Bamboo Wallet

working in collaboration with

The open to change movement was conceptualized by industrial design students based in Cape Town. The movement aims to call upon design students in their final year of study/professionals to contribute marketable ideas/products to be produced and marketed by People with Disabilities. The contribution of this movement would in essence aim to influence the social economy in the townships in such a way that it becomes a viable source of income for People with Disabilities. The wallet is made by People with Disabilities working from the Vukuhambe self-help group based in Gugulethu.

Both locally and internationally, the association between lack of education, unemployment, poverty and disability is well-recognised. In South Africa it is estimated that as many as 97% of People with Disabilities are not meaningfully employed. The work of DWDE is all about empowering People with Disabilities. We do this through: Seeking employment opportunities, Enterprises development, and Product design for People with Disabilities.

DWDE have had a long standing relationship with the Cape Town University of Technology and this has resulted in collaboration with the Industrial Design Department this year. We are very excited about this collaboration between our disability workforce and the creative team of the CPUT design department. We believe this endeavour have great potential since it touches on various current topics like employment of the disability workforce of South Africa and the integration of green eco-friendly products to the market.