Programs – rise International

Indoor Kitchen For an Orphanage in Pitseng Village, Lesotho

May 20, 2021By RISE INT

We have partnered with the non-profit Sentebale to design and build a much needed kitchen for the Phelisanong Centre for Children with Disabilities based in the beautiful rural mountainous town of Pitseng in Lesotho. Currently there is no kitchen and 200 meals have to be prepared in the outdoors come rain or sunshine starting at 4a.m with the collection of firewood as fuel for the outdoor stoves. The kitchen will not only impact the lives of the centre staff a lot easier but it will also enable the center to start offering catering facilities in the conference facility as part of their social enterprise activities. In addition we will be setting up a new water supply system so that the children can once again bathe in the bathrooms as opposed to wash basins since their pipes have been running dry ever since the main water supply has been cut off to the center almost two years ago. Phelisanong provides a home, family and community for orphans and children living with intellectual and physical disabilities, HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. We will be working closely with the surrounding community in the implementation of this project.

Running Water Toilets, Kitchens, and Food Gardens for 5 Hub Schools in Lithabaneng Village

April 29, 2021By RISE INT

We are proud to have been recruited by Action Ireland Trust as their implementing partner to design and construct toilets as well as school kitchens, rain water harvesting and food gardens for 5 Schools in the Lithabaneng area in Maseru District. These schools have been identified by the Ministry of Education as top priority schools for assistance. We enlisted our in loco alumni from 2018 & 2019 to assist with this project. They have been doing an incredible job in conducting participatory design workshops with the school children, alumni, teachers, parents, board and surrounding communities because rise international believes in a community driven approach, in order to ensure local community ownership and engagement through community participation in all our projects from design through to inception. We believe that merely giving what you think will “help” may not help at all. Click here to watch

Conserving the Heritage and Historical Buildings in Morija

February 18, 2021By RISE INT

We have partnered with Seriti sa Makhoarane (SSM) Heritage & Tourism Initiative to carry out an architectural survey and to compile restoration plans for historic buildings in and around the Makhoarane Area about 40kms from the capital of Maseru, Lesotho. The SSM Initiative arises from a process involving Morija Museum & Archives, the Royal Archives & Museum (Matsieng) and key stakeholders in the Makhoarane Area. After the realization that preserving, presenting and managing our heritage assets more effectively can make a positive difference to the four historic communities of Morija, Matsieng, Makeneng and Phahameng as well as the surrounding region. Many of the heritage sites are deteriorating, the current volume of visitors and tourists is relatively low, and the infrastructure and amenities are inadequate if tourism is to grow meaningfully.

We built the capacity of local apprentices in their surveying skills and their abilities in the restoration of historical buildings. In partnership with Politecnico di Milano, Italy we trained and brought in Masters in Architecture students to spearhead the project. We held a first-of-its-kind Built Environment and Heritage Masterclass in Makeneng. This class was held at Makeneng (Matsieng), the royal village of Morena Lerotholi, the second-generation successor of Morena Moshoeshoe I. Architectural heritage spets Janine de Waal and Graham Jacobs facilitated the Masterclass and shared their knowledge on the conservation of heritage in buildings. Read more about the project here

Accessible Hand Wash Stations for Lesotho Towns and Health Centers

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

rise was commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to make 105 hand wash stations for the Ministry of Health and Maseru City Council to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Lesotho. These stations have been installed in all 10 districts of Lesotho at health clinics, hospitals, child care facilities as well as busy town areas.

UNDP and UNICEF had learnt about the excellent work that had been done by our in loco alumni, xyz collaborative, in making and distributing hand-wash stations earlier in the year when an NGO called Sepheo had commissioned rise to make and install 10 emergency hand-wash stations in the Motimposo communities in Maseru, Lesotho. This project continues to help many members in vulnerable communities who do not have access to running water thus are at the highest risk of contracting the virus.

Watch a brief documentary released at the 2020 Lesotho Film festival, illustrating not only how this hand wash station project has helped address the pandemic but also how it has helped create jobs at a time of a national crises with youth unemployment and poverty in Lesotho.

