D-lab

D-lab Case Study

D-labDISACARE in Lusaka

ZAMBIA• 60 % Rural• Population: 12-13 Million• Area: 750,000 Square km• Capitol City: Lusaka

Courtesy of U.S. CDC.Courtesy of U.S. CDC.

D-lab DisacareDisacare’’ss mission: Independencemission: IndependenceThrough MobilityThrough Mobility

Empowering people with disabilitiesEmpowering people with disabilities by involving them in all phases ofby involving them in all phases of Wheelchair productionWheelchair production

Courtesy of Disacare Wheelchair Centre. Used with permission.

D-lab DISACARE’s Products

Producing good qualityProducing good quality appropriate mobilityappropriate mobility devices suited for theirdevices suited for their user and environmentuser and environment

D-lab…Kavuluvulu folding wheelchair-ergonomic

D-lab Kavuluvulu-Suitable for Local transportation…

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Good for Long distance

DISACARE “Polio” Trike

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Polio trike-Carries a lot

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Child’s/CP wheelchair-custom built

D-lab Basketball wheelchair-built with all local materials

D-lab DISACARE Regional Resource and Training Center (RRTC)

Wheelchair ProductionJig making

Quality Control

Courtesy of Disacare Wheelchair Centre. Used with permission.

D-lab DISACARE RRTC-Production

Production tooling

Jigs and Fixtures

Courtesy of Whirlwind Wheelchairs International. Used with permission.

.

D-lab Current DevelopmentCurrent Development

Paradigm:Paradigm:• Good: Give a man a fish

D-lab Current DevelopmentCurrent Development

Paradigm:Paradigm:• Good: Give a man a fish • Better: Teach a man to fish

D-lab Current DevelopmentCurrent Development

Paradigm:Paradigm:• Good: Give a man a fish • Better: Teach a man to fish • Watch out for: No river

D-lab RRTC Training: Operation andRRTC Training: Operation and

ManagementManagement

•Administration

•Marketing/sales

•Fundraising Rivers

D-lab Current Regional WorkCurrent Regional Work

• Teach a man to teach a man to…….

• In 2001 DISACARE established Regional Resource and Training Center for Wheelchair production and Marketing run by Zambians

• So far technicians from Malawi, Kenya, Sudan, and Zimbabwe have been trained at DISACARE to build the “Kavuluvulu”

D-lab “Appropriate Technology” According to Schumacher

•

• Low start-up capitol • Non-violent

Small in Scale • Simple

.

D-lab …locally-Built

.

Courtesy of Disacare Wheelchair Centre. Used with permission.

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…from locally available materials

. Courtesy of Disacare Wheelchair Centre. Used with permission.

D-lab …low-cost

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Local Production: Does the the “appropriate

hold today? technology” paradigm still

D-lab A 1-year-old Imported Wheelchair

D-lab A 4-year-old Kavuluvulu

D-lab Local vs. Imported Wheelchairs

()

()

() (

)

$120 $280 $60 $420 (

$100 $220 $55 $1100 $150 $300 N/A N/A $1500-

$2500 $100 $220 N/A N/A $1400-

$2500

DISCARE Materials

only

DISACARE selling

price

Chinese import excluding tax,

shipping

Chinese Import Selling

Price)

Quickie (USA

Folding Wheelchair

$150-$300 $195)

Tricycle $150-250 Childs CP W/C Basketball W/C

D-lab Was DISACARE a good donor investment?

Attaining financial sustainability remains an important goal of DISACARE in Zambia. Can you identify additional strategies to enable DISACARE achieve its stated goals, and reduce its level of donor dependency.

Suppose you were Head of the USAID Mission in Zambia. Would you consider further investments in DISACARE Zambia?

To take advantage of quantities of scale (low price, high quality) an approach that has been suggested is find an appropriated wheelchair

assemble, distribute, and repair them locally.

How can DISACARE benefit from this strategy?

What is the possible fallout from this strategy?

What should DISACARE do next?

Study Questions

design and build the wheelchairs in Asia. DISACARE could prescribe,

D-lab Economic Assessment

o

T

t KNPV −⎟⎟

⎠

⎞ ⎜⎜⎝

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= ∑ = 0

t tt

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Vt = social benefit of the project at time t, measured at economic prices Ct = refers to social costs of the project at time t, measured by opportunity costs r = refers to the social rate of discount; T = refers to the lifetime of the project; and Ko = initial social costs of the investment in the base period.