Happy Baby Pilot Summary

www.happybabycarrier.org

http://vimeo.com/73440956


Introduction

Community engagementthroughout the design process

Happy Baby Carrier &benefits of baby carrying

Happy Baby Pilot Studyin Nkokonjeru, rural Uganda

Local production ofbaby carriers in Nkokonjeru

Happy Baby users andimpact monitoring

Happy Baby sales andanalysis of affordability

INDEX


Carrying a baby from birth and having skin-to-skin contact is the most effective method of having a healthy attachment between parents and babies; and it is fundamental to the development of a secure and happy baby. Happy Baby is a non profit project aiming to facilitate the bonding process by designing an affordable ergonomic baby carrier, which is embraced by both mothers and fathers, which is easily produced in low-income communities and which creates a viral improvement in traditional baby carrying methods.

The Happy Baby design process started in July 2012 with research in Uganda, visiting Lira, Kasese and Nkokonjeru; three different districts, where the design team explored traditional baby carrying methods and had open discussions with mothers and fathers. Many mothers, who need to work in the field soon after giving birth commonly tie a piece of cloth to carry babies on their backs in the first months. Several problems were brought to the surface: back and chest pain, pressure on the breasts causing decrease in breast milk production, knots getting loose, letting the baby hang low, and in some cases the baby falling out. Problems associated with carrying a baby include no neck support and thus the neck falling down and shaking during daily activities.

Traditional baby carrying methods are associated with womanhood and most fathers

do not feel comfortable practicing this method, especially in public. By involving fathers in workshops, we got their support as we designed the carrier, to suit their preferences in order to turn baby carrying into a family bonding practice. Fathers’ involvement in child care is found to reduce gender stereotypes in girls and increase marital stability and this has been an important concern of Happy Baby.

Despite the challenges, a piece of cloth is the only option available because comfortable baby carriers are imported and cannot be afforded by most families. During Happy Baby Projecy, by prototyping and testing on-site with local mothers, fathers and midwives, different end users were actively involved in the innovation process of an improved baby carrier. Considerations for making, buying, using, storing, cleaning a carrier, as well as preferences in overall style and materials were taken into account, leading to a design which fit the culture and society.

Happy Baby has completed the piloting phase in September 2013 in Nkokonjeru in Uganda. Carriers are made with fabric and fiber that can be found in Uganda and the price is kept to a minimum (seven dollars). Operating in twelve villages within Nkokonjeru Town Council, tailors from each village are given training to replicatie the ergonomic baby carriers and the basic business skills to become the entrepreneurs of Happy Baby.

Introduction

Cansu Akarsu Lead Designer

Kübra SaygınProduct Designer

Josephine NalugoResearcher and

Pilot Partner

Ege ÖzgirinMovie Maker

Rebecca AsiloIntern Researcher


The society of interest was engaged through the research trip to Uganda visiting three districts in Lira, Kasese and Nkokonjeru

- Eleven workshops were carried out, including around 6-18 mothers and fathers, a total of 108 participants. Each lasted about three hours and consisted of:- Open discussion going through a list of topics and questions to learn about the existing baby carrying methods, followed by demonstrations - User test of the five initial prototypes with parents and their babies - Idea generation and suggestions for possible improvements in a new carrier - Three mothers from each region were visited in their homes, allowing the design team to get a deeper understanding of the end-user.- Considerations on making, buying, using, storing, cleaning a carrier, as well as preferences in overall style and materials were taken into account, leading to a design which fit the culture and society.

