Project Info
Warka Water is an alternative water source designed to serve rural populations located in isolated regions where conventional pipelines and infrastructures will never reach and where water is not available from wells. Warka Water should not be considered the solution to all water problems in developing countries but rather a tool that works well at providing clean water in specific areas. Those remote communities, often with limited financial means, struggle to find reliable supplies of clean water. Warka Water not only provides a fundamental resource for life: water, it also incorporate another important function - it is social place for the community where to organize reunions protected under the shade of its canopy. Workshops and educational activities for children will be organized to educate them about the importance of clean safe water and more in general about the renewable resources for a sustainable future. The project name comes from the Warka tree that is a cultural emblem for Ethiopia. Its shade is used for traditional public gatherings, and children reunite for the acquisition of knowledge. Warka Water is focused on creating a structure that is both beautiful and useful, and can blend into the natural and cultural environment of the rural communities.
 
About the World Design Impact Prize
The World Design Impact Prize is a biennial award created to celebrate, recognise, and encourage impact design projects from around the world. Established by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (Icsid), the Prize seeks to increase awareness of industrial design driven projects that are making a positive impact on our social, economic, cultural and/or environmental quality of life. The Prize creates an exciting opportunity for finalists to present their work to the Icsid Membership, representing 167 organisations across six continents. Through the Prize, Icsid aims to bring attention to tangible examples of social impact industrial design that will help shape the future of the profession and create a better world through design. The inaugural award was presented in 2012 to Kenyan-based Planning System Services Ltd. for their Community Cooker project. For the 2013-2014 cycle, the Prize was awarded to A Behaviour Changing (ABC) Syringe, developed by Dr. David Swann from the University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom). The Prize is awarded during a ceremony at the World Design Capital® (WDC) International Design Gala, which in 2016 will be held in Taipei (Taiwan, Chinese Taipei). The WDC designation is a biennial city promotion project that celebrates the accomplishments of cities that have used design as a tool to reinvent themselves and improve social, cultural and economic life.
For more information, go to: http://worlddesignimpact.org/
 
Winner, Special Award for Social Design of the Golden Pin Design Award 2015
Company: dreamvok
Project: 5% Design Action Social Innovation Platform
 
Project Intro
Social innovation is much more than good design. Beyond that, a systematic approach and mechanism that can support designers and stakeholders to participate in value co-creation sustainably is very crucial in a long-term perspective. ‘Social innovation relies not so much on ideas of design as practical design action’—such is the principle behind 5% Design Action, a social innovation platform initiated by dreamvok in the spring of 2013. 5% Design Action plays a critical role as being a platform invites designers and other professionals from a range of fields to pitch in 5% of their free time to provide their knowledge and professional skills on designing new solutions for societal challenges with NGOs, NPOs, and public/private sectors.
 
Until now, more than 3,500 designers and multi-disciplinary professionals join the social innovation projects, and the categories includes education, health, environment and economy.
Since its inception, 5% Design Action has recruited more than 250 designers and industry professionals, non-profit organizations, and public sector investment groups to work together on social innovation work projects, along with an online membership of more than 2,200 people.
 
Some of the most recent projects include: a cancer screening service design; friendly restaurants innovative design; sustainable agriculture experience design; and innovative design of education for disadvantaged children. There are many more preliminary design concepts that have begun to enter the implementation phase, which have already caught the imagination of the public and have been reported in the media.
For more information, go to: http://5percent-design-action.com/about.php
 
About the Special Annual Award for Social Design of the Golden
Pin Design Award 2015
A collaboration between Taiwan’s premier design award, the Golden Pin Design Award, and World Design Capital Taipei 2016, the Special Annual Award for Social Design of the Golden Pin Design Award 2015 recognizes outstanding social design for Taipei City. Open to international designers and companies whose products and projects relate to Taipei City in some way, the award seeks to promote the use of design to solve social problems or challenges and create a more livable city. Only entries that make clever use of the city’s most limited resources and answer the needs of 90 percent of citizens will be considered as potential winners. The Golden Pin Design Award and associated awards under the Golden Pin banner– namely the Golden Pin Concept Design Award, the Golden Pin Buyers Award, and the Special Annual Award for Social Design of the Golden Pin Design Award–are executed by the Taiwan Design Center and organised by the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs. The Ministry of Economic Affairs acts in an advisory capacity.
 
For more information, go to: http://www.goldenpin.org.tw/en/
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