Amos G. Winter and Amy Smith

Assessing MAARDEC
A Comparison with Other Assistive Device
Workshop and Disability Organization Models

Innovations Case Discussion: MAARDEC

The workshop and disability organization model for the Mobility Aid and
Appliances Research and Development Center (MAARDEC) features a multifac-
eted approach to serving the disabled community in Nigeria. In this issue of
Innovations, Cosmas Okoli describes the system model he employs that goes
beyond just providing mobility aids, including the mechanisms through which he
is able to offer products and services that holistically improve the lives of people
with disabilities. Although this model is not new and is practiced in similar forms
by many other workshops in the developing world, it is insightful because it
encompasses the range of disabled needs. Cosmas Okoli should be commended for
working to provide opportunities, advocating for peoples’ rights, and running a
sustainable organization that has multiple profit streams.

Two major challenges face providers of mobility aids in developing countries:
making and providing products that are appropriate for the environment in which
they will be used, and finding financial mechanisms through which the products
can be produced and purchased. Many of the products Okoli mentions in his arti-
cle are innovative and were designed specifically for the Nigerian disabled. Das ist

Amos G. Winter is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering at MIT. He has conduct-
ed multiple projects aimed at generating improved wheelchair technology in the develop-
ing world, including assessing the state of wheelchair technology in Tanzania. He is the
director of the MIT Mobility Lab (M-Lab) and teaches the MIT class “Wheelchair Design
in Developing Countries”.

Amy Smith is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she specializes in engineering design and
appropriate technology for developing countries. She founded the D-Lab program at MIT,
which introduces students to technological, sozial, and economic problems of the Third
Welt. She teaches the courses “D-Lab Development”, “D-Lab Design”, and “Wheelchair
Design in Developing Countries”. Smith won the Lemelson-MIT student prize in 2000,
and was recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship (2004-2009). She served four years as a
Peace Corps volunteer in Botswana.

Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/3/79/704217/itgg.2008.3.3.79.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023

Amy Smith and Amos G. Winter

key, als 70 percent of disabled people in developing countries live in rural areas that
require robust wheelchairs. Donated wheelchairs are often not built for the harsh
conditions encountered in the developing world and spare parts can be difficult to
finden. Rural-appropriate wheelchairs can be made locally, as are MARDEEC’s, Und
those at the Wheelchair Technologist Training Course at the Kilimanjaro Christian
Medical Center in Moshi, Tanzania. Alternativ, chairs that are specifically made
for rough terrain, like the Worldmade wheelchair designed by Motivation, Vereinigtes Königreich, can
be imported.

MAARDEC provides a variety of financial assistance programs to its cus-
tomers, as well as counseling, physiotherapy, Ausbildung, and microfinance oppor-
tunities, all of which are important to the provision of appropriate mobility aids.
By finding ways to help a person purchase a device instead of receiving a dona-
tion, MAARDEC creates value for the product and a greater sense of ownership for
the client. Microfinance programs help people with disabilities create business
ventures and become financially self-reliant. In the future, MAARDEC might also
look to provide mobility aid accessories to facilitate running small businesses. Bei
MIT, we have been working to design a number of small business attachments that
can be used to turn mobility aids into financial assets.

The MAARDEC model Cosmas Okoli describes, along with his plan to expand
in coming years, most closely resembles the organizational structure currently
used by the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya (APDK). APDK has
numerous programs focused on building, fitting, distributing, and servicing
mobility aids. They offer business attachments for their hand-powered tricycles, als
well as microfinance opportunities for entrepreneurs. Their network, which is
composed of eight branches, two manufacturing centers, Und 290 outreach clinics
around Kenya, is structured such that they can serve the disabled population in the
entire country. To reach rural populations, APDK runs many community-based
rehabilitation programs.

Okoli is savvy for having started two for-profit businesses to help subsidize
MAARDEC. Turning a profit selling mobility aids can be tricky; many of the work-
shops with which we work have difficulty sustaining themselves solely off the sale
of wheelchairs. This is most apparent in Africa, where they try to sell wheelchairs
for around $300 in a market with a per-capita income of only a few hundred dol-
lars per year. Although their chairs are more appropriate for the local environment
than donated products, it is difficult to compete with the free imported chairs dis-
tributed by donation organizations.

Most well-established organizations have income-generating activities beyond
the sale of mobility aids. Zum Beispiel, the family that owns the Kien Tuong work-
shop in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, runs two profitable gas stations. Having such
businesses decreases the pressure to produce profits from the wheelchair work-
shop, and thus keeps prices low and increases the organization’s capacity to pro-
vide financial assistance to its clients. The Tahanang Walang Hagdanan workshop
outside Manila, Philippinen, offers a number of employment opportunities within
their facility for people with disabilities, including needlework, pharmaceutical

Innovationen / Sommer 2008

Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/3/79/704217/itgg.2008.3.3.79.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023

Assessing MAARDEC

packaging, and woodworking. In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Disabled Aids and
General Engineering builds custom metal products when they do not have tricycle
orders to fill.

In his article, Cosmas Okoli touched on the important work of advocating for
the rights of disabled people. Although policies for disability rights and accessibil-
ity are often difficult to implement and enforce, especially in the developing world,
advocacy is an important facet of helping people with disabilities integrate into
society. MAARDEC is not alone in fighting for its clients’ rights while producing
mobility products. The Freedom Technology wheelchair workshop in Mindanao,
Philippinen, was started by the French NGO, Handicap International (HALLO). Das
shop was established as a component of HI’s mission to increase the self-reliance
of people with disabilities around the world. Through Freedom Technology, HALLO
can provide devices to promote independence while pushing for social change.
Other examples of workshops and advocacy groups that work in tandem are the
Thai Wheel wheelchair workshop and the Thai with Disability organization, locat-
ed outside Bangkok, Thailand, as well as the Zanzibar Association of the Disabled
(UWZ) and the UWZ wheelchair workshop in Stone Town, Zanzibar.

In the coming years, Okoli’s progressive vision of MAARDEC will enable him
to serve a much larger number of Nigeria’s people with disabilities. Through the
expansion of MAARDEC, he will hopefully be able to reach more of both the rural
and urban disabled population and tune the designs of his products to the unique
needs of each demographic. Incorporating many of the best elements of his col-
leagues’ workshops in other countries, Okoli’s multi-dimensional approach to pro-
viding technical, financial, and social services through MAARDEC will offer solu-
tions to many of the obstacles that currently limit the freedom of people with dis-
abilities.

Innovationen / Sommer 2008

Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/3/79/704217/itgg.2008.3.3.79.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023
PDF Herunterladen