Design in Africa

Design for Social Wellbeing/BoP design

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:36:35 -0400

Edan Weis is working on his PhD research project; Design for Social Wellbeing: A Case Study of Normative Design Thinking, see the work in progress here.

“This research is a comparative study of the design process accross several organizations designing for/with the poor, specifically the early concept/ideation stages of product development. I’m interested in the way designer’s “frame” their problems according to their individual perspectives, and how this affects their design process. In “social design”, perspectives are often as contested as the development theories they are associated with. The aim of study is to devise methods and practical approaches for design focused on alleviating poverty by examining the design process itself, rather than through external discourses of development economics, sociology of technology, or innovation studies. The research assumes that such discourses—while still important in understanding social design practices—exert a greater influence at the practical level of designing than has been previously recognized.”

“This study investigates industrial design practice which aims to contribute to poverty alleviation and economic development in poor nations. The practice of “Design for Social Wellbeing” (DSW) generally operates in four capacities: 1) product/service design consulting for/with local businesses and individuals; 2) commercial product/service development for low-income markets; 3) education for formal/informal manufacturing or crafts sectors; 4) implementing national industrial and economic policy. “Edan is currently looking for BOP product developers / inventors / design firms interested in participating in a case study for his PhD research project.

Via BOP Source, @bopsource. Image from Edan’s Research Proposal (PDF).

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The travels of a plastic cup in Indonesia

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 04:17:37 -0400

From Stealth of Nations;

“The Jakarta Post offers an excellent chronicle of the recycling supply chain in Indonesia, as a plastic cup, once thrown away, moves through layers of the informal economy into the formal economy.

Moh. Darmadi, a self-employed plastic-waste collector, roams the streets of South Jakarta’s Setiabudi neighborhood equipped with a metal picker and a plastic sack on his back. He sells his takings to a lapak — a term for businesses that buy waste material from trash collectors. The price: Rp 900 for a kilogram of plastic cups and bottles; half that amount for plastic bags.The lapak, which employs laborers to clean, sort, and prepare the plastic, earns perhaps Rp 10 million a week per truckload of recycled materials.

The purchaser more carefully sorts the plastics, and then runs them through a shredder which chops the raw material into fine pellets. This business sells to formal sector manufacturers, for a weekly turnover of Rp 45 million.Only about half of the plastic waste produced annually is being recycled. While plastic accounts for 13.9 percent of the waste in Greater Jakarta, only 6.5 percent is recycled, according to a World Bank pilot project on waste identification.

To increase this amount, it is necessary to work with the informal sector.”

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Benefits of informal waste collection

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 05:32:04 -0400

Inclusive Cities is an organization that aims to improve the livelihoods of the urban working poor, most of whom are employed in the informal economy, many as waste pickers, street vendors, and home-based workers. Inclusive Cities has several reports, one being Waste Pickers (PDF).

“Waste pickers form a small, but vital, part of the informal economy. In nearly every city of the developing world, thousands of men, women, and children make a living collecting, sorting, recycling, and selling the valuable materials thrown away by others. They collect household waste from the curb side, commercial and industrial waste from dumpsters, and litter from the streets, canals and other urban waterways. Others live and work in municipal dumps – as many as 20,000 people in Calcutta, 12,000 in Manila, and 15,000 in Mexico City.”

The report lists benefits of informal waste collection as:

Contribution to public health and sanitation. In the fast-growing cities of the developing world, informal waste collection is the only way that waste gets removed from the many neighborhoods not served by municipal authorities. Third World municipalities only collect between 50 and 80 percent of the refuse generated in their cities.
Employment and a source of income for poor people. The World Bank estimates that one percent of the urban population in developing countries earns a living through waste collection and/or recycling, in the poorest countries, up to two percent do so. A significant number are women, and, in some cases, children.
Provision of inexpensive recycled materials to industry. This reduces the need for expensive imports. The Mexican paper industry, for example, depends on wastepaper to meet about 74 percent of its fiber needs, and buys cardboard collected by Mexico’s cartoneros at less than one-seventh the price it would pay for market pulp from the U.S.
Reduction in municipal expenses. Waste collectors reduce the amount of waste that needs to be collected, transported and disposed of with public funds—in Indonesia, for example, by one-third. And in Bangkok, Jakarta, Kanpur, Karachi, and Manila, informal waste collectors save each city at least US$23 million a year in costs for waste management and raw material imports.
Contribution to environmental sustainability. In many cities, informal recycling is the only kind of recycling that occurs at all. It decreases the amount of virgin materials used by industry, thereby conserving natural resources and energy while reducing air and water pollution. It also reduces the amount of land that needs to be devoted to dumps and landfills.

