Kaze Zai

A Design To Elevate Life

Timeline

August 2020 - May 2021

Collaborators

Tallinn University of Technology & Estonian Academy of Arts

Role

Thesis Project

Kaze Zai is a platform that connects the competencies of its users and encourages sustainable economic activities. With Kaze Zai, women will have the chance to grow valuable networks and be empowered as a community. The platform provides the user with the following features.

Share Resources and Find work opportunities.
Uses can also gain new skills, Sell handmade products as well as form workgroups.

Problem Statement

There is a significant gender gap that women face in most parts of the world compared to their male counterparts. In developing countries, the gap is seen more prominently. There is much work needed to be done regarding women’s empowerment in Bangladesh. This project explores the possibility on how to reduce the gender gap and empower women by creating sustainable women empowerment via Interconnecting competencies.

Analysis of problem space - Issues hindering empowerment of less fortunate women in Bangladesh

After extensive research on the background following issues have been identified that are currently hindering women empowerment in Bangladesh.

Field Survey

A field research survey has been conducted in an Upazila of Khulna district of Bangladesh. 86 women were asked questionnaires consisting of queries about formal educational level, marital age, professional status, hindrance from family or society, involvement with organisations and purpose, possession of a smartphone, internet literacy, possession of bank accounts and most importantly, their interest in practical training and area of interest. Analysis of the result has opened up the possible intervention scope

Expert Interviews

With the understanding gained from the literature and field research analysis, it seems essential to know the opinion of experts working closely in strategy or field level for women empowerment. Two experts’ views have been collected regarding the subject matter. Following understanding are gained from these interviews

Persona Design

Creating a persona is a critical component of any design solution. Based on the results of the conducted survey and after reading through the responses to all the interviews, three personas were developed to help better understand the domain of the problems or the users' potential desires. The following are the three personas developed

System Architecture

The platform's Simplified Architecture is divided into mobile apps, three different internal modules, and a system database. The mobile app part of the platform will connect to these three different modules. These modules are connected to system databases to show and save data. The platform is connected to the NID system. The member module and the client modules are connected to third-party maps to give the map functionality in the system. The member module and the client module are also connected to a third-party mobile payment gateway.

Initial mockups

User Testing

After designing the initial platform, The intention was to conduct Co-working workshops with real users. However, due to the pandemic, the NGO staff with whom the survey collaboration on the initial user survey was done could not organise any workshops. Despite these significant roadblocks, it was possible to communicate with seven correspondents via the digital medium with the printed UI of the system. The following feedbacks have been incorporated after getting the feedbacks

Skill development features
Lending and borrowing Features
Usage of block-based UI as the women are just now getting used to the internet so an easy to use UI will help them with the learning curves