DESIGNERS WITHOUT BORDERS

David Stairs (left) with Mr. James Lutwama on the latter's
farm near Bombo, Uganda, June 2001
Designers
Without Borders was founded in Kampala, Uganda, in December 2000.
Originally conceived as a 'real world' learning experience for the
graphic design students at Makerere University, DWB quickly grew into a
design advocacy for under-resourced schools and non-profit
organisations. While university and secondary school students benefited
from the new technology and curricular enhancements DWB provided,
community organisations, like the National Committee of Women Living
With Aids (NACWOLA), used DWB's services to develop a brochure and
website for expanded social outreach. In 2004, DWB's American students
at Central Michigan University completed the first web presence for The Need Foundation, a non-profit organisation serving handicapped Ugandans.
Incorporated
as a tax-exempt non-profit organisation in 2002, Designers Without
Borders continues to evolve. In 2003, DWB joined a distinguished group
of three dozen worldwide recipients of a Sappi Fine Papers 'Ideas That
Matter' grant. Through lecturing and grant writing DWB continues to
raise funds to underwrite its 2006 return to Africa, where it will be
working with an expanded list of client organisations throughout Uganda
including schools, non-profit organisations, and community foundations.
Designers Without Borders serves as a reference point for
designers who have an interest in non-corporate design. DWB's articles
and web logs expand and inform contemporary debate in design circles.
Feature articles in HOW Design and Design Issues, as well as web-based
essays on Underconsideration.com, howdesign.com, and the AIGA's online
Design Forum have added to the ongoing worldwide discussion about the
importance to design of social justice and accountability. DWB is
planning an exhibition at Parsons School of Design in New York,
sometime in 2005. A book about Ugandan vernacular design is also under
development.
Designers Without Borders is dedicated to
improving the state of the developing world through increased access to
communication design, technology and education. Future endeavors
include the establishment of a website devoted to socially active
designers, the development of an endowed scholarship for African design
students who wish to study off-continent, and the creation of a
distance mentoring program for worldwide participating professionals
who would like to assist African design students. It is always the
intention of DWB to respect and protect indigenous forms of design
archetype.
In celebration of Architecture for Humanity's 'Siyathemba' project
to develop a soccer playing field in Somkhele KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,
DWB is sponsoring a call for entries to design a poster for Somkhele's
first ever girls soccer team.
About Designers Without Borders
Designers Without Borders is a membership organisation accepting tax-deductible donations that
can be designated for application to any of its specific initiatives.
All enquiries please contact:
About David Stairs
David Stairs is a designer and educator who believes that commerce is only one aspect of design. In 2000, Mr. Stairs founded Designers Without Borders, the world's first non-profit organisation exclusively devoted to assisting developing nations through communication design. His latest essay, 'Altruism as Design Methodology,' is scheduled for fall publication in Design Issues. Mr. Stairs teaches at Central Michigan University.