Women’s Aquaculture Cooperative Program: A Humanitarian Project through Journeyman International

The Women\u27s Aquaculture Cooperative Program (WACP) is a partnership between the humanitarian platform Journeyman International (JI) and the African energy company Afritech Energy, who aims to provide sustainable, affordable energy to the most remote regions of Africa. The WACP is in the Bihongora region of Rwanda, which currently has no electricity or infrastructure. Afritech plans to build the 5,000 kW Bihongora Hydroelectric Power Plant and create Lake Bihongora in order to power and operate the aquaculture. The project will provide women in the region with the education needed to fully run, operate, and profit from the aquaculture micro-business. The project consists of building an access road, hatchery, cleaning facility, cold storage, fish pools, and community center. The design and preconstruction work done by the JI team will be used to secure fundraising and approval of the project. This process has provided an opportunity for interdisciplinary teamwork and exposure to the challenges that architects and engineers face when trying to deliver a sufficient design based on nothing but a conceptual idea. Cultural and geographic considerations had to be constantly reevaluated, and were major elements that affected the scheduling, estimating, constructability, safety, and site logistics of the WACP