A letter from the president
Dear friends,
One of my greatest joys in running JI is seeing people use the places we’ve helped design. This year, as our team visited project sites, we made impact assessment a priority. We wanted to better understand a simple question: what changes because of our work?
Construction creates jobs and supports local businesses. Once a building is in use, another story begins.
At Sunzu Village in Rwanda, one donor’s love of music has helped people of all ages learn to play instruments. A place we helped build now has a soundtrack of its own.
At ASFA’s pediatric physiotherapy clinic, we helped create a sensory garden where children can move, explore, and enjoy being outdoors. The photos of children smiling as they use those new paths are among my favorites from this year.
Across Journeyman, our partners and volunteers supported 29 projects across 15 countries in 2026, including 7 projects supported through construction.
We also launched our Global Design-Build Workshop, connecting students and practitioners across borders to learn about bamboo and put their new knowledge into practice. We’re planning the next workshop and would love for you to join us – you can sign up at our website.
Speaking of our website, we launched a new one this year! You can explore our projects across the globe, meet the people behind the work, and find a way to take part. I hope you’ll spend some time there.
I am extremely proud of our staff, volunteers and donors in 2026 – our greatest year of impact to date. As a teaser, our backlog of projects for 2027 is HUGE. We will do all we can to build what matters.
Our mission
El Puente needs housing for volunteers! So we designed four small rooms with private bathrooms and a shared kitchen. Visiting volunteers will stay close to the work, while the accommodation also offers temporary refuge for families in crisis. The bathrooms have been constructed, and the housing will start in 2027 – stay tuned!
JI's Construction Director Garrett Lord visited the children's home in Peru this year, experiencing first hand that spaces for sleeping, learning, meals, and counseling are in need. Garrett and the JI team have developed a design that brings magic to a young child's life.
In Rufisque’s Keury Souff neighborhood, our Sport Grounds 4 Future proposal would turn a 4,000 m² former municipal site into a sports and wellbeing hub. Multi-sport facilities, first aid, changing rooms, and green gathering spaces would give underserved communities room to play and connect. Local materials, renewable energy, and flexible programming could make it a model for projects across Africa.
In Lagos, our ICLDN Impactivate Hub proposal brings coworking, digital learning, counseling, and creative enterprise under one roof. We handed over the design in August. Local architectural review and approvals come next.
Wandusoa’s ecological learning center is intended to support regenerative agriculture training for farmers and young people. After moving from its original site near Ngoumu to Kamba, Mfou, the partner is seeking to adapt JI’s masterplan to the new location. The design brings Indigenous knowledge and agroecology together through spaces for practical learning in agroforestry, composting and soil restoration.
Our Rwanda staff has grown to six members, including two licensed architects. This has enabled our team to spearhead numerous design and construction projects each year. Take a look at our Rwanda projects in 2026!
A football pitch is the starting point for a place where children can play, learn, and build confidence. The proposed Eco-Hub brings sport together with life-skills training, health spaces, and community gatherings, giving young people a safe place to grow on and off the field.
In partnership with East African Power, we are expanding our footprint in Sunzu Village with a multi-purpose facility. The facility will be used for after school programs, church services, weddings, vocational training and special events.
The first phase of ASFA’s sensory garden is complete and in use. Accessible paths extend the pediatric physiotherapy clinic outdoors, where children with disabilities can exercise, play and explore nature through their senses. A second phase is planned for 2027.
A safe start for young learners in Rusororo. This early-childhood campus supports children from low-income families, including children of street vendors, with spaces designed for learning, play, and a sense of belonging.
In Nduba, BAYM is bringing early learning and practical skills closer to families. The proposed center expands a free nursery school and provides space for vocational training, mentoring, faith, and community activities, including skills programs for single mothers.
A place to meet, listen, and learn together. Peace Outreach Initiatives’ proposed campus brings community dialogue, education, youth programs, and faith gatherings into shared spaces designed to strengthen connection and reconciliation.
