Design Abroad: Nepal  Led By Sarah Tranum

In May of 2024, thirteen undergraduate design students from across six programs in the Faculty of Design led by Sarah Tranum, traveled to Pokhara, Nepal, where they worked with staff and participants from SASANE, a survivor-led organization that works to raise awareness and end human trafficking in Nepal. Among the many programs and supports it offers, SASANE has several training initiatives that help women gain the skills and confidence needed to explore different employment opportunities. The project focus of the Design Abroad course was working with staff and participants from SASANE, GVI Nepal, and other community-based stakeholders to co-design communication, product, and systems design solutions that expand SASANE’s capacity and supports its mission.

Founded in 2008, SASANE “stands against human trafficking, child marriage, women violence, and oppression so that no female is exploited for forced slavery, flesh trade or early marriage.” The growing awareness of these issues internationally along with SASANE's established track record working on human trafficking and women's rights issues provided a solid foundation for the course's participatory project to lead to implementation and long-term adoption.

The course’s location in Nepal was an opportunity for students to understand how design, history, environment, culture, economics, and policy intersect and how this plays out in the country where there are many strengthens as well as challenges. Nepal’s dramatic geography, its historical political volatility, its reliance on agricultural and tourism activities, its struggle with social and environmental challenges, and its vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, were seen in microcosm in this project. Students explored how Nepal's history has impacted the local community and learned how a systems-based lens can be harnessed to co-create robust and informed solutions that positively impact SASANE as its work to support human trafficking survivors and give them a hopeful present and future.

Using the participatory design process, which included interviews, prototyping, iteration, and consultation with community-based co-designers, OCAD U students worked in teams to develop an updated logo and website, a hotel lobby-focused marketing solution, a new product line, and a reimagined service delivery approach for tourist workshops that will help raise awareness of SASANE’s work and drive more sales of products and workshops that will support its efforts. Through documentation and creating implementation guides, the goal is to help SASANE, with the support from GVI, to put the plans into action in both the short-term and long-term. The work done by the class will be a catalyst for new and expanded projects that supports SASANE's work with human trafficking survivors and spurs its ongoing impact.

This project is the result of a partnership between OCAD University and GVI, an award-winning organization that focuses on high-impact and high-quality conservation and community development programs in several countries. In collaboration with the GVI team, the Design Abroad faculty developed the program structure built upon GVI’s long-term, trusted relationship with SASANE. The work the students accomplished in collaboration with the community continues as GVI field staff provides ongoing support to SASANE to implement the marketing, product, and service design solutions that were co-designed during the three weeks of this course.

When not working on the project with SASANE, the class had time to soak in Nepali culture and Pokhara’s beautiful surroundings. Students hiked to the World Peace Pagoda, explored local shops, strolled along the lakeside, tried Nepali food like its famous momos and dal bhat, and watched the sunrise over the Annapurna mountain range. They connected with local residents and built friendships with one another that continue beyond the time frame of the course.

A group exhibition for the course was held from September 25 to October 8, 2024, on campus in the Great Hall at 100 McCaul Street. This show will featured the work from the students’ individual final projects that are inspired by their experiences and reflections traveling and engaging in this comprehensive participatory design project with SASANE and GVI in Nepal. The work developed by the class is innovative and diverse, from a travel-inspired card game to performance art, audio and video compositions to wearable speculative design.