This afternoon I was given the opportunity to address the Summit audience under Goal 7: "Environmental Sustainability" (water, agriculture and energy).
My address was entitled "Water Solutions: Designing Against Dependency" as I used our Midomo water purifier as the case study to outline Red Button Design’s theory of change.
It is, however, equally applicable to any product or service geared towards affecting grassroots social change. It covers 15 basic points grouped into three stages (design, develop, deploy) which comprise best practise when generating base of the pyramid solutions.
The principles were extremely well received and provided the jumping off point for a great deal of theoretical and academic discussion. Of particular interest was the way we view possible alignments between commercially intelligent decisions and urgent social problems, with ethical business and social enterprises such as ours being front runners in the argument 'pro-profit'.
Midomo itself was met with its usual instant understanding and unanimous approval. We hope that the feedback from the audience this afternoon, towards both the product and the method of thinking that gave rise to it, is indicative of wider reaction. As we seek to roll (literally!) Midomo out to additional African countries and agencies, and release "Design Against Dependency" as an e-book for other BOP designers, this summer..
"Watch this space" - as they say!
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