A local health post for the Ndago community, developed with the EAR Diocese of Nyaruguru and support from the Elsa Miller Foundation. CAUKIN Studio leads the design; Journeyman supports the project as fiscal agent.
At Gisimba, creativity is part of caring for children and young people. The renovation proposal adapts an existing workshop into a flexible arts and music space, with a courtyard that can become a stage for performances and community gatherings.
An early-learning center in Bugesera with room for books, discovery and play. The library and masterplan improvements build on KomezaLife’s work with young children. The building permit has been received, and fundraising is underway toward a construction start in early 2027.
A container-based coffee and bakery proposal pairs hospitality training for young mothers with an internet-enabled place to work, learn, and meet.
In partnership with Jungle Medical Missions Uganda JI is designing a teaching hospital and College of Health Sciences. Over the next five years, the vision is to grow the institution into a university that integrates healthcare, education, research, and community development—creating lasting opportunities for healthier and more resilient communities across Eastern Uganda.
This project supports Emaoi Primary School, a government primary school in Arusha, Tanzania, by improving its educational facilities through the design of safe, functional, and climate-responsive learning spaces. The goal is to enhance student learning conditions by reducing overcrowding and improving classroom infrastructure and basic school amenities.
The Sustainable Development Training Centre (SDTC) in Tanzania is envisioned as a community and vocational training hub tackling youth and women’s unemployment through skills development, education, and empowerment. By providing practical training, resources, and opportunities for economic participation, the center will help reduce poverty, address social challenges, and foster sustainable livelihoods across Tanzanian communities and beyond.
Mayamiko Child Care Centre is envisioned as a home-like, child-centered campus for approximately 40–48 children between infancy and 11 years old, supported by on-site caregivers and operational staff. Rather than creating an institutional environment, the design aims to establish a warm, restorative setting with spaces for childcare, learning, creativity, play, practical skills, food production, nutrition, and vocational development. The campus will connect indoor and outdoor environments to encourage exploration, social interaction, and everyday moments of independence, while providing caregivers with the visibility and support needed to create a safe and consistent home environment.
A former bank could become a place for young ideas. With Trostyanets’ municipality, we developed plans for learning, creativity, and youth programs, with accessibility and energy independence at their heart. This is our 5th completed design project for the city.
The Marine Discovery Educational Center in Ko Mak, Thailand, is envisioned as an integrated hub for coral reef restoration, environmental education, and scientific research, bringing together public engagement and specialized study within a single platform. The project combines interactive learning spaces, exhibitions, and community-focused programs with dedicated research facilities that support ongoing marine conservation efforts, creating opportunities for collaboration between local communities, researchers, and visitors.
JI has expanded our footprint in Southeast Asia with two new staff members. As a result, we have numerous projects ongoing in the region, including reef restoration, schools, libraries, and university workshops.
With The Sea People, Journeyman is developing a land-based hub for conservation, training, and shared living. Site and program changes continued during 2026, with water, energy, and island logistics shaping the design.
Students in Indonesia and Rwanda presented firefly conservation pavilion proposals for final critique, connecting cultural context, habitat protection and bamboo detailing. The workshop is complete; the pavilion is awaiting a supplier and constructor before building work can begin.
A new partnership with Humanies Project supports planning for MI Al-Hidayah after an earthquake left students in temporary classrooms.
The classroom and library proposal on Sumbawa links nature-based education with ecobricks and environmental stewardship.
2026 has been an active year of construction in Child Aid. Since the school facility opened at the beginning of the year, we have constructed two additional classrooms, a desalination facility, bathrooms, girls dorms, and have started construction on a large gymnasium.
Safe homes need shared places around them. With Involvement Volunteers International and local partners, we’re helping Koroipita plan community and educational spaces through design consultation and visualization. Our work supports the township’s wider plans for cyclone-safe living.
DYP has completed the retaining wall, fence, ground raising and soil testing for its future campus. Architectural revisions continue to address additional land, accessibility, sustainability and permits. Campus buildings have not yet started; DYP’s existing educational services continue in rented premises.
