Universities & Councils Network on Innovation for Inclusive Development-SEA

12/11/2025

“British Sikh engineer, Navjot Sawhney gave up his lucrative career to go and work in India, to use his skills to help solve problems for rural communities. While there, he became fascinated with the problems his neighbour, Divya, was facing while handwashing clothes, sometimes for up to three hours a day.

Broadcaster and journalist Nkem Ifejika finds out how Nav promised to design a hand crank, off-grid washing machine for his neighbour, to help her avoid the sore joints, aching limbs, and irritated skin she got from her daily wash.

Within two years of coming up with the idea, Nav had set up his own company, The Washing Machine Project, and trialled his first machine in a refugee camp in Iraq. From that first trip, over five years ago, the project has now provided nearly a thousand machines, free to the users in poorer communities and refugee camps, in eleven countries around the world.”

01/09/2025

11/02/2025

“Researchers from the Ateneo de Manila University and from National University-Mall of Asia Campus have found a surprising new use for the copious amounts of volcanic ash scattered across the Philippines: it can be used to shield against harmful radiation.

Radiation shielding is essential for hospitals, industrial sites, and nuclear facilities. These places use ionizing radiation for beneficial purposes such as in helping doctors treat sick organs and broken bones; looking for structural weaknesses in buildings; or helping sterilize food for longer shelf life.”

This pyroclastic material—usually considered as waste—is rich in iron, enabling it to efficiently block X-rays and gamma rays.

01/02/2025

“She envisions an open-access model where teachers can download and print the game, including its board and accessories, and use it to teach around 180 native Filipino languages to their respective students.

Designed for four players per team, Isabuhay assigns roles such as teacher, researcher, agency representative and language promoter, each contributing specific skills to advance in the game and complete the shared mission of “saving native languages from extinction.”

Players draw cards based on the history of native languages in the country, including the impact of mining and migration, which have caused the displacement of communities and the decline of language vitality, as well as contemporary language issues such as bilingual education policies and linguistic human rights.”

A professor from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños (UPLB) has developed an educational board game designed to teach high school and college students about the country’s native languages. https://tinyurl.com/3ex4f3xf

13/01/2025

30/12/2024

What if you could find a library tucked away in the corner of a sari-sari store or even inside a jeepney? Enter the latest initiative, "Bayong ng Aklat, Bayong ng Pag-Asa” led by University of the Philippines – Los Baños (UPLB) Assistant Professor Liwliwa N. Malabed.

READ: https://go.explained.ph/6oJ2

12/12/2024

06/12/2024

02/12/2024

“On Thursday, November 28, the city library launched 19 Braille books in partnership with the National Library of the Philippines. These books go beyond simple translations of original texts — they also provide detailed descriptions of visual elements within the stories.

Some of the available Braille book titles in the library include Ang Alaga Kong Lolo; Ang Batang Papet; Ang Nanay Kong Drayber; Duyan Pababa sa Bayan; Maanghang na Salita; Paalam, Puti; Sayaw ni Dayaw; Kaya ni Ninia; Sakto Lang; and Tinola ni Nanay.

For Julia, a high school student with a visual impairment, these books sparked her imagination.

“Habang binabasa ko po siya kanina, na-imagine ko po na para akong nagta-travel, ‘yung ako lang po. Tapos, para akong nagda-drive,” Julia said. (While I was reading it earlier, I imagined that I was traveling alone, as if I were driving.)

She read What Kids Should Know About Quezon City, a book that highlights key events, notable personalities, significant places, and interesting stories about the city.

Grade 8 student Riza Reyes from Quirino High School expressed how the books motivated her to excel in her studies.

“Habang binabasa ko po ‘yung Braille book, naisip ko po na mas lalo po [akong] na-inspire na gawin ‘yung best ko sa pag-aaral kasi may mga tao na sinusuportahan ang mga tulad naming visually impaired na magkaroon ng mas maraming kaalaman,” Reyes said.

(While I was reading the Braille book, I thought to myself that I was even more inspired to do my best in studying because there are people supporting those like us, the visually impaired, in gaining more knowledge.)

Josephine Miranda, a public school district supervisor in Quezon City, emphasized that reading should not be limited to sighted children.

“Ang reading ability ay hindi lamang para sa mga nakakakita na bata. Ito ay para rin po sa mga batang hindi nakakakita na dapat ay magkaroon ng kakayahang magbasa at umunawa,” Miranda said.

(Reading ability is not only for children who can see. It is also for children who are blind, who should have the ability to read and understand.)

National Library of the Philippines chief librarian Dolores Dolado-Carungui highligted that the accessibility of learning materials for persons with disability is a problem not just in the Philippines but in the Asia-Pacific region as well.

“That’s why our production of Braille materials is becoming patchy. The resources for the blind, the Department of Education, and the National Library of the Philippines are working on it, but it’s still not enough,” Carungui said.”

The Quezon City Public Library is turning a new page in inclusivity, offering books specially designed for children with visual impairment. https://trib.al/yWJGOZq

28/11/2024

26/10/2024

“Like many of Southeast Asia’s capitals, Bangkok was made by water. It was a floodplain long before humans started carving out canals and pouring concrete.

Now, these powerhouse cities - including Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur - are having to find new solutions to manage it.

Singapore too faces the threat of rising sea levels - forecast to be by up to 1.15m by the end of the century - and has unveiled measures such as reclaiming a "Long Island" off the east coast to protect endangered shorelines.

Climate change is supercharging the power of water in and around urban areas - from the rising seas to more powerful storms and unpredictable rain.

What is at stake is the lives of millions living on land that could conceivably be underwater, the productivity of critical economies and the potential collapse of vital urban infrastructure and natural ecosystems alike.

The question is whether engineering can save them.

Or if nature itself can be managed instead - or at the same time - to bring equilibrium back to places where human development has run wild.”

Giant sea walls, artificial islands and underground tunnels - these are some solutions being floated in Jakarta, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to combat flooding or sinking land. But experts say nature-based options may work better.