MIT D-Lab class
Humanitarian Innovation - EC.750 / EC.785 (G) (Spring 2025)
Country
Uganda
Community partner
Team
- Tarek Meah, MIT graduate student in Science, Technology, and Society
- Alex Yang, Yr 3 MIT undergraduate in Mathematics
Project
Farmers spend 4-6 hours a day collecting water from streams to water their crops. Our IWI water pump cuts this time in half and also improves farmers’ accessibility to water during the dry season. We all know water is life; the IWI water pump will make us thrive!
Achievements
During co-design summit
- Learned how to assemble rocker/foot water pump.
- Demonstrated the pump at Rhino and Mvepi + piqued farmers’ interests/received feedback.
- Purchased local materials to develop prototype.
- Began fabrication of pump (adapted to local context).
After summit
- IWI-Uganda successfully fabricated a pump using locally sourced materials.
- IWI-US applied for MYCP Igniting Impact micro grant.
- IWI-Uganda and IWI-US collaborated on a manual to demonstrate how to fabricate the pump.
- IWI-Uganda and IWI-US are ideating jigs to facilitate more streamlined pump fabrication.
Next steps
- IWI-Uganda will replace the metal base with a wooden one, to decrease cost of materials and overall cost of pump to farmers.
- IWI-US will continue to apply for grants.
- Both teams will continue to communicate via WhatsApp chat and weekly video/phone calls.
Final presentation
More information
MIT D-Lab class: Humanitarian Innovation
MIT D-Lab program: Humanitarian Innovation
