G.6 Discussion

In participatory design, some methods have proved to be essential for Western designers and enterprises in unfamiliar contexts. The sequence of steps – observation, focus group selection and day mapping during the analysis phase, co-design with potential end users and salespeople during the concept development phase, small-scale field tests with prototypes, improvements, extended field tests with the zero series (N = 20), and final adaptation for the first series (N = 2000) – is quite common in product and service development all over the world. But the steps have to be carefully elaborated because of the unfamiliarity of the designer or developers with the specific sociocultural context. Involving and educating local people, like Kamworks is doing, are important requirements for establishing this context research.

The strength of Kamworks lies in the offering of sustainable high-quality solutions fitted to local needs. It is not just a product but also the services like the rental scheme, education, communication about PV technology, financing, and after sales of the lighting solutions. These services make them competitive with the low-priced imported products offered in local shops. The services make it possible to build up a long-lasting relationship with their customers.

For rural Cambodians with low household electricity needs, (clean) PV solar energy is the most economic solution. However, local expertise and spare parts are needed to provide after-sales service, and in order to develop the market in a sustainable way. Unfortunately, most solar products currently on the Cambodian market are low quality and lack after-sales support.

Kamworks is a very interesting experiment of people devoted to sustainability. All the dimensions of sustainability are addressed by the work of Kamworks: the social aspects by providing education and employment, and the economic aspects by generating new business development locally and regionally, by providing the low-income people of Cambodia a possibility to cut their budget for lighting once the lantern is paid off. The environmental aspects are to reduce the use of nonrenewable energy sources and to improve the indoor climate. This commitment toward sustainability is motivating already a considerable amount of students from all over the world to contribute to the fulfillment of Kamworks' ambitions.

Because of the upcoming importance of and interest in the needs of people living at the so-called base of the economic pyramid, design professionals and educators should invest more in research and education for “designing for the BoP.” As this project illustrates, providing lighting to the people of Cambodia – that they love to use and is affordable – is not simply “designing” a product. This project is a challenging example of a transdisciplinary approach, needed for a successful development and introduction of PV-powered lighting. By using input from different design knowledge domains like sustainability, user context, technology, and business, a locally fine-tuned solution is developed.