Meaningful Making: Eco-Innovations in Africa

We are proud to announce that more than 160 secondary school students from Nairobi, Nakuru and Uasin Gishu counties in Kenya submitted project proposals for this year’s InChallenge. They proposed tangible solutions to problems affecting their communities. The proposals demonstrated passion and drive that make us very excited for the future of Kenya. This year, we selected nine projects from 55 project proposals based on sustainability, feasibility, innovation and impact. Each finalist team has been invited to a three-week workshop at CEMESTEA from April 13th to May 2nd, 2015  where they have been working with GMin to make their project ideas a reality!

Our youth innovators have made a lot of progress on their prototypes. Our design-thinking workshops, mentors, guest speakers and field trips have all heavily shaped their projects, and most of them will be ready to test their prototypes in their communities over the next few weeks. They faced challenges, including finding the right materials, development time, and understanding user expectations, but with the support of their peers, they have been able to overcome many of them. The prototyping process has been incredibly empowering for our youth. The freedom to experiment, design and shape an idea so rapidly (which has become a reality) is a completely new experience for most. The next step is creating presentations to pitch their prototypes this week.

Thank you for your amazing support- please check back for another "update from the field" in July!

The Global Minimum recently held Final Showcase Events in South Africa and Kenya in November and December 2014. More than 20 finalist teams showcased their innovations in front of judges and subject matter experts. The teams who made most progress in their prototypes were the "SpiruteensTeam" from South Africa and the "Visha Team" from Kenya.

The Spiruteens, from The Cape Academy of Math, Science and Technology in South Africa, grew and harvested high protein superfood, spirulina, in their school lab to combat child malnutrition. They taught how to grow spirulina in other schools using starter packs, and they now have an ambitious goal to create and sell a variety of low cost spirulina products.

The Vishas, from Kenya High School in Kenya, started an initiative that collects, cleans, repairs and distributes old school uniforms at no cost or at an affordable price to families who cannot purchase uniforms for their children. By partnering with surrounding schools, the Visha team is determined to lessen parents' barriers to sending children to school.

Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, more than 800 youth are designing solutions to combat Ebola through Global Minimum's "Hack at Home Design Challenge." Some participants printed Ebola campaign messages on t-shirts and banners with graphics they designed themselves. Others created personal protective gear from local materials they found in their homes. The majority of youth participants in our program are eager to be part of the solution to this challenge faced by the country.

Our presence remains strong in these areas, and we look forward to hearing from you- our supporters. Let us know what you think of our progress and our programs!