We have partnered with YMCA to remodel and revitalize an existing camp. The current work is focused on wetlands, zoning, and permits, helping establish what can be built and which local reviews are needed.
Rwanda
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Indonesia
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Costa Rica
Rwanda
El Salvador
El Salvador
Empower and train the next generation of humanitarians.
Working with university students is a key part of the JI model. We connect classroom learning with community projects, giving students people to learn from and work that matters.
Students join our team, contribute to live projects, and learn alongside experienced practitioners.
We review student work and help turn promising ideas into practical, community-centered designs.
Real community briefs give students a way to put their final-year studies to work.
We bring humanitarian design into the classroom, sharing the decisions and lessons behind our projects.
For the EAIA President’s Award Students’ Competition, we provided the Gisimba arts and music hub brief and served on the judging panel. Students explored how an existing workshop in Kigali could become a place to create, perform, and gather.
Explore the Gisimba student designsJI provides scholarships to top students at two universities in Rwanda. Alongside mentorship and real project opportunities, that support helps young designers keep learning and prepare for humanitarian work.
Global Design-Build Workshop
Our Global Design-Build Workshop combines online lectures with a collaborative design studio for students, university mentors, and practitioners. This year, seven student teams from Universitas Warmadewa and INES-Ruhengeri explored bamboo construction, developed proposals for Bring Back the Light’s firefly nursery in Bali, and refined their designs through shared critiques.
Thank you to our speakers, Dr. Garvin Goepel, Luis Echeverría, Harry Thorpe, and Wayan Wardika, and to the academic partners and mentors who guided the teams.
We welcome conversations with universities and practitioners about future briefs, critiques, and mentorship. Each opportunity starts with a community partner’s needs and a scope we can support together.
Talk with JI about future collaboration“Journeyman created a nurturing and safe space where multiple generations can discover and fulfill their potential, bringing immense joy and progress to our community.”
Rwanda
Children are using the completed first phase of ASFA’s sensory garden for outdoor therapy, exercise and play. Accessible paths give them room to move and explore alongside the physiotherapy clinic. Impact Marathon volunteers worked with local staff and builders to bring the garden into use. A second phase is planned for 2027.
Indonesia
English classes meet twice a week at PPMK’s new resource center, which has been in regular use since August. Neighbors come for free Wi-Fi, library and printing services, and women meet monthly for training and community activities. The interior is complete; exterior finishing and parking await further funding.
“Our students love the space and everyday it becomes better and better!”
Rwanda
The completed school is serving children every day. Partner Tanya Rush describes the JI-supported design as practical, functional and well suited to the organization’s needs, and hopes to work together on future projects.
Malawi
The dormitory is complete and occupied, giving girls a dedicated place to live and study. MCV reports improved academic performance among the students and girls qualifying for government-sponsored college education.
“It helped to show me the impact all of us could have, to help others.”
Rwanda
The guesthouse is built, licensed and welcoming guests. It has hosted visitors to the district and teams supporting community projects, including a group working on Azizi Life’s social housing program. Further bookings are confirmed for 2027.
“The JI team welcomed me with positive energy, made me feel empowered in every possible way, and helped with my university thesis design, supporting me all along the way.”
“Through mentorship and collaboration, I learned to prioritize user-centered, sustainable solutions and embrace design as a responsibility to the communities we serve.”
“This experience directly inspired the establishment of Ndinda Design Studios and Ndinda Hub, initiatives dedicated to empowering students and young professionals in the built environment.”
“Seeing the direct impact I had on these women was such an enriching experience that I am continuing to volunteer my engineering expertise with JI.”
To our supporters
You help us keep showing up for our partners.
figures as of November 1, 2026
A note from all of us
To our partners, thank you for inviting us into your work. To our designers, builders, and supporters, thank you for staying with it.
The Journeyman team
President & Founder
Construction Administration Director
Global Director of Project Delivery and Partnership
Development Coordinator
Design Intern
Design Intern
Asia Project Manager
Design Consultant – Asia
Consulting Architect
United States + Rwanda
