… Arne Pauwels and his Wakati project!
It is a successful project that does not hide its ambitions – minimize post-harvest losses of what has already been produced in developing countries – which won the International Prize at the RECIPROCITY DAY / EXPO MILANO 2015 Belgian Pavilion,
awarded by the International Jury of the Call for Projects THE TASTE OF CHANGE – Design for food.

Wakati, which means “time” in Swahili, allows farmers to increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. According to the United Nations, 45% of fruits and vegetables is spoiled before it reaches the market. The initiator of the project, Arne Pauwels, inspired by an “old” technology to keep areas cool, has devised its first use by farmers in Africa, forced to travel long distances to reach the nearest market where sell their products. It is impossible to be productive without a decent storage to protect the crops: Wakati is therefore ideal for warmer regions of the world with little energy. This tent / container provides a sterilized micro-climate, powered by a solar panel of just 3 Watts: it can contain 180 kg of fruits and vegetables. The energy required is less than 1% of a fridge and the cost is minimal.
The multi-disciplinary nature of the project certainly attracts different communities: eco-sustainable, business, design. These multiple dimensions converge in what we call “design for humans,” with a taste for change, of course!

The jury of the International Prize

Giovanna Massoni, RECIPROCITY design liège – artistic director and exhibition curator, Liege (BE)
Audrey Bres – Yookô Magazine, Paris (FR)
Leen Creve – freelance journalist, Antwerp (BE)
Vivian Cheng – designer and ICSID member, Hong Kong (HK)
Emma Firmin – freelance journalist, DAMn Magazine, Brussels (BE/UK)
Agata Jaworska – freelance journalist, curator, writer, Amsterdam (NL)
François Jégou – Strategic Design Scenarios / ENSAV La Cambre, Brussels (BE)
Anna Meroni – associate professor at the Design Department of Politecnico di Milano – international coordinator of DESIS – Design for Social Innovation and Sustainability Network Association (IT) 
Mathieu Nguyen – journalist, Le Vif Weekend, Brussels (BE)
Cristina Morozzi – journalist and Design Director of Education – Design School-Istituto Marangoni, Milan (IT)
Laurence Soetens – food designer, Food Fiction, Brussels (BE)
Saskia Van Stein – artistic director, Bureau Europa, Maastricht (NL)

This winning project and other 59 selected projects will be shown at the THE TASTE OF CHANGE exhibition during RECIPROCITY 2015!