Image credit; Mikhael Subotzky.

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Plastic waste recycling press

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:52:41 -0400

From Afrigadget.

“We’ve got a lot of plastic trash all over Africa, especially in the cities. A team from IDDS (Amit Gandhi from the US, and Mark Driordan from the UK) decided to create a way to add value to waste plastic by using a low-cost process to transform it into something useful: plastic sheets. From these sheets can be made a number of other products. On display they had shoes, bags, pencil cases and folders.”

See video here.

Image credit, Maker Faire Africa Flickr pool.

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The recession and informal recyclers

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:07:41 -0400

From the New York Times; A Scrap of Decency

“Among those suffering from the global recession are millions of workers who are not even included in the official statistics: urban recyclers — the trash pickers, sorters, traders and reprocessors who extricate paper, cardboard and plastics from garbage heaps and prepare them for reuse. Their work is both unrecorded and largely unrecognized, even though in some parts of the world they handle as much as 20 percent of all waste.

The world’s 15 million informal recyclers clean up cities, prevent some trash from ending in landfills, and even reduce climate change by saving energy on waste disposal techniques like incineration.

They also recycle waste much more cheaply and efficiently than governments or corporations can, and in many cities in the developing world, they provide the only recycling services.

But as housing values and the cost of oil have fallen worldwide, so too has the price of scrap metal, paper and plastic. From India to Brazil to the Philippines, recyclers are experiencing a precipitous drop in income. Trash pickers and scrap dealers in Minas Gerais State in Brazil, for example, saw a decline of as much as 80 percent in the price of old magazines and 81 percent for newspapers, and a 77 percent drop in the price of cardboard from October 2007 to last December.

In the Philippines, many scrap dealers have shuttered so quickly that researchers at the Solid Waste Management Association of the Philippines didn’t have a chance to record their losses.

In Delhi, some 80 percent of families in the informal recycling business surveyed by my organization said they had cut back on “luxury foods,” which they defined as fruit, milk and meat. About 41 percent had stopped buying milk for their children. By this summer, most of these children, already malnourished, hadn’t had a glass of milk in nine months. Many of these children have also cut down on hours spent in school to work alongside their parents.

Families have liquidated their most valuable assets — primarily copper from electrical wires — and have stopped sending remittances back to their rural villages. Many have also sold their emergency stores of grain. Their misery is not as familiar as that of the laid-off workers of imploding corporations, but it is often more tragic.

Few countries have adopted emergency measures to help trash pickers. Brazil, for one, is providing recyclers, or “catadores,” with cheaper food, both through arrangements with local farmers and by offering food subsidies. Other countries, with the support of nongovernmental organizations and donor agencies, should follow Brazil’s example. Unfortunately, most trash pickers operate outside official notice and end up falling through the cracks of programs like these.

A more efficient temporary solution would be for governments to buoy the buying price of scrap. To do this, they’d have to pay a small subsidy to waste dealers so they could purchase scrap from trash pickers at about 20 percent above the current price. This increase, if well advertised and broadly utilized, would bring recyclers back from the brink.

In the long run, though, these invisible workers will remain especially vulnerable to economic slowdowns unless they are integrated into the formal business sector, where they can have insurance and reliable wages.

This is not hard to accomplish. Informal junk shops should have to apply for licenses, and governments should create or expand doorstep waste collection programs to employ trash pickers. Instead of sorting through haphazard trash heaps and landfills, the pickers would have access to the cleaner scrap that comes straight from households and often brings a higher price. Employing the trash pickers at this step would ensure that recyclables wouldn’t have to be lugged to landfills in the first place.

Experienced trash pickers, once incorporated into the formal economy, would recycle as efficiently as they always have, but they’d gain access to information on global scrap prices and would be better able to bargain for fair compensation. Governments should charge households a service fee, which would also supplement the trash pickers’ income, and provide them with an extra measure of insurance against future crises.

Their labor makes our cities healthier and more livable. We all stand to gain by making sure that the work of recycling remains sustainable for years to come.”

Bharati Chaturvedi is the founder and director of the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group.

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Recycling in Nairobi

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 05:53:42 -0400

Steve Daniels has a great post at Analogue/Digital about Nairobi’s Industrial Area. “Essential to the Industrial Area’s thriving activity, and indeed a critical differentiator from rural jua kalis, is an equally thriving materials infrastructure. To sustain the manufacturing of so many diverse products, a separate industry has emerged for raw materials, both recycled and new.”
“Working with scrap material presents new design challenges. Flexibility is critical when ideal parts are not always available.”
Have a look at Nairobi Industrial Area: Products for more recycled lamps, boxes and much more. Images by Steve Daniels.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Waste Not: Sustainability as survival and foresight

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:58:36 -0400

Via do_matic, images by 16 Miles of String. Also see New York Times article.

