Design
We are inviting people living in informal settlements to be part of the process of developing new ideas and solutions that can improve their lives. We want to spark design thinking. Even if you have very little, you can use design to improve your life.
Permaculture Principles
Permaculture is a set of design principles for human landscapes. It was invented by Bill Mollison in Australia in the 1970s and is very suited for dry landscapes. Permaculture is also a systems’ approach. The design principles help you to look at your whole living situation. In terms of growing food you could say that traditional agriculture is labour intensive, industrial agriculture is input intensive and permaculture is design intensive.
Find out more about permaculture here.
Appropriate Technology
In our methodology, we also use a cycle of inclusive innovation based on appropriate technology. The idea behind appropriate technology is that the people using the technology should be part of the design process. It is important to drop the assumption that we know the right solutions for problems from the beginning. We are constantly in a cycle of prototyping, testing, learning and re-designing. This includes solutions as well as social processes.
We are very blessed that our donors understand that we need to be in this cycle of learning. That’s rather unusual. Most donors want you to have a solution before you start and then to roll that out.
Forum Theatre
Having a design conversation with people who are food insecure is difficult, as they tend to say ‘yes’ to nearly every suggestion. We have therefore started using Forum Theatre as a design tool. Everyday situations are played and the audience can make suggestions on how the situation could be played differently.
Dry Toilets
Many families do not have toilets. At least 43% of Namibians use riverbeds, plastic bags or containers to dispose of faeces (The Namibian, April 24, 2023). Children are particularly at risk in this situation: small children squat near the house, where they also play. We are currently prototyping dry toilets (Ventilated Pit Latrines) to find out more about how they need to be built (pit size, slab configuration, social environment etc.) to function well in Windhoek’s informal settlements.