We’ve put together a summary of our work to date to share with you all. This includes our core research findings, service and product design, and brand positioning for the Clean Team service that will soon be running a pilot phase in Kumasi to test its viability as a sustainable business.
Thanks so much for your interest in our blog, and for all your support and suggestions. We’ve put a lot of effort into defining what we believe is the best current solution for urban sanitation in developing areas such as Kumasi, and as always we welcome any thoughts or feedback to build on these designs.
This is a brilliant illustration of the human centered design process! Hope we can see soon how this solution and the accompanying service are adding value to the people of Kumasi….I like how people talk about “honor and dignity” for something that most of us take for granted.
It’s absolutely true- honor and dignity play an important role here, and too often the human qualities of sanitation are overlooked in favor of technological approaches. Time will tell how this approach plays out, but we’re confident we’ve tapped an important aspect of sanitation. A great illustration of the human centered design process, indeed!
Thanks!
Danny, IDEO
From what I can see through the publicly shared PDF document, the results of Phase II (Protypting & Design Direction) are very promising! Key on-the-ground insights (aspirations, home placement, service trust, & payment plans), innovative solutions (switchable, stackable, secure base tanks; urine diversion; service model; etc.), and loved getting an inside look at the process (testing logos right on the toilet is great…gets as close to the real experience as possible).
Kudos to the Ghanasan Project Team & thanks so much for sharing!
Would be interesting to learn more about the 4-5 prototypes, in terms of their functional approaches and test results.
Vincent, as you participated in the OpenIDEO challenge on sanitation in low income urban communities, I’m curious to find out if some winning concepts or parts of them are reflected in the final prototype(s). Thanks.
Hi Krassimira,
I’m guessing the Ghanasan Project Team would be best able to answer your question.
But here are my thoughts for what they’re worth. I think that certain idea themes/patterns from OpenIDEO (from both “winning” concepts, as well as other promising concepts/inspirations ) were incorporated into the work: http://www.openideo.com/open/how-can-we-improve-sanitation-and-better-manage-human-waste-in-low-income-urban-communities/concepting/?sort_index=total_applause
However, I’m very impressed with how the Ghanasan Project Team utilized on-the-ground insights/testing, and their experience/skills, to really take this to whole ‘nother level.
Thanks Vincent! We’ve described the prototypes in only brief detail here, and since this is our first time working with this type of public deliverable your feedback is helpful. Next time we’ll be sure to describe better the process, including the prototypes.
Thanks!
Danny, IDEO
Yes, judging from your PDF, you have indeed conducted and with exhaustive research conducted a very comprehensive project! Bravo and Thank you to Ghanasan!
Also appreciate your commitment to reviewing prototypes with the test audience. I have to admit I was initially discouraged by your id photo (on twitter) of the fragile looking contraption with the white wheels
I would like to advocate, if possible, that you make more blog/presentation time to clarify the context of your target areas, especially for your readership (largely based in the USA). For example, by clarifying that these sanitation issues you are addressing do not necessarily apply to middle-class and private homes in Ghana, contrary to what Ms. Roach implied in a previous post (I spent 11 years in Ghana).
The crux of the sanitation problem in poor neighbourhoods in Ghana isn’t so much ignorance and apathy as much as the inability to keep up with the flux of immigrants, population growth and continued maintenance (which is why your service proposal is very promising). I noticed your target family had Muslim names; would it be safe to assume that Alabar is a stopping point for migrants from North Ghana? In which case, like most migrant communities around the world, this neighbourhood is faced with the constant influx of newcomers, trying to make a living in a new environment, away from home…
Thanks for your comment, and youre right on about Alabar. It’s very much a transient neighborhood with significant population shifts from year to year (and even month-to-month). That said, there is a large population that has been there for decades, and we’re hoping this design direction could work well for both transient and well-established homes.
As for the comment about the context, we’ll make sure we clarify better in future public documents exactly what our target areas are. And to clarify, we think there is actually a good opportunity to reach middle-class homes in Kumasi, as even the middle class have little-to-no access to in-home sanitation. The wealthiest, of course, generally have their own toilets or latrines already, but with only a sanitation coverage of only about 1/3, we think there’s a big need,
Thanks for your thoughtful feedback, and keep posted!
Danny, IDEO
Amazing Work! Could you please add the toilet’s visual user guide to the PDF summary?
Hi Avi,
Because the outcome of this phase of the project was the design of a custom toilet to prototype for a larger pilot test, we haven’t yet illustrated a user’s manual. Our partners are in the process of setting up the pilot project to validate some of our observations and ideas, after which we hope to revisit the design, adjusting details as necessary and focusing on the user experience with tools like a user manual. Great idea, though, and we’ll keep you posted when we cross that bridge.
Thanks!
Danny, IDEO
Why does the solids receptacle have a narrow opening? It will be hard to remove the contents unless you’re adding water. Consider two slights changes to the solids receptacle.
Hi Carol,
The opening is somewhat narrow, though because of the size of the renderings they most likely appear smaller than they are in the actual design. That said, the waste tank will have a liquid bio-digester in it to facilitate rapid breakdown of the solid matter, thereby making it much easier (and a bit more pleasant!) to empty and clean.
Thanks for the question!
Danny, IDEO
Dear Danny,
I’m about to run an interview with Tom Hulme on BoingBoing where we talk about Ghanasan among other things. I would like to embed the Ghanasan Design Deliverable into the interview. Any chance you could upload the PDF onto an “official” IDEO/Ghanasan slideshare account? I would like all the traffic to go to the right places:)
Thanks a lot!
Avi
Hi Avi,
We uploaded a slideshare version of the document to the Design Deliverable page:
http://ghanasan.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/ghanasan-design-deliverable/
thanks a lot,
IDEO Team
Hello, great project. Have a look at what we have been doing in India: http://www.wherevertheneed.org.uk/projects/indian-projects/mobile-unit-cuddalore/
Stage two is just about to start. We have sorted out the logistics and are now starting a six site phase to test robustness. I have many questions, but the one I will post here is to do with using a western style WC. Most developing countries are used to squatting, not sitting. At a very good school in Kenya we have been asked to design our construction without WCs because the students prefer squatting. And these students have the very best facilities, believe me. I think this needs careful consideration.
Would love to open a dialogue. David
Hi David,
Thanks for sharing, and for your question. While squatting is preferred in many parts of the world, we found sitting toilets to be the most appropriate for the market in which we have been working (Kumasi, Ghana). Although many people in Kumasi currently do squat, the majority prefer sitting.
If and when this design is ready to be adapted for new markets, though, we’ll certainly have to consider that and factor it into the next evolution of the design. We’ll keep you posted!
Thanks for your interest,
IDEO Team
Thank you for sharing your design process! It was simply amazing and inspiring to stumble upon your work. Go IDEO!