Amy Smith on rules for design in the developing world:
4. Create “transparent” technologies, ones that are easily understood by the users, and promote local innovation
All the advice was excellent, but this clause really struck me as important. Often, people think that we can solve other people's problems with our solutions. Yet handing somebody a magical machine - let's say a fancy electric bicycle - that nobody understands, will only contribute positively in the short term. First of all, people are often suspicious of things they don't understand, and will therefore be reluctant to use them. It's human nature - we like what we know. Secondly, what happens if the bicycle breaks? It'll be of no use to anyone anymore, because nobody will understand how it works, or have the resources to fix it.
Now imagine if you gave somebody a very simple bicycle - so simple, let's say, that it does not even have gears. You don't need to be a mechanical engineer to understand how to tighten a screw on this type of bicycle. Its machinery can't exactly "break" in the same way an electrical bicycle's machinery can break. If it gets damaged, a simple look at the bicycle is enough for somebody to know how to fix it. This is the power of simplicity and transparency. If its users understand it and can maintain it, they can use it, and if it breaks they can fix it, and continue using it. And this will surely motivate others to also use the technologies.
Just because something isn't fancy, elaborate and digital doesn't mean it can't have a huge effect - this was underlined in many of the other clauses. I think that another one of the social innovation secrets also mentioned that there are many metals to weld in Africa: great! These are materials that people know how to use and have access to should they need to fix the "transparent" technologies.
For example, Unicef's project a few years ago to give girls donkeys to ride to schools. The locals knew how to handle a donkey, but wouldn't know where to start if you gave them a car.
I think the latter part - how it can promote local innovation - is pretty self-explanatory through the domino effect. Somebody sees how a simple bicycle works, and immediately, they get ideas about how to modify and improve the instrument to better serve their purposes. Somebody sees how easy it is to ride a bicycle and how simple the mechanism is, and surely, an immediate thought is: "hey, if I attached a basket to this, I could carry buckets of water a lot more easily!" Social innovation right there!
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