Design for the Other 90%

I have always a fond interest in design - how people are drawn and attracted by unique designs and how design creates satisfaction and inspiration of life. But the "design" I or we grew up understanding is the design for the developed, for a culture with disposable income, for desires rather than needs. In fact, 90% of the designers in the world design for only 10% of the population.


A growing movement has taken over the design world about designing with socially responsibility, relevance, and transformation to the lives of those in need. The movement is supported by a lot of high profile projects around the world including Amy Smith of the D-Lab Designs from MIT, Paul Polak of IDE on design thinking, Design for Majority which helped more than 5 billion in poverty, Engineers Without Borders, Architecture for Humanity, and Bryan Bell from Design Corps which train young designers in social issues.


Whether it's the top-down approach suggested by Jeffrey Sachs of the UN Millennium Project that the developed countries are obligated to invest in the social needs of the developing, or the bottom-up local involvement, the revolution of getting more involved and closer to the fundamentals and basic functional needs of design for the majority of the world is here and now. Coincidently, an article from the Economist of The World in 2012 edition also talks about "frugal science" which prompts thinking about redirecting super-precision expensive science to more grounded and affordable research that solves "pressing problems" and is applicable and relevant for the other 90% the world instead.


The book Design for the Other 90% by Cynthia Smith showcases innovative solutions to solve problems of the poor and the needed. These designs aim at low cost, open source, utilizing available resources and tools that they can be easily extended, replicated, and even sold by the users. Notable ones include Nawsa Mad in India, an affordable miniature on-farm solution to trap monsoon rainwater and store it for drier season. Farmers in India are able to buy such drip systems for $3 and expand it as their farm size grows, increasing a family's earning by 10-folds in one example. Another well-known project, OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) or $100 laptop, is a socially responsible design for expanding access for technology on an unprecedented scale. One project I was specially drawn by is the Fuel from the Fields. With an initial investment of $10, a farmer can set up a sugar cane charcoal-making venture and begin earning profits in less than a week. The social impact on alleviating poverty and illiteracy of these innovative solutions are immediate and rewarding.

As I think of schools of business around the world, they are like the high design or superlative science for the 10%. The rest of the world hardly has access to these training and knowledge. How to make higher business education readily available to the less fortunate population? How to turn these knowledge around quicker to create entrepreneurs and self-businesses? How to fundamentally bring change to the poverty state of a country like Kenya where 46% of its population is under poverty? SAI is a such project spun from UBC to try to tackle this dilemma. For the past 6 years, led by Nancy Langton, professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource at UBC, the team brings passionate and high calibre students to Nairobi to educate and train the slums to be independent entrepreneurs. There are no powerpoints, projectors, nor excel spreadsheets. There are only papers and pencils, and completely capable yet business-illiterate young minds who want to start and sustain a business just as much as the Dragon's Den contestants. The SAI project is trying to provide support and grow that empowerment by making resource, opportunity, and training available to those who don't have access to. It's applying education at grass-root to simply grow one entrepreneur at a time, and improve poverty one independent business at a time.

The Bottom Billion—Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It?

Paul Collier, the author of The Bottom Billion, points out in his book that there are four types of traps that can explain why some of the poorest economies in the world are experiencing little or no development. These traps are: civil war conflict trap, natural resources conflict trap, bad neighboring countries, and poor governance within the country. Among his list of poorly performing economies, Kenya’s name caught my attention and interested me to read on further about the problems it faces.

Collier sees development as “giving hope to the people, assuring them that their children will live in a society that has caught up with the rest of the world.” This view is very unique and easily explains why not all “developing countries” are actually developing, and why some are doing much better than others. My home country, China, fits perfectly well into this definition of development. China has been developing at unprecedented rate, and the recent two generations have had lives significantly improved from their parents’. Growing up in such environment, I never realized what it meant until I read this book. Development means hope, and hope stimulates even more rapid development. But in countries like Kenya, now I come to think of it, there is very little hope when there’s hardly any development. This gave me another reason to feel very excited about SAI and the differences we can make.

His book made several important points that echo with Sauder Africa Initiative’s vision and mission. First of all, he recognizes that financial aids don’t solve the problem. What does is “change in societies… [that] come predominantly from within.” I believe this is exactly what SAI tries to achieve—educating and empowering local youth and guiding them to improve their lives and others’ around them. Collier also points out that in the past decades we have been bystanders of the burning issue of poverty. We should instead strengthen the hand of the reformers with the proper use of tools such as international trade standards. To a certain extent, Kenyan youths are the future of Kenya and SAI equips them with the tools to “reform” and to better their lives.

