DIY toilet kit and innovative app for community water maintenance are among a score of new Design for Good solutions aimed at improving millions of lives

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, July 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The inaugural year of global non-profit alliance Design for Good (DfG) has seen more than 600 designers from across 10 industry-leading companies and institutions collaboratively deliver over 20 solutions aimed at tackling challenges around water and sanitation. Together, these innovations have the potential to improve the lives of up to 4,8 million people within 24 months of implementation.

Established in 2022, Design for Good (DfG) is a unique alliance seeking to directly impact the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by delivering open-source and licence-free products and services to any communities who can make use of them. The most recent DfG collaboration focuses on clean water and sanitation (SDG#6) - billions of people live without safely managed drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services, which are critical for protecting human health.

Among the 20 new DfG solutions are an app to enable local communities in Kenya, where one out of three people lack access to safe water, to maintain their own water systems, and a DIY kit to enable women and girls to set up a temporary home toilet in slums in New Delhi, India. DfG will now work with more than 10 development organisations and innovation partners on sustainably implementing and scaling the solutions. The app for water systems in Kenya, for example, is being prototyped, and the long-term ambition is to scale to 580 schemes across rural and peri-urban Kenyan regions.

"Our mission is clear: we use our collective creativity to make a direct and measurable positive impact on the world," said Sandy Speicher, a DfG trustee and former CEO of design and consulting firm IDEO, who presented at the United Nation's Water Action Agenda Special Event on 17 July 2023. The event aims to mobilise action across countries, sectors and stakeholders to meet global water- and sanitation-related goals and targets.

DfG aims to directly harness the creative talent of thousands of designers to design, develop and deliver products and services to improve the lives of millions. DfG's members comprise many of the world's largest organisations, including General Mills, LIXIL, Logitech, Nedbank, Nestlé, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Philips and the Royal College of Art.