Safe Agua Peru

Building on the investigations and experiences of the successful and award-winning 2009 SAFE AGUA Chile, Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design once again partnered with the Latin American NGO, Un Techo para mi Pais and its Innovation Center to co-create innovative design solutions to overcome water poverty with families living in Cerro Verde, a 30,000-person slum [asentamientos] perched on the hillsides surrounding Lima, Peru.

Our “competitive advantage” in this unique field for the Safe Agua Peru project lies in the successful partnerships and outcomes of Safe Agua Chile; our participatory relationship with community stakeholders; and the complementary expertise with Un Techo Innovation team partners.

Safe Agua Peru was supported by a 2011 Sustainable Vision Grant of the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). The Innovation Center of Un Techo will be instrumental in moving the full-scale working prototypes through the next phase of development leading to implementation.

Work with families living in Peru’s asentamientos (slums) to design and develop solutions, products and services for using, obtaining, containing and carrying water, in order to help break the cycle of poverty.

Design goals included:

• Scalable, sustainable solutions with potential for real world implementation
• Radically affordable products and services for “Base of the Pyramid” families
• Solutions that address specific problems, with both quantitative impacts (illness reduction, water conservation, increased time for self-improvement, opportunities to generate income) and qualitative impacts (sense of dignity)
• Solutions through the sales of: products for individuals & households; products, spaces and services for a small group of families (which can in turn benefit a larger group); services for many communities

Other goals included:

• Developing a sustainable business plan, including sourcing, pricing, marketing
• Identifying potential partners/manufacturers in order to bring the products to market

A non-profit organization founded in Chile in 1997, run by university students and young professionals who are establishing social inclusion processes through housing solutions to eradicate slums and develop sustainable communities through Chile – and a total of 15 countries in Latin America.

The collaboration with Art Center’s team was coordinated with the Innovation Center at Un Techo led by the Chilean Industrial Designer Julian Ugarte, Director, and his colleagues Askan Straume and Andrés Iriondo.

Day Without Taps

One of the things we take for granted is convenient, unlimited water from plumbing and faucets, yet the families in the community of Cerro Verde who were identified to collaborate on the project have to accommodate their lives to living without running water.

Non-potable water is delivered and filled into 55 gallon barrels at a central location a few times a week. The women of the village must then take buckets to the central location, with many of them walking an hour each way and climbing hundreds of steps to and from their homes situated on hillsides.

To better understand this limitation, design teams conducted an empathy exercise called “A Day Without Taps.” Faculty and students lived for a day using only 3.5 gallons of water, taken either from the nearest hose or from a previously filled container. Students documented the experience in individual written journals.

Field Research and Methodology Cards

The immersive ten-day field research trip that kicked off the project in Peru allowed the students to work directly with the team of Un Techo Para Mi Pais Peru and families living without access to basic services in Cerro Verde – including running water and sanitation. The focus was on investigating the role that water plays in their everyday lives.

As part of the facilitation students received to gain the confidence and structure to navigate a completely new territory in the field research process, faculty created a tool kit of methodology cards specifically targeting the project objectives.  As for the Safe Agua Chile projects, faculty drew input and inspiration from different design research sources and methodologies, including IDEO’s Method Cards and their Human Centered Design (HCD) tool kit, and also from their our own professional background and experience in the field of anthropology, design research and insights.

The research cards were organized into broad and specific research focus. For the broad topics, rather than focusing only on the functional problems of storing, carrying, using, and re-using water, design teams decided to assess the “big picture” aspects of the problem. Understanding core values, aspirations, and daily life gave us further insight into the problem and helped students bond with families in the community.  In turn, specific focus research topics addressed water-related issues that would directly target project objectives and deliverables. Click here to download the Safe Agua Peru Methodology Cards.

Driven by the field research, the students formed five teams and began the analysis of field data for the concept/design development phase. Their goal was to create complementary, low-cost prototypes and systems to solve the specific water-related needs identified during the on-site, field research phase.

Field Testing Prototypes with Families in Cerro Verde

After midterm, student Mariana Prieto returned to Cerro Verde to lead the field testing of the initial prototypes and gain critical feedback directly from the local stakeholders of the project. Mariana’s leadership of the co-creation process catapulted the product development in response to the families’ needs.

The Ducha Halo system developed during the Safe Agua Chile project was also retested here to gain additional feedback for conducting further research and prototypes towards final production.

Following midterm, the teams continued designing while developing comprehensive business plans to support the manufacture and distribution of the products, and, began crafting full-scale working prototypes.

Developing multiple projects that complemented each other was a critical aspect to the holistic goal of improving the quality of life for the families of Cerro Verde as a whole. Throughout the process, the teams of students continually shared their findings with each other towards that goal.

A significant component of the outcomes was the articulation of how the products were envisioned (individually and collectively) to become a sustainable business – whether by or for the community members. The collaboration with the Society and Business Lab at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business was the key to this outcome. Having an MBA candidate as a teaching assistant throughout the term provided the design teams with an invaluable resource to be able to explore and construct preliminary business plans around their innovative design concepts.

Based on the final project results, Designmatters is working in concert with Un Techo to pursue further prototype testing and design refinement, and leverage a network of business relationships, with the ultimate goal of implementing some of the systems and products.

Once again, Safe Agua Peru demonstrates the immense potential for responsible design to generate social, cultural and economic change. The six products have obtained provisional patent status, are being further tested, and through Un Techo’s Innovation Center, are being presented to potential manufacturers and distributorsDesignmatters has also initiated the Spring studio, Safe Agua DM Development Seminar, which is hosted by the Environmental Design Department under the leadership of faculty members Penny Herscovitch and Dan Gottlieb and will incubate and develop the Safe Agua Peru projects further over the coming months.