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Kinkajou Microfilm Projector and Portable Library

Designers: Design that Matters, Inc., in collaboration with students and professionals
Manufacturer: Various contract manufacturers in the New England area
United States, 2004
6061-T6 and 6063 aluminum, ABS plastic, polycarbonate or PMMA lenses, acetyl plastic lens barrels, stainless steel screws, glass-epoxy composite circuit board
Dimensions: 11” h x 7” w x 3” d (projector), 19.5” h x 15” w x 1” d (solar panel), 10” h x 8.5” w x 3.5” d (battery pack)
In use in: Mali; Bangladesh, Benin, India (field tests)

The Kinkajou Projector is a low-cost teaching tool designed to improve and expand access to education by transforming night-time learning environments in rural, non-electrified areas. The project’s mission is to improve adult literacy in rural West Africa, where up to 75% of the adult population is illiterate. Eliminating the need for books, which are expensive and difficult to distribute in places where adult classes are held at night by oil lamps, Kinkajou combines the efficiency of LEDs with the durability and storage capacity of microfilm. The unit is easy to maintain and includes a solar panel for off-grid use. Kinkajou’s primary beneficiaries are the most disadvantaged and hardest to reach individuals: poor, rural women. Literacy contributes decisively to improving a community’s quality of life through improved health and child nutrition. Kinkajou projectors have helped more than 3,000 adults in forty-five rural villages in Mali learn to read.

Out of Poverty

Cynthia E. Smith

International Development Enterprises’ founder Paul Polak has just released his much anticipated book Out of Poverty, What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail. Based on his 25 years of experience he tells why traditional poverty eradication programs have fallen short and how his alternative approach works…

Voûte Nubienne Affordable Housing

Cynthia E. Smith

In sub-Saharan Africa, traditional building techniques are no longer feasible; due to increased deforestation use of timber for roofing and posts is not viable. Adapting an ancient architectural technique used in Sudan and Asia to West Africa, provides an affordable alternative…

Panel Discussion Video

WATCH THE VIDEO – This panel highlights the growing trend in design to create affordable and socially responsible objects for the vast majority of the world’s population (90%) not traditionally serviced by designers. Contributors to the exhibition Design for the Other 90%...