Completed
Raja Ampat, Indonesia
01 / 05
A conservation school opens its doors
The Child Aid Blue Ocean School reached completion and opened for classes, expanding capacity with modern learning space powered entirely by on-site solar energy.
2025 annual report
The ripple
of design.
Across borders and disciplines, community visions became classrooms, clinics, training centers, and places to belong.
A note from leadership
Expansion with
intention.
“More communities were served, more volunteers stepped forward, and more local teams took the lead in shaping projects that uplift and empower.”
Across Rwanda, Indonesia, East Africa, and beyond, classrooms, clinics, community centers, and gathering spaces advanced through partnerships with universities, local organizations, builders, and in-country professionals.
The strongest measure of growth was not reach alone. It was the depth of collaboration across cultures, disciplines, and generations—and the local leadership carrying that work into 2026.
Daniel Wiens President
The JI model
Design is a
relay.
A project moves from a community idea to an operating place through a chain of relationships. Each handoff keeps local knowledge at the center.
Step 1
Source projects
Listen for needs identified by community-led organizations.
Step 2
Pair volunteers
Match the project with the right professional and university talent.
Step 3
Connect locally
Bring in-country professionals into the design conversation early.
Step 4
Develop proposals
Turn the shared brief into safe, sustainable design documents.
Step 5
Support construction
Stay alongside local builders as the work moves to site.
Step 6
Open and operate
Hand the finished place back to the people who shaped it.
Inspire and equip the next generation of humanitarian designers.
Connect volunteer talent with critical needs around the world.
Design safe, sustainable, and locally appropriate facilities.
The year in numbers
A network measured
in participation.
The report separates professional volunteers, university designers, project outcomes, and the people using completed places—showing both the scale of the network and where that effort landed.
- Volunteer hours donated
- Professional designers + mentors
- University volunteer designers
- Projects completed or in construction
- Daily users of completed projects
- Construction jobs created
- Design + engineering proposals completed
- Countries represented by volunteers
- Repeat volunteers
- University partnerships
- Countries with JI-designed projects
The complete project year
Every project.
Every stage.
The report follows work from completed design proposals, through projects gathering momentum, to buildings and partnerships taking shape on the ground.
01
Designs completed
Ideas became buildable plans.
Eight proposals in the report show what careful listening can become: therapy rooms, schools, water systems, community centers, and places to learn a livelihood.
Nigeria
01AKHIN Community Center
An inclusive learning village combining rehabilitation, shelter, vocational training, farming, sports, and the arts.
- Partner
- AKHIN Village
- Designer
- Beatrice Cordella
Rwanda
02Physiotherapy Center
A dedicated center for early intervention, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, play therapy, and speech therapy.
- Partner
- Rwanda Down Syndrome Organization
- Designer
- Fatima Hassan
Indonesia
03Water Treatment + Storage
The village's first desalination facility will support drinking water, bathrooms, showers, storage, and campus gray-water use.
- Partner
- Child Aid Papua
- Designer
- Garrett Lord
Rwanda
04Early Childhood Center + Library
A child-friendly learning center, library, parent-training space, and community hub for families in Kigali.
- Partner
- Komeza Life
- Designer
- Jules Iradukunda
Indonesia
05Resource Center
English and computer courses, a library, Wi-Fi, printing, and shared laptops bring practical resources to rural Bantul.
- Partner
- PPMK
- Designer
- Nicole Thompson
Uganda
06School Campus + Dormitory
A nurturing campus supporting education, residential life, spiritual growth, and community outreach in Mubende.
- Partner
- Faith Christian School
- Designer
- Haley Cope
Rwanda
07Sunzu Community Center
A multipurpose next phase of the Sunzu Village master plan, with construction beginning as the report closed.
- Partner
- Chapter's Initiative
- Designer
- Carly Althoff + Joanna Nsenga
Kenya
08Twajali Training Centre
An eco-conscious hospitality and experiential-learning center rooted in cultural preservation and youth opportunity.
