Interview with Timothy Prestero, Founder and CEO of Design that Matters.

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Timothy Prestero was based in the Ivory Coast town of Soubré, working in the Peace Corps's Urban Environment Program.  The Corps was placing teams of community volunteers and technical volunteers in local governments to upgrade the city's infrastructure. He spent two years working with the Soubré Public Works department, managing infrastructure projects like the construction of 28 latrines serving 4,000 students at seven local elementary schools.

He was initially working with the schools to identify the health risks that led to a high level of absenteeism. He discovered that the lack of latrines was part of the disease problem and worked with local contractors and laborers to design and build the systems.  Even though he has a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Davis, he found that the people in the Soubré government knew everything he knew, on top of the practical experience that he lacked. He learned a lot about getting things done in the field, whether or not it fit with his engineering training.

Tim now runs Design that Matters (DtM) – a non-profit he started to design new products and services to help social enterprises scale their organizations and meet their mission.  DtM works solely with volunteers – hundreds of engineers, designers, students, and lawyers.  Many engineering and design students tackle DtM design challenges as part of their degree requirements for professional practice experience.

Most of DtM's recruiting and information sharing is done on the Internet.  In one case, designing an education tool for rural Africa took 180 volunteers working in teams and collaborating on the Internet.

Tim travels constantly to see what is needed in the field.  He just returned from Nepal where he met with hospital staff to understand how they could design an infant incubator that can be built for US $200 – a similar product costs $20,000 in the West.  DtM also has developed a flow controller for intravenous drips that can be easily and accurately used by a family member taking care of a patient in a developing country.

Tim advises social entrepreneurs to "do it yourself" – be proactive and create opportunity.  Get out into the field and pay attention and really, really listen to the people you are working with.

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