It was a pleasure and yet another rich engagement opportunity for the ‘Wekebere’ and Pedal Tap innovators to join in the Green Drinks Event in Kampala, Uganda. The Green Drinks Event http://www.greendrinks.org as a social event operates in chapters in over 430 cities worldwide and it provides a platform to host development experts from multidisciplinary sectors. Every month, they host different innovators to present on sustainable topics and innovations enabling community engagement for further innovation identification, development and scaling too.
This event was held at the Innovation Village in Kampala Uganda on September 13th, 2017. Stephen Tashobya, Lead Innovator on the ‘Wekebere’ team and Grace Nakibaala, Lead Innovator on the Pedal Tap Innovation were privileged to physically engage with over 30 Green Drinks Event participants sharing about their solutions in-depth but above all generating and sharing knowledge directed towards the benefit of communities in need.
Participants brainstormed together different ways of how to make these innovative solutions better functional, more robust, appropriate, and sustainable in the low resource settings. The evening activities which characterized this event generated lively discussions, thoughtful proposals, and interesting challenges informing further research further in to the possible iterations to the innovations. ‘We are grateful to each and every one of you for actively joining in this event and offering your valuable time and expertise towards realization of the proposed solutions’ shared Stephen Tashobya.
One of the key ideas that emanated from the evening’s discussions was on how health practitioners can receive real-time data from the ‘Wekebere’ device when the expectant mother is monitoring herself at home. Additionally, participants were interested in the to go to market strategy noting that this should be tied to medical delivery channels to avoid challenges arising from improper use and handling of the device. ‘During the event, we engaged with all participants sharing about the solutions we are currently working on while receiving feedback to inform further development and or improvement of the tool kit’ noted Stephen Tashobya.
‘Wekebere’ is a hand-held diagnostic device that continuously monitors conditions of unborn babies for expectant mothers in hard to reach areas and provides better information to doctors directed towards improved birth outcomes.
Pedal Tap is a retrofit able, affordable hands-free foot operated water dispensing system that can be connected to any tap system anywhere. This tap is designed to reduce the growth and frequency of potent and infectious diseases spread like colds, flu, Ebola on existing taps at water points in public spaces.
Thank you Stephen Tashobya, stashobya@gmail.com for initiating the writing of this piece!
‘Solutions through Innovation’