The world needs design - the world needs design for development

Working with design for developement, i get inspired to see others doing the same. Right now, the World Challenge is going on, and there are many good examples of design being used to solve "the real needs" of the people, and our mother earth. One of the finalists is from Uganda, and I hope you will all go to the website and vote for them!


Ugastoves - finalist in the World Challenge 2011-2012

Nine out of every ten (90%) Ugandans rely on charcoal or firewood for energy - putting heavy pressure on the country's remaining forest cover. Designed by a Ugandan entrepreneur, UgaStoves have a layer of clay insulation that greatly improves fuel efficiency. By mass-producing the stoves for domestic and commercial use, the company is reducing both deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, with a claimed annual saving of one ton of carbon emissions for every stove. Less need for charcoal also means more money for poor households to spend on other necessities. Ugastoves is already getting international carbon credit finance to sell its stoves to subsidies sales.


Please vote here:
Ugastoves in the World Challenge


Plastic bag waste being transformed into wonderful new products

Another good example of design for development - and also taking care of environmental challenges. 


Although the UN estimates that over a quarter of the population in Cambodia still live under the international poverty line of US $1.25 a day, with an average economic growth rate of 6.5 percent over the last ten years the country has seen millions of people lifted out of poverty. One side effect of this turbo-charged growth has been a huge increase in the amount of rubbish produced by industry and households. The infrastructure to deal with it has not developed at the same pace. A husband and wife team running an ecotourism venture saw at first hand how plastic bags were choking the countryside. No plastic bag recycling facility existed in Cambodia so they started their own. Now, 'Funky Junk' makes fashion accessories and home goods out of woven plastic bags, in the process earning a decent income for poor rural communities.


Read more here:
IN THE BAG


Think about this when you are buying your next bag: where does it come from? where does it go after you don't need it anymore? Is Louis Vuitton really the right option?