We build pop up schools around the world with the MAGGIE shelter
Supporting education through innovation.
People need buildings to organise classrooms. But in some situations fixed structures are not permitted, practical, or desired.
In 2015 DMOA architects designed the Maggie shelter, a semi-permanent structure that looks like a tent, but is designed and built to offer the advantages of modern buildings. The Maggie provides a multipurpose, temporary shelter for a diverse range of facilities such as housing units or learning and health centres in underprivileged communities and hard to reach areas.
Today, education remains an inaccessible right for millions of children around the world. Although the situation is slowly improving, we, with Maggie Program, want to be part of this change.
We focus on places like natural disaster-stricken areas and refugee camps where Maggies’ unique properties such as construction speed and portability make the difference.
Our blueprints
Our vision
Our objective is to start up, implement, supervise and evaluate Maggie projects worldwide. We want to focus on places like natural disaster stricken areas and refugee camps where Maggies’ unique properties such as construction speed and portability make the difference. More specifically we’re really motivated by creating safe and qualitative spaces for education.
By choosing concrete projects over a broader approach we choose for a direct and clear impact. Through ‘Maggie goes to …’ we’ve been able to impact different communities around the world, providing them with quality spaces for education.
We believe that there’s a place for small and innovative initiatives in the human-aid sector.
With Maggie Program we bring this vision to life. It’s a small yet effective organisation with a simple cost structure, high efficiency, and a lot of know-how. Due to our size, we are very decisive, making the rollout of projects easy and fast. Introducing an approach where end-quality, sustainability, inclusiveness, and long-term impact are central. Furthermore, we hope to inspire and challenge larger organisations with our projects.
Blueprint 1
Rent, donate, connect
Rent, donate, connect gives schools and other organisations with an urgent infrastructure problem a sustainable, durable and social solution. The Maggie is fast and easy to assemble yet provides a high quality space. After a minimum of three years rent, the Maggie can be dismantled and shipped to a place in need. The initial rent paid becomes a life changing donation. This means a double win for both communities.
March 2020 Maggie Program received a call for a new North-South circular project. The concept is to first set up a school building in the north, in this case in Leuven, Belgium and then after 3 years in a developing country in the south.
In the search for a sustainable ecosystem for Maggie Program, the idea came to first do a "pre-project" locally with us, where there are also a lot of needs for temporary housing and classic containers are not always the best solution.
By first renting out the Maggie shelters as a temporary solution for a shorter term to schools, organizations, governments, etc. and then donating them to aid organizations in a developing country, the final development project can be partly financed with own resources and reduces the need for donations. The Maggies are disassembled after a few years of local use and shipped to a developing country where they can serve as a school for another 15 years or more. With this concept, Maggie Program is taking the step towards a more independent social enterprise that uses resources from projects in the North for its humanitarian projects in the South. In other words, by renting a Maggie school from us you support a good cause elsewhere in the world.
Our ‘rent, donate, connect’-projects
In the summer of 2020, the first pilot project according to this concept was rolled out for the Sint-Norbertus school in Heverlee. The school was being renovated and therefore needed temporary classes. Containers were initially considered, but that turned out to be unfeasible at this location.
So, with the help of volunteers, we built 4 low-energy Maggies consisting of 6 classes and a teacher's room. After almost 4 years, this summer we will dismantle the school and rebuild it in Kikwit (DR Congo) for underprivileged children.
The years after, more and more projects were initiated!
Blueprint 2
Maggie goes to
The Maggie Program provides quality spaces to support education in developing countries. We build sustainable school infrastructure for - and in collaboration with - local communities.
During each mission, we value the following criteria to ensure a qualitative, circular, and supportive project:
Implementing local materials with the aid of the community
Transferring knowledge to the community to make sure they will be able to develop similar projects independently in the future.
Critically evaluating each case to provide a tailor-made solution.
Our ‘Maggie goes to’-projects
IRead more about our previous ‘Maggie goes to’-projects to Cameroon (2018), Yezidi (2019), Kakuma (2020) and The High Atlas (2024).
Blueprint 3
Boots on the ground
In order to realize our Maggie projects, we rely on the hard work of our enthusiastic team of volunteers. However, we can always use an additional pair of helping hands!
Does your company consist of engaged, motivated and hardworking colleagues who are interested in supporting humanitarian projects? Let us know and join our next ‘Boots on the ground’-project!
Our ‘Boots on the ground’-projects
In March 2022, our latest ‘Boots on the ground’-project has been realized in Mombasa, Kenya! Take a look at the developments on the construction site and read about the activities of our local actor Close the Gap Kenya that happened last year in this Maggie!
Next up: Maggie goes to Senegal in November! Together with the local partner Caluna vzw, 2 Maggie shelters will be build up close to the pediatric cancer department of the local hospital in M’bour to serve as a medical training center and as an activity center for the children during their cancer treatment.
Press and publications
DCHI Awards 2019
Het Leuvense architectenbureau DMOA is dit weekend bekroond op het innovatiefestival in Amsterdam. Het project ‘Maggie’, een tent met de kwaliteit van een vast gebouw, werd verkozen tot beste humanitaire innovatie van het jaar. Het festival stond volledig in teken van ‘innovatie in ontwikkelingssamenwerking’. (Het Laatste Nieuws, 2019)
The architectural firm DMOA was awarded this weekend at the innovation festival in Amsterdam. The 'Maggie' project, a tent with the quality of a permanent building, was voted best humanitarian innovation of the year. The festival was all about 'innovation in development cooperation. (Het Laatste Nieuws, 2019)
Exhibition at MoMA
For over 60 million persons in the world today, shelter is defined through constant movement or escape. Insecurities: Tracing Displacement and Shelter explores the ways in which contemporary architecture and design have addressed notions of shelter in light of global refugee emergencies. (…) This exhibition is part of Citizens and Borders, a series of discrete projects at MoMA related to works in the collection that offer a critical perspective on histories of migration, territory, and displacement. (MOMA, 2016)
Henry van de Velde Award
De Maggie ziet eruit als een grote tent maar heeft de voordelen en functionaliteit van een vast gebouw. Voor de prijs en het gewicht van een modeste gezinswagen krijg je een 105m2 duurzame constructie. Ook buiten de humanitaire sector zijn de maggies waardevol in afgelegen en conflict regio’s. (Henry van de Velde awards, 2016)
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Contact us.
florence@maggie-program.org
+32 479 80 65 89
benjamin@maggie-program.org
+32 477 66 06 89
Erasme Ruelensvest 21c,
3001 Heverlee, Belgium