Could we liberate people from the burden of hand-washing clothes? For us, this project is an example of the 'social acupuncture' approach we love: inserting those seemingly needle-small interventions that encourage the whole system to change for the better. This affordable, clean and easy device could free up much time and energy, especially among women and girls doing laundry by hand.
Globally, many households depend on doing laundry by hand, due to washing machines being too expensive or having limited access to constant light or running water. As this is a chore that's often done by women, the majority of women and girls spend a large part of their week on doing laundry.
Currently we're teaming up with some of our all-time favorite collaborators introducing a Solar Soaker pilot in Uganda. We are also looking at ways to positively impact local washing women and small laundry businesses. As the Solar Soaker reduces the time spent on laundry, people can use this time gained to grow their business or take on other opportunities.The device also saves water and uses purely the energy of the sun.
By doing in-depth human centered design research, we aim to uncover how best we can introduce the Solar Soaker in Uganda in an impactful and contextual way.