‘Song Dong’s Project 90 show. The piece of work on display is called Waste Not. Here’s a snippet from the MOMA description:

A collaboration first conceived of with the artist’s mother, the installation consists of the complete contents of her home, amassed over fifty years during which the Chinese concept of wu jin qi yong, or “waste not,” was a prerequisite for survival.

(A view of the show shot from above by sixteen-miles via Flickr. Our iPhone didn’t cut it.)

Experiencing the piece, I went on a little journey of revelation. I wondered where and how the artist’s mother stored everything. I imagined how she might have imagined using what was kept. I saw how foresight and thriftiness becomes a daily, necessary activity: self-insurance against an uncertain future.

In the end, I realized how little I was doing with what I was consuming and how carefree I felt in my ability to consume more tomorrow. I definitely consume this many bottles in a year, yet I marvel at how this woman kept them or found those that others failed to keep (via sixteen-miles).

So back to business design… It made me wonder…

How might we better design products so that they can be there tomorrow for us or for someone else to use them or get value them?

How might we make thriftiness a daily routine? Something to be cherished? Something thrilling?

How might we make one person’s trash another person’s recyclable? In urban or rural environments?

How might we consume less, yet enjoy more?’

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Nokia and education, part one

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:17:12 -0400

Met some really interesting students who are designing and exploring education delivery on handheld devices.

‘Project Nokia.Expand aims to create a learning platform for children in developing countries in the form of a mobile device. The device will be durable, low-cost, light-weight, easy to use and contains components that enable the children to interact with their immediate environment. The example applications are based on extensive user studies across multiple countries and continents. They will support learning, communication, and playful interaction within and outside a school. We believe that learning happens through interacting with the world. Technology supports that.’ Design Factory.

More to come after the opening of the Product Design Gala.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Blogging for Readymade

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:56:29 -0500

Photo Credit

I am writing for Readymade’s Illustrated Weekly World of Design, topics include the design process, innovation, design news from South Africa and all the other stuff in between.

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Out and about

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:53:56 -0500

Having fun, dealing with Africa time, good times.

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Mail on Ovi; low end devices, high user adoption

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:46:58 -0500

Photo credit

Nokia announced Mail on Ovi late last year, it was picked up well, and seen as a milestone to delivering email to most of the planet.

“At Nokia we believe email should be available for everybody. We also launched Mail on Ovi, a free email service primarily aimed at the billions of first time email users, 75% of world’s population.” Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo - President and CEO, Nokia stated recently.

Mail on Ovi is free and preloaded on all Nokia Series 40 devices launching in 2009, and a wide range of devices currently out there. Its easy to use, because you don’t have to install anything, you don’t need a computer at all, it ‘works out the box’.

Now here is the interesting part, if you want to install the gmail app on a S40 Nokia, you can’t, you cannot download it; it will tell you that the file size is too big. I stand to be corrected, but I tried 2 different s40 devices, same result. And that is after figuring out how to find the app on the internet. But you can set up gmail in the mail setting pretty easily though, but that would imply you already have a gmail account.

What does that mean? Is it because there are hardware limitations to keep costs low, or is the s40 software is not sophisticated enough to deal with 3rd party applications? Could it be a clever business move to eliminate competition? Or could it just be that Nokia saw an opportunity to make email as simple as possible without too many hurdles. And who do you think is more recognized to 75% of the world’s population?

Now all that needs to happen is for service providers to lower data costs, a ubiquitous internet that can be viewed on all devices and we could be seeing the next internet really take off.

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Slow start to 2009

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 06:56:58 -0500

Its been a crazy couple of months with lots happening, but I have promised myself to start blogging again.

Busy with a research project here in South Africa, getting to see interesting people and places.

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Design, research and business strategy

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 07:06:40 -0500

Good article from Robert Fabricant at Frog Design about Jan Chipchase and his work, which highlights the importance of design research and how it fits into business strategy.

‘He is now finding that his most meaningful collaborations are with strategy groups within Nokia. He has been invited into much larger conversations about new markets and product strategies’

And ‘The passion that comes from direct contact, true connection to specific social needs, has become an essential force in managing strategic decisions.’

