Design for the Other Ninety Percent

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Design for the Other Ninety Percent

• Paul Polak
• International Development Enterprises

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Design- a Process ofCreative Problem-Solving
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90 of todays designers work only for the
richest 10 of the worlds customers
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A revolution in design is needed to reverse
this silly ratio !
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Affordability isnt everything- Its the Only
Thing

• -Vince Lombardy Polak

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• 2 eyeglasses
• a 3 drip irrigation system
• A 5 household water filter that lasts 2 yrs
• a 10 solar lantern
• a 50 computer
• A 100 house with real market value

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ExampleTreadle Pumps
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Treadle Pump Private Sector Supply Chain in
Bangladesh

• 75 private sector manufacturers
• 3,000 village dealers
• 3-4,000 village technicians

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Treadle Pump Impacts

• 2.1 million
• poor families in Asia and Africa invested
• 50 million
• in treadle pumps, increasing their net income by
  
• 210 million/yr forever

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It would have cost

• 2 billion
• To put the same one million acres
• under dam and canal irrigation

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With Business as Usual

• The Millennium Goals on hunger poverty
• Will never be reached

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Progress in Achieving Millennium Poverty Goals
Percent of Population Living in Extreme Poverty
1990
1990
1999
1999
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• 800 million of the worlds 1.1 billion
  dollar-a-day people
• Earn their living from very tiny farms !

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Small Farmer Prosperity is the Key to Ending
Rural Poverty
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Average Farm Size in Developing Countries
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These Farms are Getting Even Smaller
1971
1995
1992
2000
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Nothing Less Than Four Revolutions are Needed
To End Rural Poverty

• A Revolution in Water
• A Revolution in Agriculture
• A Revolution in Design
• A Revolution in Markets

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A Revolution in Design- How? The Dont
Bother Trilogy

• If you havent had conversations with at least 25
  poor people before you start--
• If it wont pay for itself in the first year--
  
• If you cant sell at least a million of them--
• Dont Bother !

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A Revolution in DesignWhere?

• In design schools in developed countries
• In design schools in developing countries
• In a platform that allows 10,000 of the worlds
  best designers to create affordable tools for
  poor customers

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A Revolution in DesignHow?

• Affordability
• Divisibility
• Expandability

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Key Affordability Tradeoffs

• Capital for Labor
• Quality for Affordability

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Practical Steps for Designing Cheap

• 1. Set specific cost targets
• 2. Carefully analyze what the tool does
• 3. Identify key cost contributors

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Practical Steps (contd)

• 4. Design around each cost point by finding
  acceptable tradeoffs
• 5. Ask customers to use it and make changes
  based on what they say
• 6. Always field test and adapt a tool if you move
  it to a new place

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IDEs Impact Over 25 Years
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How Our Customers Spend Their Additional Income
3. How Our Customers Spend Their Additional
Income
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Affordable Tools Provide the First Step Out of
Poverty