Technology

I have always thought of humanitarian design as a concrete thing, a product or material etc. and more specifically something that is readily available or accessible in a local area. I am finding , however, that systems and technology play an important role in design based aid. For DeSE I looked at a few organizations that fit this category: Kiva, One Laptop per Child (aka the $100 laptop) and Vodafone.

One thing all of these organizations have in common is technology. They all utilize basic technological tools which are no more than 25 years old, to aid third world communities, some of which have infrastructure hundreds of years behind the first world.

The first such organization, Kiva, uses the internet to connect Micro Finance Institutions (MFI’s) to lenders in the first world, in order to support poverty stricken entrepreneurs.

One Laptop per Child (OLC) strives to improve primary education by bringing computers to impoverished school systems.

The third, Vodafone, brings cell phones to communities sans communication in order to increase productivity and in some cases provide a business for an individual (to sell the use of their phone as a service so they can raise capital).

These companies, although tackling different problems with different tools, share the same end goal: decrease poverty, and the same means: technology.

Despite their similarities Kiva, OLC and Vodafone differ in somewhat drastic ways; they all operate on different levels. Kiva is strictly a service to link individual to individual, lender to borrower. Kiva is expressly concerned with tackling poverty on that individual level and thereby would be considered a ‘bottom-up’ system of aid.

OLC provides a product, the $100 laptop, which can be bought by the government or an individual school or school system. Therefore it can be bottom up, but it is designed to be a more traditional aid system where the government buys and distributes to the poor. Also, where Kiva and Voda are tackling poverty by increasing productivity OLC is doing so by increasing education.

Vodafone is somewhere in between Kiva and OLC. The company provides a product and service at a cost, for profit. This is a bottom-up system as well, where the productivity of individuals and communities is increased in turn stimulating the economy.

Other than technology these three organizations do have one other thing in common; they are all successful. Just goes to show there’s more than one way to skin the proverbial cat that is poverty.

NOTE: Vodafone is not only a humanitarian organization but also a regular cell phone provider.

is a RISD degree really worth $176,000?

today i was looking at a blog called afrigadget all of these designs were implemented by local africans with no formal education. it seems as though in third world countries design is not a profession but a way of life.

-nate


homemade tools









vertical (above ground) farming in slums












homemade compressor for tire repair company in the bush










evaporation cooler for selling camels milk

my name is nate. i am a junior in industrial design at the rhode island school of design. this semester i am enrolled in an advanced studio about social entrepreneurship and design, for which i have created this blog.

earlier last month i elected to take an advanced studio in design/marketing/engineering. however when i found out about the course in which i am currently enrolled i knew i had to get in. thankfully i was able to switch. i wanted to be in this class so badly simply because i want to directly help people who are truly in need.

i have been to the dominican republic and serbia (twice) all with my church on short term (10 day to 2 week) trips. in these places i saw poverty which i could never have imagined. the brief nature of the trips made any significant impact impossible, but for me it was eye opening. i knew that because of these experiences i was in some way responsible for continuing to aid people with great need.

i have been given a creative mind and since i can only give what i have it is my desire is to use creativity to aid those in need. i believe this course will begin to show me avenues for this and set the tone for a career in humanitarian design.

-nate