Socal Innovation Learn1

So I think that the most important point of Exhibit A is point 2. You have to make sure you innovations will be accepted by the culture you are trying to help.I bet that instead of making a solar oven you could make a solar stove, some how alter your plan to be as effective as possible.

Imagine you want to bring solar power to a village. What if they don't have any electrical appliances? What if they have been using cow patts for cooking fuel for generations and see no reason to change. It would be an insult to try and give them solar ovens or solar stoves. Now this SAME village might have a water problem. You could use the solar oven money to make a water purification system instead, one that the villagers would want to use. Not to say that every village won't want a solar oven, but you would have to adjust what you are offering based on what the village would accept.

But doesn't that cause a problem? If you have to decide based on each village's customs and needs not only would you have to visit each village beforehand to figure out, but you would also need to make a more varied selection of items. i'd worry that a group making soalr ovens might have less cost issues than a company making solar ovens, stoves AND water purification systems. But wich would be more effective in gettting the items out to people?

So for this to work you need the companies willing to make the items, you need the people that contact and explore the villages to find out what they need and you need a way for villages to find out about the program. You need people to teach how the things are used, how to repair them and how to make or get replacement parts.

And that's ANOTHER complication isn't it? What use is a solar oven if a year from know it breaks?! You would have to make sure that these things never break or if they do, that they can be fixed simply, cheaply and with local materials.

Ok that's all the brainstorming I have at the moment I'll check back later