Design refinement phase

- Eight volunteer families from Denmark and Turkey have tried on the baby carriers regularly and have provided further improvements.- Several experts have been consulted and invited to a workshop to develop the idea of spreading Happy Baby worldwide

Challenges of traditional baby carrying methods

- Knots on the breasts cause chest pain and has a negative effect on the milk production.- Breast milk leaks due to the knots’ pressure.- Back position does not allow breast feeding- It is culturally associated with womanhood and is not practiced by most men.- The practice causes lower back pain- Some babies are carried on the back soon after birth, earlier than the suggested.- Baby’s neck is not well supported, often falls down and shakes when sleeping.- Knots get loose, causing the baby to hang low and in some cases fall off.

more on Research Report: db.tt/NcqWoz3n

Community engagementthroughout the design process


Carrying babies is a part of Ugandan culture; however, scientifically proven benefits are not widely known or considered among practitioners. Promoting these benefits is a way let the families and stakeholders embrace a secure baby carrying practice and understand the importance of preferring Happy Baby carrier to tying a piece of cloth. Developing communities consist of people with different levels of education, so in order to address everyone, the benefits of carrying a baby with the Happy Baby Carrier are grouped into to five different topics. These topics are supported visually with icons to make it easy for everyone, even illiterate ones, to remember and talk about the information. Using the icons and simple explanatory sentences in local language, different size brochures, information cards and posters are designed and distributed throughout the community.

Happy Baby advantages overtraditional baby carrying methods

- Distributes the weight evenly on the hips and shoulders of the wearer- Fits ergonomic specifications of baby carrying: supports a baby’s spine and hips with fabric from knee to knee, having him/her facing the wearer at all times.- Can be used to carry babies starting from birth until toddler years (0-4 months in the front, after 4 months in the front and on the back)

- Front position allows breastfeeding- Can be put on with simple steps, tightened with a single movement and adjusted to suit people of different sizes- Can be easily replicable in remote villages using manual sewing machines- Developed with constant user feedback, the overall design fits the preferences of both mothers and fathers in developing countries.

Happy Baby Carrier &benefits of baby carrying

Happy Baby Pilot Studyin Nkokonjeru, rural Uganda

Buyira

The design process of Happy Baby has taken place in three different districts of Uganda - Lira, Kasese and Nkokonjeru - and the piloting phase took place in Nkokonjeru. Nkokonjeru town is a municipality under Buikwe District with an estimated mid year population of 14,000 by Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS 2011). Located approximately 48 kilometres (30 mi), by road, southeast of Kampala; the largest city in the country and capital of Uganda. The main socio-economic activity is subsistence farming and families have 4-6 kids on average.

Throughout the pilot, open discussions were held with mothers and fathers in each of the 12 villages within the town council. Invitations through mobilizers and public announcements brought between 30-50 participants to each meeting. These participants first listened to a general presentation of the project, participated in an open discussion on the experiences of baby carrying, tried on and gave feedback on the Happy Baby carrier, and finally learned the scientifically proven benefits of baby carrying.

Stakeholders such as hospital health workers, clinic drug shops, health village leaders, village health team members, elders and mobilizers were invited to meetings to brainstorm on how to implement Happy Baby in their communities and how they can take on the responsibility of spreading the knowledge of the benefits through existing channels. These stakeholders include the following community members:

Local Leaders - Gaining the permission and support of local leaders is the key to access to the community. Villagers respect and follow their leaders, so does the Happy Baby Team.

Religious Leaders and Elders - Words of religious leaders, both from the church and the mosque, and elders have a positive impact. Informing them and spreading knowledge during gatherings makes it possible to reach a large number of people and gain credibility.

Health centers - Hospital nurses and midwives meet families with babies every day. Happy Baby educated them on the benefits of skin to skin contact and engaged the hospital to take part on immunization days by letting families try on the carrier in the waiting room.

Village Health Team (VHT) Members are the government trained individuals in villages whom people consult about their basic health problems. VHTs are educated on Happy Baby benefits, then recruited to spread the knowledge and represent the project in their villages.

Mobilizers - six active individuals, who publicize Happy Baby benefits by walking from home to home and talking to people in remote locations.

Happy Baby (HB) Tailors - tailors chosen by their villages undergo an intensive training and become HB entrepreneurs. They know how to make carriers, market the carriers in their village and assist everyone to try on the carriers.


