Abstract
This chapter is about designing responsible technological product innovations for the multidimensional poor people in developing countries, to improve their livelihoods and make available to them better products. Attention for this so-called ‘design for development’ has already been raised in the 1970s. However, despite several design efforts for the poor, significant efforts are still required. To advance socially responsible design, we suggest the integration of Sen’s capability approach into the product design process. This approach focuses on enhancing people’s real opportunities, their capabilities. In this paper we take a capability perspective towards a technological product designed for and implemented in rural India, to explore the potential, the advantages and disadvantages of using a capability perspective when designing and innovating for the multidimensional poor. We conclude that the capability approach can offer designers a comprehensive and holistic view which aids them to better understand the context and to better predict the consequences of their product innovations. The approach therefore appears promising to support product designers in their efforts to influence the change that the multidimensional poor need in their societies and in their lives.
Published Version
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