Nerea Amorós Elorduy, a 2010-2011 graduate from the Master’s Degree in International Cooperation: Sustainable Emergency Architecture, has won the 2020 Alumni Awards in the category for Best Social Transformation Project for her project “Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD)” in Rwanda, which began in 2011 with the support of the Government of Rwanda and the NGO UNICEF.

The former UIC Barcelona student worked for UNICEF Rwanda developing the building standards for new early childhood development centres that the Rwandan government decided to build in every town in the country. Nerea Amorós Elorduy designed the prototypes for these centres, prioritising a holistic approach to children’s development and basing her designs on a study of the country’s traditional construction methods, accessible building materials and specific building regulations for earthquake zones.

The first ECD prototype was built in Nyabiondo in 2011. Over the next four years, Nerea Amorós Elorduy helped build a total of 28 centres across the country, which each day help an average of 450 children, and their parents, between 0 and 6 years old. The project is ongoing and since 2015, UNICEF has built a further 30 centres across Rwanda. Today, Nerea is based in Kampala, Uganda, and works as an architect consultant and independent researcher in East Africa. 

The Alumni Awards seek to recognise and promote personal, professional and corporate models that transform society, in line with UIC Barcelona’s mission. The awards ceremony took place on 3 March in Aula Magna at UIC Barcelona.