Empowering the future changemakers: iLab at Jorpati

Engineers Without Borders initiated an Innovation Lab (iLab) at Nava Sunthakan Academy, Suntakhan, Kathmandu. The event started on the tenth of December and three of the proposed five days have been completed as of now. 30 students from Grades 8 and 9 took part in projects that will utilize locally available resources to solve problems that the students face in their day-to-day lives. The programme is designed to promote critical-thinking, teamwork, and foster an understanding among the students on hands-on learning.

On the first day, the students were briefed on the concept of iLab and were assigned to groups focusing on five themes: Agriculture, Health, Environment, Fashion, Education, and Tourism. From each group, the students brainstormed problems that they had encountered and tried to narrow it down to one whose solution they could feasibly find on their own.

The next day, the students finalized the issue they tried to tackle. They brainstormed for potential solutions and researched the ways to make the solution. For example, the health group decided to tackle the problem of lack of health kits by making mini and regular sized first aid boxes. The agriculture group decided to make board/card games to help alleviate the farmers’ problems. The education group made the decision to make an interactive card game to make classes more interesting. The tourism group will make a guidance map that will show the exchange rates, common prices and useful apps for tourists that will help them get around. The environmental group settled on edible straws to help reduce plastic pollution while the Fashion group decided to upcycle old clothes into hair-ties and such.

On the third day, the students did research on the market. They researched the potential consumer base, the cost of items and the available profit on their product and if the model they devised will be sustainable. They also decided on the materials they could use and see if any other instruments/ tools would be needed for the production process. Each group then presented their proposed solutions to the class at large and shared their long-term goals.