Technology for the Poorest Billion (GM2, Part IIA project)
Technology for the Poorest Billion is a project-based module in Part IIA of the Cambridge Engineering Tripos (GM2), coordinated by Prof. Alexandre Kabla (Engineering) and Dr Lara Allen (Centre for Global Equality). Teams of students work on real engineering problems proposed by partner organisations and research labs, in humanitarian and international-development settings. The aim is to learn how to design technology that fits its context: the people who will use it, the work of the partner, the Sustainable Development Goals and the UNICEF principles for digital development. Each team works with great autonomy: it proposes a work plan in the first week, builds and tests a solution with its partner, gives an interim and a public final presentation, and hands over a prototype, documentation and a public project web page. Staff act as facilitators and mentors rather than setting boundaries, and every team keeps its work in an open GitHub repository.