Newsletter Archive

Kopernik in Action

July 2012

This Month's Stories

Our Tech Agents in East Java Become Independent!

Kopernik Co-Founder Ewa and Ibu Betty, a tech agent and now head of the new Koperasi Perempuan Banyuurip

We are thrilled that our first class of graduating technology agents in East Java has formed an independent women’s cooperative. The cooperative is called Koperasi Perempuan Banyuurip, and its members come from various villages in the Bojonegoro district. Through the cooperative body, thirteen women will continue selling Nazava’s water filters as they have been for many months and have recruited seventeen others to join in on their efforts. Though the cooperative will additionally offer the standard service of savings and loans to its members, it strives to be unique among other cooperatives in the area by selling even more life-changing technologies from Kopernik’s catalogue.

To honor the women, we and local partner LSM Farabi organized an event to celebrate the cooperative’s launch. Among the guests who attended were friends from ExxonMobil, our donor who made this project possible, and Co-Founder Ewa herself. Click here to view more pictures from the event.

Our Fellows Report from Timor-Leste and India

Two of our Fellows are currently based in Timor-Leste and India, each assisting our local partners with product distribution and collecting user feedback about the technologies. In Timor-Leste, Olga Permanyer Martinez (Spain) has been providing support for local partner Move Forward in distributing d.light S250 solar lights while also gathering some initial feedback from users. In India, Yumiko Yamada (Japan) has been conducting surveys for a rapid impact assessment of the Greenway Smart Stoves that local partner Haritika is distributing to various villages in Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh. Here is what they have had to say thus far:

"Biqueli, the area where I am based, is divided into four main villages: Pala, Uaruana, Ilidua, and Iliknamu. In Pala, the government has recently installed the electricity! Finally. But still, people here can only enjoy power for six hours a day from 6PM to midnight. The three other villages are still hoping to get that facility eventually, but we don't know when that will be. This is why the distribution of 200 solar lights that Kopernik and Move Forward have done is crucial. We have taken advantage of a Celebration Cup on July 18th, a special day commemorating Timor-Leste's independence from Portugal, to distribute the d.lights to the community. The village chief actually asked us to to present the lights in front of the community as a symbolic gesture. It was a very successful distribution."

Olga Permanyer Martinez (read her blog post here)

A busy distribution day at Biqueli in Atauro Island

Presenting d.lights to the Biqueli community

"From the baseline survey result, I learned that the average household size is 6 members, with 3 to 4 children. They are exclusively farmers who cultivate their own land and live on approximately 42 INR (=0.75 USD) per person per day. All households cook with a traditional Indian stove called “Chulha”. To prepare food using Chulha, many households explained that it takes about 45 minutes to more than 1 hour. Since the villages are very remote, almost every family collects firewood for cooking at least once a week, taking up about 1.5 to 2 hours at a time.

Despite the cookstoves having arrived just recently, some villagers said to me that they are already feeling the benefits of using them, which requires less firewood to burn and less time to prepare food. Some people were very happy with their stoves, and their benefits have quickly spread to other villages through word of mouth."

Yumiko Yamada (read her blog post here)

A Greenway Smart Stove owner preparing chai tea in Khakhari Veerpura village

Tech of the Month: Q Drum

Girls carrying water in Timor-Leste

In most rural communities women and children have to toil multiple times every day to fetch water. It is an extremely burdensome task that requires them to carry liters of water in containers with their hands or on their heads over long distances. In many cases, such heavy loads lead to debilitating back and neck injuries.

The Q Drum is the simple, durable, effective and user-friendly solution to this problem; it is a donut-shaped plastic container, which holds 50 liters of water when full. It is made out of the practically indestructible linear low-density polyethylene, and can be dragged with any rope that can be easily repaired or substituted with locally available materials.

Q Drum, the rollable water container for developing countries

Kopernik has distributed Q Drums in Timor-Leste and Kenya, and we have received positive feedback in both cases. In Timor-Leste, our local partner Centro Feto reports that users only have to collect water once a day with the Q Drum, giving them more time to do other activities. Because of this, Centro Feto has given the Q Drum a rating of five stars!

We are about $5000 away from fully funding a proposal by Yaya Education Trust to bring more Q Drums to Western Kenya—will you be so kind to make a contribution that will help alleviate the heavy burden of water fetching?

Kopernik Reaches the Last Mile (Video)

You may remember Lincoln's update about a Kopernik Tech Fair in remote villages outside of Sarmi in Papua, Indonesia from last month's newsletter. This month we present you a video about that journery filmed and edited by our Video Productions Fellow, Carissa Paramita. It's brief and fun, and it gives you a better and accurate picture of what our field trips to the last mile are like. Click here to watch the video or watch below!

For Your Information

Join us

A Kopernik fellowship provides a unique opportunity for entrepreneurial individuals of the highest caliber and potential to work with our partner NGOs and assist with the implementation and monitoring of projects disseminating appropriate technology. We are currently seeking a fellow for Western Kenya to assist the implementation of two projects that address the lighting needs of rural families and schools as well as the burden of water transportation in the community.

Please contact us at kopernik@kopernik.info for more information.

Host a party

In the past, we've had supporters organize parties and events to fundraise and promote Kopernik. If you are interested in doing the same, click here for more info. If you have other ideas about spreading the word about the projects, we'd also love to hear from you!

Stay connected

Join us on Facebook and share our news with your friends.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for videos from the field.

Pin useful information and inspiring photographs with us on Pinterest.

Read more about the reach and impact of our projects on our blog Kopernik in Action.

Stay abreast with advancements in the fields of appropriate technology and international development, one article synopsis at a time, with K-lab Weekly.

The Tipping Point Campaign

Sign up to give a small gift each month and we'll put it towards the project closest to completion. By joining our Tipping Point Campaign and donating $25 each month, you can make sure projects are fully funded and out the door quickly--the easiest and most effective way to improve lives through technology.

This month your donation will support the distribution of Take a Load Off.

Requests for technologies featured on the newsletter

As little as $30 will enable us to support a household with one unit of d.light S250 in the following projects:

As little as $20 will enable us to support a household with one unit of Envirofit cookstove, which provides cleaner and safer cooking like the Greenway Smart Stove, in the following projects:

As little as $60 will enable us to support a household with one unit of Q Drum in the following project:

Take a Load Off


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