Foodie!! - Kenyan delights

Eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside. ~ Mark Twain :)

No travel is complete without trying out the authentic recipes of those places. This is for my friends on the traveling team of SEI 2012. Everyone has a picture of Kenya. Broad savannas teeming with wildlife, ancient landscapes, safari and so on. But many don't know about the diverse and ethnic food varieties that exists in this amazing country.One element about Kenyan food is its diverse flavor. Kenyan cooking draws upon a variety of ethnic traditions merged with the seasonings and tastes of outside countries. Cooking methods and presentation of Kenyan foods have been greatly influenced by Indians, Arabs, Europeans and some western countries as well.The most popular food in Kenya are fresh foods from the country's vast resources. Farmland, lakes and the Indian Ocean provides necessary and fresh vegetables, fruits and meats. Common vegetables include Kale, Cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, spinach, avocados and beans. Beef and goat meat are the most common meats served in Kenyan meal. Chicken, fish and mutton are also available but a little more expensive. Other main ingredients of Kenyan dishes include rice, corn meal, wheat and millet flour.Kenyans are avid tea drinkers, hence hot beverages like tea and coffee are often served with meals. Tropical fruits like mangoes, pineapples, bananas and pears are cheap and plentiful depending on their seasonal availability.Let's take a short tour of the ethnic Kenyan menu and find out some of the delicacies!! 

• Ugali - a semi-hard cake made of maize (corn) flour or millet flour. It's a favorite meal for all Kenyans.

• Sukuma Wiki - a vegetable stew made of leafy green vegetables, mainly collards or kale. Sukuma wiki is the foundation of many Kenyan meals

• Nyama Choma - The most popular dish in Kenya is this roasted beef or goat meat meal.

• Kachumbari - a fine mixture of chopped tomatoes, onions, pepper, cilantro, lemon juice and in some cases, avocado.

• Chapati - a round, flat unleavened bread cooked on a griddle to a soft brown color and served with meat stew and vegetables.

• Githeri - a mixture of boiled maize(corn) and beans that can be lightly fried with onion. It is a popular meal among the Kamba and Kikuyu tribes.

• Ingoho - chicken cooked "Luhya style" by the Luhya tribe of Western Kenya. It is their signature meal, which they serve to important visitors.

• Pilau – cooked rice, flavored with Indian spices.

• Wali - rice boiled in coconut milk. Along the Kenyan coast, wali is a popular meal of the Swahili and Mijikenda tribes.

• Karanga - a meat and potato stew, usually served with ugali or rice.

• Kienyeji / Irio - potatoes mashed with either beans/peas or maize and pumpkin leaves, sautéed with onions and served with either beef stew or vegetables.

• Maandazi - deep fried sweets (similar to doughnuts) served for breakfast with tea or coffee.

• Chai - tea boiled with milk and sugar. It's served hot and is the beverage of choice for most Kenyans.

• Samosa - a delicious deep-fried, square-shaped, meat-filled dough that is served as a snack or appetizer.

Can a $24 million port in Kenya help alleviate poverty?

by Asha John

There is a new construction project on Lamu Island in Kenya. This is to construct a port which will allow goods and services to be easily transported not only around Africa, but around the world.

The construction started on March 2^nd, 2012. People from all around East Africa are feeling optimistic about what this port can bring to the economy. Lamu used to be a “bustling hub of trade” but now it’s populated by fishers and pirates. With this project, they are hoping to bring in large crude carriers and ships that will help transport East African oil and also other goods and products. This will create many new jobs in an area stricken with poverty for quite some time.

Some of the other benefits of this new port location are trains that originate from Ethiopia and South Sudan. There is also an oil pipeline from South Sudan. With easier transportation of oil and other goods, East Africa will be able to strengthen their local economies.

There are some people in the region who have some major concerns. Lamu is located very close to Somalia and people are worried about the pirates and the potential violence and interference they may cause. Also, Lamu is a World Heritage Site and this may not be able to be preserved with the construction. Although this is not good for historic preservation, people in this area desperately need jobs in order to get out of poverty. That should be their primary concern.