The Acceleration of Innovation
The Full Belly Project's "Acceleration of Innovation Program" will increase the effeciency of international development.This business driven program is being piloted in Malawi over the next 3-5 years in order to establish a replicable model.
The idea is to open channels of communication amongst groups of people interested in designing simple technologies that can be reproduced in developing countries. By using the "wisdom of the crowds" The Full Belly Project will be able to provide training on a finished product at an accelerated rate.
First, The Full Belly Project will implement a needs assessment survey to collect data and feedback on the needs of farmers throughout Malawi. This information will be uploaded instantaneously using Datadyne surveying tools. (datadyne.org)
Data collected from this survey will provide us with a prioritized list of what technologies to develop to drive lasting economic change.
Through this survey, as well as with hundreds of video interviews, the farmers themselves will be able to voice their needs and their ideas. This information will be used to develop products that address their needs. All these products will be manufactured and sold locally, linking farmers to micro-credit when necessary.
Secondly, The Full Belly Project's website is currently undergoing changes that will allow for Members and Chapters to login and participate in developing new devices for real problems faced by the people of Malawi.
Using our website as a global workshop, The Full Belly Project will post design challenges to our members who will create inexpensive, easily replicable solutions. These solutions will then be passed on to our "Network of Entrepreneurs" throughout Malawi through hands-on training.
This will assure that the knowledge and skills needed to manufacture such products will remain locally. By training local entrepreneurs, The Acceleration of Innovation Program is advancing the manufacturing industry while simultaneously developing products designed to increase income of subsistence farmers.
Currently, our Malawian entrepreneurs are manufacturing our Universal Nut Sheller, which increases the value of Peanuts, Coffee and Jatropha by removing the shell. This means the farmers can process their own crops and sell them at a higher value.
We are also working with the Peace Corps to field test a new inexpensive water-pump. This water-pump will give farmers the ability to grow their crops in the dry season, thus increasing their annual income through the sale of "off-season" crops. The water-pump has a simple design which is less strenuous than current "treadle-pump" technologies.
Another advantage to this device is that it is made of concrete and locally available metal parts, which can easily be mass-manufactured for sale throughout the country/region. This allows invaluable manufacturing knowledge to also remain locally, rather than outsourcing fabrication to China or elsewhere.
The Acceleration of Innovation Program is being piloted in Malawi, with hopes to expand to other countries once we have a better understanding of how each business can sustain its sales of product.
In many developing countries, 80-90% of the population is considered subsistence farmers. The Full Belly Project's "Acceleration of Innovation Program" will focus in on this demographic. By listening to the farmers needs in order to develop simple solutions that are produced locally this program will turn business into the driving force of economic change throughout Malawi. As The Full Belly Project expands our "Network of Entrepreneurs" and our membership base grows as a grassroots movement we will truly Accelerate Innovation and begin to break the poverty cycle.
Join us today! www.fullbellyproject.org
katie said 5 months ago
I think that the work that the full belly project do is fantastic. It is both neccessary and visionary, focussing on the needs of the people it seeks to support whilst also always keeping an eye to the future expansion of its projects. This has miles of potential and is well thought out by people who obviously speak the same language as the people they seek to support. I can't wait to see where this idea goes.
jenngross said 5 months ago
Thanks for sharing your idea. This is an inspiring project! I am impressed by the way you are assessing farmers' needs, responding to them, and incorporating local manufacturers in your project. I have a few questions for you. Can you elaborate on how you conduct your assessment? Do you implement surveys, facilitate focus group discussions, or interview farmers? I assume you sell your products but wonder if you subsidize them. How do you market them? That is probably an important part of your work. What are your current funding needs in Malawi? Can you specify? I am curious about the Universal Nut Sheller. How well did farmers accept this new technology? It sounds like you are working with Peace Corps to determine what farmers think of the water pump. Do you have a formal process for assessing how well farmers will accept your products?
fullbellyproject said 5 months ago
jenngross
Thanks for leaving your comments and questions.
We'll try to answer all your questions as best we can.
The assessment process has not yet taken place, nor has connecting our website to the world to help develop simple solutions.
This is after all, our Idea.
But we are taking measured steps towards realising this vision.
In the coming months, we will work with Total Land Care to implement a formal survey of their existing farmer network. They work with over 100,000 farmers throughout Malawi.
We will also hold focus groups of farming co-op's and interview individual farmers. We will post many of these interviews as videos on our website, to literally put a face to the problems expressed by farmers.
All of this of course requires funding, which you alluded to.
Our overall Budget is comparatively slim at $210,000 annually.
This would enable us to:
Perform research and develop new solutions.
Provide Training to our entrepreneurs (to mass produce new devices)
Perform the aforementioned survey's/interviews
Update our website to provide user access to the Design Challenges that are born out of the data we collect.
Our products are sold by local entrepreneurs to stimulate the local economy on multiple levels. To facilitate the sale of these products we are working on establishing linkages to micro-credit institutions.
Our field coordinator is currently working hand in hand with C to C Engineering to develop a marketing strategy.
The Full Belly Project is partners with the Malawi Peace Corps. They currently act as our marketers and field testers providing us with feedback on how farmers would improve our products.
Because the farmers are a part of the conversation, they typically accept our products quite exitedly.
We hope we've addressed your questions. Please don't hesitate to contact us should you have further questions.
Thanks for the endorsement!
As for a subsidized amount, Full Belly Project is currently under review for a foundation to potentially assist in the purchase/subsidization of Universal Nut Shellers in Malawi.
123456 said 5 months ago
Hi,
Thanks for this wonderful idea. It sounds like an idea I have pasted on this site. However, yours seems to concerntrate more on manufacturing of less costly farming equipments. This is great! I will keep in touch to learn more about your activities.
emichaelhewett said 5 months ago
Who could possibly deserve this than THE Full Belly Project??? What's wierd is that I'm actually wearing (one of ) my Full Belly T-Shirt(s) right now (when I was informed about this)! GOOD LUCK and keep up the GREAT work!
jenngross said 5 months ago
Thanks for taking the time to answer those questions and for sharing more information about your project. Good luck.