall was constructed with a mezzanine to provide an extra classroom; it currently houses temporary beds for 40 girls, so the second dormitory began construction in January 2025. Girls report that the intimate scale of the dormitory, with four beds per compartment, has increased confidence and friendships as well as generating consistently high test scores. The school store built into the dormitory gate has become a campus hub where all 500 students gather midday.

This dorm complex is the third phase of work funded and constructed by the NGO Africa Schoolhouse in cooperation with the Misungwi District. In 2023, Africa School house convened an evaluation of dormitory complex and its potential for other locations. Girls, teachers, members of the Misungwi District staff, construction team, architecture professors from Ardhi University in Dar es Salaam and Scattergood Design made suggestions for improving the design, construction and operations.