Personal end-of-studies project : Proposal for a community center for street children in Yaoundé

Ecole Africaine des Métiers d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme (EAMAU) a Lomé (Togo)

Project idea

In Cameroon, we are talking about a vice (children in street situations) which has been rampant since the end of the 1980s with the economic crises and successive devaluations of the CFA franc from which it suffers drastically. However, many organizations have mobilized to fight against this scourge.

However, very few centers treat this phenomenon in particular. Concerning public structures, we have:
- The Cameroonian Childhood Institute (CCI) which is the only public long-term care center. However, it is a mixed structure mixing habitual offenders, street children, disabled children, juvenile delinquents, etc. It has a place limited to 250, it is under-equipped, very rudimentary and not in line with UNICEF principles;
- Public monitoring centers do not offer support and accommodation and operate only on the street.

Regarding NGOs and associations, most are just makeshift accommodation hastily set up to accommodate these children. And not only do they have an average care period of 3 to 6 months, but also, most prevention actions remain limited to street level.

Therefore, it is with a view to ensuring the social and professional reintegration of these children that our project was born entitled: “Proposal for a community center for street children in Yaoundé in Cameroon”.

Project description

Located in the heart of Mvolye and in a rapidly changing urban fabric, the center will have a capacity of 213 places. Part of a spirit of research for African architectural identity, our project tends to link both the objectives of “sustainable” development and energy sobriety. It therefore wants to be as green as possible.

The project tends to combine performance objectives with regard to design standards, technical devices and control of environmental issues.
Estimated at 13 billion, the financing of the operation will be provided by:
- The State / Ministry of Social Affairs: 51%
- Banks / Private investment funds: 40%
- The city of Yaoundé: 9%

The Project is structured into 6 poles:
- The Administration which will take care of, apart from management, reception, listening, guidance, prevention of families and children in distress, first aid care
- The Pedagogical Center for academic upgrading through a full-cycle school also open to local residents
- A professional training center for learning a viable profession
- The agro-pastoral farm to meet food needs by reducing them and improving the center’s ecosystem
- Accommodation for long-term care (03 years) and the reproduction of a family unit
- Play areas for the playful development of people

Technical information

THE CENTER IS LOCATED ON THE EDGE OF AVENUE MGR HENRI VIETER. ADJACENT TO THE NATIONAL EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE IN MVOLYE. IT IS DESIGNED ON AN URBAN WASTELAND ON A SLOPED LAND.

Building specifications:
- Maximum construction height: > building 29 m (measured from the garden level)
- 03 solid ground platforms
- Useful surface area: 28,664 m²
- Building footprint: 13,239 m²

Access
- 02 public accesses (staff included)
Level TN Guerite Workshops; Level TN Gatehouse Primary school
- 03 road accesses: 02 by avenue Mgr. Henri VIETER; 01 via a developed track
- 03 firefighter traffic lanes
One goes from the training center square to the primary school; The other goes from the training center square to the gatehouse located on the garden level via the car park;
The last one goes from the gatehouse on the ground floor to the primary school via the water retention basin connected to the Housing block

Access road
- Avenue Mgr Henri VIETER
- Track developed on site

Parking
- Car parking People with reduced mobility: 12 people
- Car parking: 80 plcs
- Car parking 02 wheels: 59 plcs

Documentation

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