- Partner
- Twajali Empowerment Network
- Designer
- Hester van Haalen + Lennart Jacobs
02
Upcoming + in process
The pipeline widened.
Projects already moving through research, master planning, site preparation, and phased development extended the work across eight communities.
United States
01Camp Tepee Development
A property plan for affordable, screen-free summer care where children can spend time outdoors and families are never turned away.
- Partner
- YMCA
- Designer
- Garrett Lord
Tanzania
02Beekeeping Training Center
A vocational hub addressing youth and women's unemployment through training, resources, and pathways to economic participation.
- Partner
- SuBeHuDe
- Designer
- Jacob Hollingsworth
Cameroon
03Regenerative Learning Center
An agriculture hub designed to restore topsoil, strengthen food security, and support resilient community livelihoods.
- Partner
- Wandusoa
- Designer
- Cedric Delbeke
Rwanda
04Genocide Memorial Center
A trauma-informed place for education, creative expression, healing, and opportunity grounded in the center's history of care.
- Partner
- Gisimba Memorial Center
- Designer
- Stephen Makama + Christian Maisha + Blaise Mugisha
Indonesia
05School Expansion + Master Plan
A water plant, gymatorium, dormitories for up to 80 students, and cultural center extend the Raja Ampat campus.
- Partner
- Child Aid Papua
- Designer
- Garrett Lord
India
06Medical + Community Center
A combined health and community facility supporting people affected by leprosy and the stigma surrounding it.
- Partner
- JSSWM
- Designer
- Lokesh Bharathidasan
Indonesia
07Anak Alam Learning Center
Resilient new infrastructure for creative, nature-based education in a region shaped by seasonal weather.
- Partner
- Anak Alam
- Designer
- Ilham Muhamed
Cambodia
08DYP Campus Design
A phased campus for education, skills training, and vocational opportunity led by and for people with visual impairments.
- Partner
- Discover Your Possibilities
- Designer
- Garrett Lord
03
Building structures + networks
Plans moved into daily life.
Construction, closeout, and long-term relationships carried earlier design work forward. Nine updates show the value of staying involved beyond the drawing set.
Indonesia
01Blue Ocean Conservation School
The solar-powered school opened for classes while work continued on water, landscaping, and dormitory infrastructure.
- Partner
- Child Aid Papua
- Designer
- Garrett Lord
Malawi
02Student Dormitory
A long partnership expanded from solar-powered teacher housing into student residences supporting reliable access to education.
- Partner
- Malawi Children's Village
- Designer
- Maggie Harris
Indonesia
03Community Pavilion
Students, farmers, local builders, and bamboo partners designed and built a shared place for learning and exchange.
- Partner
- Astungkara Way
- Designer
- HKU Architecture
Cambodia
04Site Development + Master Plan
Grading, fencing, and retaining walls prepared the site for a campus that will develop in deliberate phases.
- Partner
- Discover Your Possibilities
- Designer
- Garrett Lord
Rwanda
05Azizi Life Guest House
A second-phase guest house creates accommodation for visitors and volunteers supporting a women-led artisan organization.
- Partner
- Azizi Life
- Designer
- Mary Diestch
Rwanda
06Handspun Hope Expansion
New production, trauma-counseling, and community spaces strengthen a campus supporting more than 200 women.
- Partner
- Handspun Hope
- Designer
- Claude Butera
Rwanda
07Omega Ministries School
A completed Pre-K through Primary 6 school also provides flexible space for youth programs and community gatherings.
- Partner
- Omega Ministries
Nigeria
08AKHIN Learning Space
Construction advanced on an inclusive learning and vocational environment with farming, sports, arts, and clean-water infrastructure.
- Partner
- AKHIN Village
- Designer
- Beatrice Cordella
Nigeria
09EcoBuild Her Campus
Women are building the permanent training campus while learning sustainable construction skills they can carry into paid work.
- Partner
- EcoBuild Her
- Designer
- Natalie Ramirez
Five stories from the year
Plans became
places.
