Tag Archives: remoteresilienceproject

Will Africans lead innovation in resilience tech for sustainable lifestyles on a shoestring?

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 14, 2021

A Tanzanian startup offering a smart hydroponics kit for urban farming in limited spaces that costs around $500. Reading about the system yesterday – invented by founders Praygod Japhet and Dickson Mallya – I was moved to create a hashtag #resiliencetech on Twitter. Something about the topic made me feel that I should be keeping […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, East African Community, Emerging Futures, Emerging Markets, Innovation Planning, Mobile platform, Perspective, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Tanzania, Technology | Also tagged East Africa, resiliencetech, smart hydroponics, urban food systems | Leave a comment

Reflecting on Béné’s review of important concepts for local food systems resilience in context of systemic shocks

By Niti Bhan | Published: May 13, 2021

Béné’s (May, 2020) review last year of the most important concepts for thinking about resilience of local food systems, in context of the pandemic and other shocks provides frameworks for situating empirical data on the resilience strategies employed by informal economic actors in the last mile of Nairobi’s urban food system specializing in fresh produce […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Biashara Economics, East African Community, Economy, Frameworks, Informal & Flexible, Kenya, Literature review, Perspective, waymarkers, Work in Progress | Also tagged africa, Béné, empirical data, food systems resilience, informal finance, informal urban food system, resilience strategies | Leave a comment

Theoretical background for contextualizing User Agency in Participatory Processes

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 12, 2021

Scandinavian participatory design practices are not distinguished by particular methods but rather by political commitments to societal concerns and relationships with participating users and communities. Pelle Ehn writes:`In the interest of emancipation, we deliberately made the choice of siding with workers and their organisations, supporting the development of their resources for a change towards democracy […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Assumption filter, Design, Design Methodology, Frameworks, Innovation Planning, Kenya, Literature review, Mobile platform, Perspective, Research, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, Technology, User research | Also tagged africa, agency, informal economy, mama biashara, participatory design, scandinavian tradition, user agency | Leave a comment

Design of Visual Sensemaking Tools for Informal Economy: Literature Review

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 9, 2021

Since I have long been exposed to the concept of sensemaking from the perspective of the synthesis phase of human centered design research, and design/innovation planning & concept development, I hadn’t thought to review the literature last year when building customized sensemaking tools for market women and vegetable vendors sourcing and supplying fresh vegetables in […]

Posted in Literature review | Also tagged biashara economics, design methodology, design tools, informal economy, informal urban food system, kolko, sensemaking, sensemaking tools, weick | 1 Response

The power of sensemaking lies in its ability to reframe the challenge and its context

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 8, 2021

A key characteristic of participatory design is the use of physical artefacts as thinking tools throughout the process. This process is a key characteristic of the various participatory design practices emanating from the Scandinavian research-led tradition (e.g. Greenbaum and Kyng, 1991). As highlighted by Sanders (2006), users in participatory design serve as “expert[s]of their experiences” […]

Posted in Design Methodology, Literature review, Perspective | Also tagged adaptation, adaptive capacity, design thinking, framing, innovation, mobile telephony, participatory design, scandinavian tradition, sociotechnical systems, systemic shock, technology, workers | Leave a comment

Effective Toolmaking: Shifting the Mindset Away from that of “Expert”

By Niti Bhan | Published: April 7, 2021

The beauty of struggling with words and concepts in order to best articulate them in a manner that reflects one’s lived experience in practice is that one remains true to one’s search for songs of magic regardless of the themes of introspection. This realization has freed me from various self imposed constraints on my use […]

Posted in Africa, Analysis, Assumption filter, Culture, Design, Design Methodology, Frameworks, Perspective | Also tagged agency, design methodology, design methods, design tools, elizabeth sanders, innovation facilitation, participatory design, user research | Leave a comment

Looking back at 2020 from Mama Mboga’s eyes: The Pandemic as Natural Disaster

By Niti Bhan | Published: December 4, 2020

I am moved today by my work to look back at this agonizingly long year of separations and losses and delays for peoples around the world. Uncertainty and complexity have both increased, and economic volatility has become the order of the day, regardless of the development status of the region or location. More people in […]

Posted in Africa, African Consumer Market, Analysis, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Consumer Behaviour, East African Community, Economy, Ecosystem, Frugality, Kenya, Mama Biashara, Marchés africains, Marketing, Perspective, Retail in Africa, Risk, Scarcity, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, urban, User research | Also tagged endurance, farm to fork, food security, informal economy, informal urban food system, mama mboga, nairobi, precarious, resilience, stoic, vcd | Leave a comment

Half a year, 2020 : The Remote Resilience and Recovery Project

By Niti Bhan | Published: August 8, 2020

I have umpteen drafts saved, of posts I began writing since the last published one on 29th February this year, and never finished. 2020 has outdone itself in its impact on all of human society, across our entire planet. I have been active on Twitter, where my literature reviews, in service of the pivot I […]

Posted in Africa, Base of the Pyramid, Biashara Economics, Design, Ecosystem, Flexibility, Frameworks, Informal & Flexible, Innovation Planning, Mama Biashara, Marketing, Perspective, Prepaid Economy & Informal Sector, Retail in Africa, rural, Strategy, Sub Saharan Africa, Systems, urban, User research, Value | Also tagged design thinking, farm to fork, informal market, market women, nairobi, resilience, urban food systems, vcd, workshops | Leave a comment