The San communities living in Botswana are incredibly innovative people, developing their own appropriate technologies to make life a bit easier in the tough desert environment they live in. These technologies have been poorly documented until now, but have the potential to scale into real, socially-impactful products. 

IDDS D’Kar was a two-week summit that brought together 30 participants (10 from Botswana, 10 from D’Kar, and 10 from around the globe). Participants were trained them in the collaborative design process and then co-created 3-10 innovative prototypes and ventures that improve people’s lives.

Projects included:

• A fodder chopper
• A precision planter
• A strirrup hoe and weed roller
• A machine to generate plastic strips from plastic bottles
• An online marketplace for San arts and crafts
• A device to increase efficiency of ostrich shell jewelry production

Local Host and Organizing Partners: