Ready, set, innovate!

Practitioners in S&D face diverse challenges while implementing their projects: from the lack of basic resources to the shortage of project-specific materials, they struggle on a daily basis. Creative innovations are useful for these projects and a source of inspiration to think further.

One of the most well-known innovations in S&D is the sOccket ball. It is an energy-harnessing football, which was invented by two Harvard-students, Julia Silverman and Jessica O. Matthews. It stores kinetic energy generated by play, which can be used later, for example to keep an LED lamp lit. It is a portable power source, which can be particularly useful in resource-poor areas. Now the sOccKet ball is sold by a social enterprise, Uncharted Play, along with new innovations like the Pulse: an emergency battery charger jumping rope made out of recycled plastic.

The One World balls are also smart inventions to solve some challenges on the field. They are nearly indestructible footballs and cricket balls which are tough enough for the hardest playing conditions. The One World Play Project is innovative in its “buy one, give one” programme as well, through which hundreds of community-based organisations benefit from playing with these durable balls.

Taking the example of football further, but leaving the balls behind, PITCH:AFRICA is using a rainwater harvesting system to provide clean water where water is scarce or unavailable. It joined its efforts with ATOPIA Research, a non-profit research and design organisation in the development process. They have projects in Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal.

Bikes are not only sports equipment, but in many places the primary means of transport. Several organisations make bikes from bamboo, including the Bamboo Bike Project research initiative. Furthermore, it tests the feasibility of using these bikes as a sustainable form of transport in Africa.

One could think that such inventions need a team of highly-qualified engineers and experienced project implementers to join forces. But in some cases all we need is to identify the problem and to be creative in solving it. A simple example is some of the table tennis for development programmes which lack ping pong balls. They use roller balls of used deodorant bottles, like the Sport for Hope Centre in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, where sport is used as a tool for rehabilitation after the devastating earthquake of 2010.

These examples are just a few of the responses to the challenging situations that sport for development practitioners face. Either we use them or come up with our own alternative solutions, let's be inspired by them!