Proximity Designs co-founder, Debbie Aung-Din Taylor, explains the importance of empathy when designing products for the rural poor.

Most small plot farmers will spend hours a day lugging water from well to field in watering can, crippling themselves in the process. Our drip irrigation kit is designed to eliminate this.

U Sein Win updates us on the issues he's faced with this season's rice crop.

Ko Thet and family talk to co-founder, Debbie Aung Din, about the lack of affordable credit available in their village.

Staff in Bogalay discuss the summer paddy season with villagers over lunch.

A successful season on this farm near Taungoo has meant constant employment for these laborers.

Ma Lei Yi has added handles to her Yetagon pump for easier treadling. Inspiration for improved designs often comes from customer modifications.

Living hand to mouth means no security in old age. Like many their age, this elderly couple continue to farm.

Detailed accounts of harvest successes and failures helps us understand the needs of our customers.

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Knowing our customers

Real impact and effectiveness require real proximity to rural families

We obsess over knowing our customers, and we believe, that to know them best, we have to be proximate. All of our 350+ staff are in Myanmar, with most at the village level. They’re out there every day, 365 days a year, asking questions, observing lifestyles and getting to know rural family's needs first hand. 

This meticulous user-centered research helps us to provide products and services that are personalized and relevant, and that slot easily into rural lifestyles. Products and services that people - like the betel farmer crippled from hauling 6 tons of water on his back every day - will use, and think, “It’s like it was made for me”. To do this well we have to build trust, and a relationship that goes two ways. So, we treat the poor as customers, not beneficiaries. It means they always have a choice, and that we’re guaranteed to get their honest opinions on what we’re doing, either through sales numbers or when they corner us in a teashop. Their feedback, our detailed impact analysis, and our continued field observations, all circle back into the design process. It’s what keeps us growing, and improving our services.