Wabiduuku

Kiremba

Mayirikiti

Mayirikiti

Nabuwundo

Ndolwa

Kigulu

Mulajje

Namaliri

BuyiraBukasa Nkokonjeru

Center

Happy Baby aims to create a sustainable production and sales mechanism by training local tailors to become the entrepreneurs of Happy Baby. Among 15 women trained from different villages; one is hired fulltime in the Demo Stitchery to make and to teach making baby carriers; four tailors work part time using the machines in the stitchery, ten of them have gone back to their villages to operate as individual Happy Baby Stitcheries.

The main challenge we face is creating a quality control mechanism in the local production. We tried to overcome this first by letting every village select their own local tailor to have the Happy Baby Carrier making training, which brought us the tailors the community trusted. On the other hand, as the carriers were sold to the community, the buyers naturally selected the carriers carefully before buying them, which encouraged the tailors to be neat and correct in order to sell more.

Local production ofbaby carriers in Nkokonjeru


Jane Mutebi

Namata Ruth

Imelda Nasande

Nakato Havva

HasifahSserwadd

Loy NalyakaClare

Nansubugo

Olivia Baribwa

Olivia Nansange

Fatuma Nakachwa

GorethNakafeero

BeatriceNakajjubi

Betty Nabikolo

Naomi

Nakayiza

During the piloting phase taking place in Nkokonjeru, Ugada, Happy Baby has created an improvement in traditional baby carrying methods and created ownership of safe baby carrying by designing an ergonomic carrier developed in the community.

17 locally selected families, assigned as Happy Baby Ambasadors, were monitored to give feedback on possible improvements and impact of the baby carrier. Some families were the role model families in their communities, while some are mothers who take on the responsibility of the household, where the impact of Happy Baby on the father can be observed. They were visited in their homes, interviewed and followed with a camera throughout the pilot study. Their babies varied in age and size, including infants in their 3rd weeks to toddlers in their 2nd years, some with normal and others with low birth weights, which allowed the carrier to be tested.

Monitoring the Happy Baby users have resulted in several unexpected positive impacts, such as increase in the livelihood of the family due to more comfortable work conditions with a baby; fathers becoming more outgoing in public with their babies to become role models; elder siblings being relieved from baby sitting tasks and having more time for their school tasks.

Using Happy Baby Carrier:

- Provides thermal control for the baby, which is recommended by WHO for over 20 million low- birth-weight infants born every year. - Calms baby’s nervous system, resulting in more quiet sleep and more optimum sleep patterns and reduction in crying- Strengthens the attachment between parents and babies, resulting in an autonomous, empathetic and secure child- Creates an interaction between baby and the wearer, strengthening baby’s socio-emotional skills, including its ability to focus its attention, regulate stress and interpret facial expressions and body language- Developed with fathers’ contribution and design concerns, Happy Baby enables fathers to participate actively in early caregiving which strengthens marriage/relationship’s and expands the baby’s exposure to male care giving patterns, resulting in a more optimum development- Helps mothers to maintain effortless and painless breastfeeding longer, which in the long term reduced risks for a range of illnesses and diseases- Enables hands-free caregiving and efficiency in daily work while taking care of babies

Happy Baby users and impact monitoring


The way Happy Baby aims to provide a healthy and loving bond is by designing an ergonomic baby carrier, which is affordable in low-income communities. Having started production with local entrepreneur tailors in Nkokonjeru, the price of the carrier using long lasting cotton fabric is found to be seven dollars.

Looking into the sales during the pilot study in two months,a June – July 2013,

37 people bought for $723 people bought in instalments of $1.5-21 person bartered a mat3 people bought through collecting money from parent-support groups

The experiences in the sales and the discussions with potential customers have given out figures on the affordability:

10% can afford $7 at once30% can pay in instalments30% can barter20% can afford $3-410% cannot afford

Happy Baby sales andanalysis of affordability

Thank you


Happy Baby Pilot Summary

Documents

Transcript of Happy Baby Pilot Summary