technology that doesn’t need to be high-tech to change the world: hippo roller
Low-tech innovation: the “Hippo Roller”, a low-tech solution to a major issue
Hippo Roller: when low-tech innovation and lateral thinking merge.
UNICEF revealed that 2,2 billion people still lack access to safe, readily available water at home. Worldwide, women and girls spend 200 million hours fetching water every day, wasting valuable time that could rather be spent on education and income opportunities.
Even today, there are millions of people, normally women, who still have to walk many kilometers to collect water for drinking, cooking and washing. Traditionally this is achieved using buckets, or other vessels, and it is a laborious and never-ending task.
That’s where an incredibly low-tech solution promises to make their lives that much easier. Called the “Hippo Roller”, it is a heavy-duty plastic barrel that can be flipped on its side and simply rolled home. Hippo Roller comes complete with an attachable handle and can be easily transported over rough terrain. If mass-produced, this could literally revolutionize the lives of millions around the world.
Revolutionizing water access: the Hippo Roller technology
Sufficient water is necessary to practice basic hygiene including washing hands regularly and other household needs including drinking, cleaning and cooking. Irrigating small-scale food gardens is critical to sustain families and encourage them to grow their own food while the severely affected economy recovers.
Carrying heavy 25-litre buckets of water multiple times per day is extremely difficult for the youth, elderly and disabled and increases their risk of infection every time they visit a water collection point.
Even with the passing emergency of the Covid-19 pandemic, the importance of Hippo Roller technology remains as crucial as ever. The Hippo Roller continues to be an indispensable tool for communities lacking proper water infrastructure, contributing to the well-being of these communities and enhancing their hygiene by providing efficient access to water, 90 liters at a time. It offers a flexible and mobile solution for accessing multiple water points based on availability, ensuring sustained water security for these communities.
This is how it works:
Hippo Roller: low-tech, high impact
Health, Prosperity And Dignity
More water means a better quality of life, children are enabled to get to school and gain better employment opportunities. Families can irrigate crops, generate income and rise above subsistence levels, restoring dignity through improved health, hygiene and poverty alleviation.
Time, Productivity And Opportunity
The unlocked time to focus on improved productivity, education, work and play, empowers people with the opportunity to become self-sufficient and break free from the poverty cycle.
Global Reach And Scaling Up
65,000+ Hippo Rollers have already been distributed to 56 countries over the past 29 years and have positively impacted on a conservative estimate of 650,000+ direct beneficiaries and many more indirectly. Scaling up will allow us to broaden our footprint globally and improve product affordability through bulk distribution and local manufacture.
Who is behind Hippo Roller
Hippo Roller is a social enterprise organisation based in South Africa that manufactures and distributes Hippo Rollers with the aid of sponsors and donors for the past 30+ years now.
Managed by its founder, Grant Gibbs and his family, Hippo Roller have built a sustainable business supplying Hippo Rollers and related products to Corporate businesses for social upliftment and brand-building promotions; NGOs for improving access to water, saving time for other important activities and improved education and employment opportunities; Donors for helping rural and impoverished communities around the world and Governments.
The Hippo Roller was first designed in 1991 by two other South Africans, Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker, who received their first design award in 1992 from the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards) Design Institute. Despite a number of small improvements over the years the original design is primarily unchanged.
Hippo Roller plans to scale up by partnering with like-minded organisations to facilitate local manufacture in other regions to significantly reduce the “landed cost” and increase affordability and distribution.
source: Hippo Roller I Interesting Engineer
cover image: Hippo Roller
author: Barbara Marcotulli