Day Care Centers Improvements

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

Quality affordable day care for low income earners, such as factory workers who earn less than $150 a month, is hard to find. For this reason, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) of Lesotho have partnered with rise to design a model day care center that would act as a benchmark for other day care centers to follow best practices and improve the quality of care of children. However, until funds have been raised to build the model day care center, CRS has commissioned rise to design low cost improvements for existing day care centers in Maputsoe, an industrial area 2 hours north of Maseru. This project was led by our 2018 alumni with the assistance of some 2019 alumni.

You can see the low cost improvement designs here

All-Inclusive Headquarter office for the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations for the Disabled

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

rise built a new all inclusive office in Naleli, Maseru the capital city of Lesotho for the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations for the Disabled (LNFOD). This building is the first one of its kind in the country catering completely for people with different disabilities. This project formed the 2020 in loco fellowship. We believe this kind of design will eradicate barriers that have created separation between people living with disability and those who are not. It will hopefully facilitate and enable equality and independence in the organization.

Financial Training for Rural Communities

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

Scatec solar commissioned rise to conduct financial training of 36 community members in Mafeteng who are now shareholders of a company that is going to be the first of its kind in Lesotho to feed solar generated energy into the national grid. The rural community members were given a down payment for the lease of their plots of land on which the solar panels will be placed, and once the project kicks off, they will be receiving dividends on a quarterly basis for the solar generated energy.

Intellectual Disability and Autism Lesotho (IDAL) Center Project

February 15, 2021By RISE INT

IDAL (Intellectual Disability & Autism Lesotho) is a non-profit parent-led association. IDAL commissioned rise to design & construct a center that had been a dream for over 20 years but lacked funds to build. Standard Lesotho Bank and their partners gave a grant to IDAL who then recruited rise to take on this life changing project which formed the 2019 in loco fellowship.

We created a beautiful multifunctional pavilion surrounded by sensory gardens and an educational farm. It is also Lesotho’s first center specially designed for youth with autism and intellectual disabilities. The center is an ecological structure that is completely off the grid, with solar panels for electricity, a bore hole and rainwater harvesting and eco-friendly fencing that blends in with the environment. As well as multi-purpose areas for training and other activities, the center also has a multi-sensory space as well as a diagnostics room for early detection of autism and intellectual disabilities.

Learn more about the IDAL center by watching this brief video. You can also watch the design process of the Centre here as well as the findings from the Participatory Design Workshop here and Concept Designs here.

in loco 2019: Entrepreneurship Program

October 20, 2019By RISE INT

in loco 2019: was a live Design & Build Entrepreneurship Program that ran from August 2019 to January 2020.

A cohort of 13 recently graduated Basotho students from local Architecture and Construction Schools participated in this innovative fellowship program.

While building the country’s first ever centre for youth with Intellectual Disability & Autism, the fellows also went through an intense Business Training program which is comprised of classroom theoretical work as well as practical assignments such as conducting market research, compiling business plans, running social media campaigns, hosting events to mention but a few, so that by the end of the fellowship the fellows are in a position to launch their own small business generating employment for themselves and others in their communities.

As well as the business trainings the fellows were also all assigned various roles which they rotated every 2 months so that they got to practice how to run a company by taking on different responsibilities including being a site manager, site architect, buyer, plants & logistics manager, health & safety officer, quality control manager and so on.

Thus being transformed from job seekers to job creators. See what other skills they learnt by watching this video by one of the the 2019 alumni here

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Photo of Lady and Sewing Machine in Ha'Sekantsi community

Ha Sekantsi: Sewing Project

October 20, 2019By RISE INT

In partnership with Possible Dreams Foundation we are working with 300 community members from the beautiful Ha’ Sekantsi community piloting a holistic approach to rural community development tackling access to Economic, Infrastructure and Education.

The community wants to set up a sewing project so thanks to a small grant from Amelija Vincent the community now has sewing machines and is being trained on how to make clothes and uniforms to raise income so they can afford to send their children to school and can contribute towards community projects such as the setting up of a learning center which is their long term dream.