Scroll through a small selection of the partnerships, construction milestones, and completed spaces behind the numbers.
Story 1 of 5: A conservation school opens its doors
Completed
Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Built together
Subak Ketapang, Bali
02 / 05
A pavilion built through exchange
Students, local builders, and partners worked side by side in bamboo to create a gathering place for farmers—and a living classroom for sustainable construction.
In construction
Malawi
03 / 05
Room for students to stay and learn
A long-running partnership with Malawi Children's Village expanded from solar-powered teacher housing to student dormitories that support reliable access to education.
Skills in action
Nigeria
04 / 05
Women building skills—and a campus
EcoBuild Her is creating a permanent training center where single mothers, widows, and vulnerable women learn sustainable construction by building the campus themselves.
Completed
Kigali, Rwanda
05 / 05
A school becomes a community anchor
Omega Ministries completed a Pre-K through Primary 6 school with classrooms and flexible spaces for lessons, youth programs, and community gatherings.
Places featured in the report
Across borders.
Rooted locally.
Each place represents a local organization leading the work, a community shaping the brief, and designers listening closely enough to support it.
- Ukraine01
- United States02
- Nigeria03
- Cameroon04
- Uganda05
- India06
- Cambodia07
- Indonesia08
- Kenya09
- Tanzania10
- Rwanda11
- Malawi12
Beyond the buildings
The next generation
steps in.
A sustainable-design site tour with INES-Ruhengeri students connected classroom learning to construction, materials, and local impact at Sunzu Village.
Mentorship with Rwanda's SPRK Academy, California Baptist University's Missionary Week, and hands-on bamboo construction with Hong Kong University expanded the classroom across borders.
The people behind the work
A distributed
design team.
Staff across three regions, two volunteer boards, professional designers, student teams, faculty, and local practitioners formed the human infrastructure behind every project.
Collaboration across cultures, disciplines, and generations.
Core team
- Daniel WiensPresident + Founder
- Garrett LordConstruction Administration Director
- Joanna NsengaSenior Project Manager
- Claude ButeraConsulting Architect
- Widya Putri SeptadianiAsia Project Manager
Academic partners
- Hong Kong UniversityDr. Kristof Crolla + Dr. Garvin Goepel
- Warmadewa UniversityDr. Nyoman Gede Maha Putra
- University of RwandaDr. Josephine Malonza
- INES RuhengeriChemi Andrew Ndizeye
JI Rwanda board
- Alfred Ndabarasa
- Bradley Sanders
- Dan Klinck
- Carly Althoff
- Daniel Wiens
JI USA board
- Trevor Chayce
- Landon Friend
- Sam DeLay
- Steve Shimmin
- Justin Pin
Volunteer designers + researchers
- Beatrice Cordella
- Fatima Hassan
- Hester van Haalen
- Lennart Jacobs
- Natalie Ramirez
- Haley Cope
- Nicole Thompson
- Ilham Muhamed
- Stephen Makama
- Blaise Mugisha
- Christian Maisha
- Cedric Delbeke
- Lokesh Bharathidasan
- Estabon Balikian
- Amanda Sengstacken
- HKU Architecture (24 students)
- Jacob Hollingsworth
Financial snapshot
Resources,
put to work.
The report records $317,063 available during 2025 and $138,212 in expenditures through November 15. Payroll, project funding, and day-to-day operations carried the work from relationships into built outcomes.
Every figure represents people carrying a project forward.
Resources available
$317,063
- Beginning balance
- $33,892
- Operating donations
- $148,171
- Capital project donations
- $135,000
2025 expenditures
$138,212
- Payroll
- $67,937
- Construction + special projects
- $38,093
- Operating expenses
- $32,182
Figures reflect transactions from January 1 through November 15, 2025.
View the full financial statementSupported by many
The network
behind the network.
The annual report closes by recognizing the builders, design practices, universities, businesses, and individual supporters whose financial and professional contributions amplified every donated hour.
See every sponsor in the reportThe report ends with a question