Research and design play a pivotal role in Nokias strategy, building a solid design strategy. Future research directions have been developed to form Agenda 2015 which focuses on the following areas:

User and contect modeling
Physically Personal Devices
Human Interface
Mixed Reality
Creativity
Scalable Service Platforms
Dynamic Wireless
Internet of Things

Nokia says this is the foundation for research over the coming years to discover the breakthroughs that will open up new business for the company. Nokia’s strategy relies on growing, transforming, and building the Nokia business to ensure its future success.

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A Better World by Design

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:16:08 -0500

Image credit

Keep updated on A Better World by Design through Niti Bhan and Erik Hersman, who is covering it on Afrigadget with photos here.

Todays (Saturday) schedule should be interesting; Paul Polak, Erik Hersman, Ken Banks and Niti Bhan talking early in the morning.

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Ushahidi in Democratic Republic of Congo

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 02:45:30 -0500

Ushahidi is being deployed in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) as a working prototype.

‘We need to get the message to the people on the ground in the Eastern Congo that this tool is now available for them to report incidents in on. If you have contacts there, or can help spread the word through some other means, it would be a great help if you did so - even if it’s just point them to the website or telling them about the SMS number.’

The number is +243992592111 website is http://drc.ushahidi.com/

Spread the word.

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Nokia Life Tools; Inform, Involve, Empower

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:06:36 -0500

Latest from Nokia; ‘Inform, Involve, Empower – Nokia’s service mantra for emerging markets with Nokia Life Tools’

“Filling in the information gaps in agriculture and education with Nokia Life Tools, we strive to contribute towards empowering people with the right tools to help them make informed decisions in their daily lives,” said Jawahar Kanjilal, Global Head of Emerging Market Services, Nokia. “Nokia Life Tools was developed to help bridge the digital divide in the emerging markets.”

What stands out for me is the commitment Nokia is showing towards education; ‘The Education service of Nokia Life Tools aims to give students a decisive advantage by boosting their English language and local, national and international general knowledge. Language lessons, quizzes on English words and phrases, and the general knowledge information were designed - together with EnableM for the pilot - to give students an edge. In future, the Education service will also come with information on higher education and career guidance and tips, exam preparation, quizzes and access to exam results.’

Nokia also launched their cheapest phone today, the 1202, which should come in at €25. Features include flashlight, 9 hour talk time and has multiple phone books and time and pre-paid tracker.

Nokia shows how its done once again.

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Obama-44th president of USA

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:36:22 -0500

Lets hope he gets it.

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Mobile internet research

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:28:22 -0500

Tino Kreutzer is working on a research project, Getting the Numbers Straight that looks into mobile usage, particularly internet use by low income teens in Cape Town. Tino has quire rightly discovered that there is not enough data currently available in this growing area.

Here are some quick numbers; 97% have used Internet from a cell phone, 83% use the internet on a typical day. Almost half of their mobile use is dedicated to the internet on a daily basis. Here is what they do in order of popularity on an average day;

get news or weather online
download songs, videos or ringtones
go online for no particular reason
send and receive email
information about a hobby or interest
hunt for a particular fact
use an instant messaging client
look for health or medical information
information about movies, books or other leisure activities
information on further education
look for information for school

The implications for learning applications on the (mobile) internet is an opportunity space that is only beginning to be realized as a tool for change.

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Nokia Open Studios

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:42:44 -0400

Great work by Youghee Jung and Jan Chipchase. Download the report here or here if you are at all interested in exploratory design research, design research methodology, user centered design, emerging markets, mobiles and anything else that blows your hair back.

Read the report, highly recommended. Image is from the report.

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M-PESA, why it works

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:53:58 -0400

Image credit

Nice commentary from Ryan Hahn on Nick Hughes’ (head of Vodafone’s international mobile payment solutions) talk at CGAP regarding the success of M-PESA, a mobile banking solution

Why it works;

They focused entirely on offering a single service, and doing it well; transferring money between 2 people using a mobile phone.
M-PESA is simple and easy to use and to set up. All a person needs is a Safaricom SIM and National ID/Passport.
No bank account is needed, which immediately allows a large percentage of Kenyans to avoid the difficulty and complexity of using a bank.
Overcoming this hurdle has led to increased user acceptance; over 4 million subscribers.
M-PESA makes its money by charging commissions on money transfers rather than on investing money. Alternative business model.
Vodafone is looking to replicate that success in other markets. Scalable.
Research done by Olga Morawczynski shows that migrant workers are the early adopters who influence other people to use the service.
The value? Time and money is saved by people having to travel long distances to the nearest bank.
3,500 frontline agents countrywide means even rural communities are benefiting economically.

M-PESA delivers a simple valuable service using available resources that is understood and accepted.

I know M-PESA has been around for a while, but successful case studies are proven over time.

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