Designing a better South Africa:

Rarely has the need for new ways of thinking been more glaring. From the sluggish economic growth and financial instability of the last several years to the perennial issues of political upheaval, resource crises, hunger, poverty, and disease, people have come to realize that the old ways of doing things no longer work. 

All over the world during the past decade, there has been a surge of interest in social innovation as a way to achieve sustainable economic growth. 

Social innovation is helping to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems with new solutions such as fair trade, distance learning, mobile money transfer, restorative justice, and zero-carbon housing. In the process of creating solutions, it is also profoundly changing beliefs, basic practices, resources, and social power structures. That is producing more active citizens and putting the power in your own hands to make the changes that you want too see around you.

 Social innovation provides a unique opportunity to step back from a narrow way of thinking about social enterprises, business engagement, and to recognize instead the interconnectedness of various factors of shared knowledge.

Organizational, technological, and social innovations are becoming the norm among African youths and women, driving social change and economic development from the grassroots. With the rising African economies, we are witnessing increasing demand for other important transitions: from research and development (R&D) to research for development (R4D)

Innovations in rural areas:

Through targeted design interventions and co- creating new innovations to support and futher ruale areas are on the rise. Each community has its own unique set of challenges because many are so isolated from urban centres. An example of an up and coming innovation is the.

Hippo Roller Millions of people in rural areas of Africa do not live with a water source in their homes, or even near one. For these individuals, retrieving water can involve carrying heavy buckets on their heads for long distances, but not everybody has the strength do this.

The Hippo Roller is a water drum that can be rolled on the ground, so people with injuries, the elderly, children and the like can transfer water from a source far from their homes, into their kitchens. The roller has long, upward-angled handles at the top, so the person pushing it does not need to bend over to push it. Two South Africans, Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker, developed the roller after growing up on farms and seeing how difficult it was for many people to bring water to their homes.

will you take part in designing your world?