image from Global Envision

In most developing countries, almost half of all births take place in the home often with the assistance of a birth attendant.  According to a study by the International Center for Advancing Neonatal Health at Johns Hopkins, a major factor contributing to neonatal and maternal infections is delivery in the home under unhygienic conditions by untrained birth attendants.  The use of a clean delivery kit has a dramatic effect on maternal health, reducing infection and the incidence of sepsis. 

We’re excited to announce our latest project with AYZH, a social venture looking through the eyes of women to identify the tools they want and need to help improve their standard of living. Founded by Zubaida Bai, a recent graduate of the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise Program who formerly worked for a Lemelson foundation initiative in India, AYZH serves the needs of impoverished women worldwide by bringing them affordable appropriate technologies that increase income and/or improve health.  One of AYZH’s first products on the market includes a clean delivery birth kit. Catapult joins this program to evaluate cost, branding, and a sustainability strategy for kit components, currently piloting in India.  More program info to come!

Catapulters head to Boulder, CO this week to take part in the Unreasonable Institute‘s Summer Institute, a 10-week program uniting up to 25 young social entrepreneurs with bold ideas from around the world.  The Unreasonable Institute was founded by Daniel Epstein and Teju Ravilochan with this simple idea:  give high-impact social entrepreneurs wings.  To do that, “We attract experts, innovators, and specialists in the field of social entrepreneurship, investment, business, poverty eradication, engineering, health, and the civil sector to mentor them.”

Catapult is excited to join that line up, spending three days with the entrepreneurs and running a short workshop series on prototyping.  With the entrepreneurs we’ll walk through methods of rapidly testing out ideas both physically and experientially.

Follow the Unreasonable Institute’s progress through their recently launched “Unreasonable TV Episodes.”

During our one-week stay, we’ll be staying with rural host families, engaging in cultural activities and ceremonies, and visiting the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority, responsible for electrifying the reservation.  We’ll also be working on further developing our field skills, including:  energy and water usage and assessment, community health assessment, facilitating focus groups, cultural research methods, participatory design, etc.

To learn more about CataCAMP, or if you’re interested in supporting this program, please email heather(at)catapultdesign(dot)org.  We’re also welcoming visits with more organizations (non-profit, government entities, etc) during our stay.  Stay tuned for more updates!

Each year, the World Economic Forum identifies 200-300 exceptional individuals – all young leaders – from all regions of the world and from nearly every sector. The World Economic Forum’s hope is that these individuals will dramatically impact the global future through their socially progressive work in their respective companies, organizations, governments and universities.

Heather joins an amazing group of 196 other Young Global Leaders, which include, among others: Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter (USA), Wyclef Jean, Singer and Founder of Yélé Haiti Foundation (Haiti), and Jacob Lief, Co-Founder and President Ubuntu Education Fund (South Africa). Learn more about the program and see the full list of Leaders here.

The Forum’s choice in Heather and Catapult Design, a non-profit design firm, indicates a growing acceptance of the important role design and design thinking has to play in unleashing the capacity of the developing world and ending the plight of global poverty.

Rob Anderson is the Managing Director of Fenton Communications NY and has a 20-year professional history passionately devoted to one ideal: to leave the world a better place than he found it. A nationally known expert on social marketing and one of the chief strategists behind the highly successful “truth” anti-smoking campaign, Anderson was previously the executive vice president for GolinHarris.  At GolinHarris he directed Change, the name of the company’s corporate citizenship, social marketing and cause branding practice, addressing some of society’s toughest challenges. In the public sector, Rob has worked with nonprofit and government agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health, American Legacy Foundation, Home Safety Council, Special Olympics, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ad Council, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.

Graham Hill rose to fame as the founder of Treehugger.com, a leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream.  An advocate of social entrepreneurship, Graham is described as a serial entrepreneur himself, do-gooder and designer. Graham and the TreeHugger.com team joined the Discovery Communications family of networks as part of its Planet Green multi-platform, global environmental initiative. He also owns a product business that sells a New York souvenir he designed a few years ago, available in 175 stores including MOMA.

Rob and Graham are prominent members of their respective fields with reputations as industry leaders.  The entire Catapult team is excited to work closely with them on the next phase of Catapult’s growth.

In the developing world, a significant portion of the population is rural. Villagers tend to grow their own cereal grains, such as maize or sorghum and mill the raw grains in small community mills. These community mills are typically powered by water or diesel/electricity and the cereal flour produced is consumed as a staple food. Community mills therefore present an excellent opportunity to extend the delivery of micronutrients to a large number of rural people through the small scale fortification (SSF) of cereal flour during grain processing.

In conjunction with our partners, The Micronutrient Initiative, Stanford University and with funding from the Ansara Family Fund, PHC is undertaking groundbreaking work in designing a program to broadly implement small scale fortification. Small scale fortification promises to be one of the most significant break-through technologies in reaching the rural populations where the need is greatest. The promise so far is unmet due to the health community’s inability to solve the social and economic questions associated with rolling out a broader program.

“The Human Factor – The designers approach to societal change”
TEDxSoMA
Parisoma
1436 Howard Street
San Francisco, California

TEDxSoMa brings the TED experience to a local level, bringing together innovative ideas and concepts through TEDtalks and inspiring speakers. TEDxSoMa was developed by members of the PariSoMa Coworking Space whose core beliefs are community, collaboration, innovation, openness, and sustainability.

Current confirmed speakers include Heather Fleming of Catapult Design, Kevin Danaher of Global Exchange, Marina Gorbis of The Institute for the Future, and David Sibbet of The Grove, with several more very exciting speakers days from being announced. TEDxSoMa will feature 10 — 12 speakers and 2 — 4 musical/artistic performances. The event will be streamed live and featured on Justin.tv, with production from VidSF.

For more information and to register:
http://www.tedxsoma.com

“What good is a water filtration product if no one wants it, uses it, or will pay for it?” According to Catapult Design, a non-profit design firm engineering affordable products that meet the needs of the world’s poorest customers, absolutely none. Consumers who earn between $1-$2/day have long been ignored by design firms and don’t have access to basic amenities like clean water and energy. Catapult’s job is to address these needs through design.

Time:  7-11pm
Address: 972 Mission St (between 5th and 6th Streets), 5th floor.
BART stop: Powell Street — we’re a 5 min walk through Mint Plaza.

Please bring guests, but make sure they RSVP on Facebook.

Wear: your best reindeer sweater
Bring: dancing shoes, ipods, guitars, other instruments, alcohol, and eggnog
We’ll serve: mulled wine, snacks, and our staff’s music pics

A big thank you to both ASME and EngineeringForChange for joining us in supporting technology and design for social change.