The Washing Machines Transforming Lives

At least 5 billion people around the world still wash their clothes by hand, a debilitating chore that takes around 20 hours every week and almost always undertaken by women and girls.

Credit: The Washing Machine Project

Whilst much of the developed world simply pops their laundry in an automated machine, in most of sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, owning or even having access to a washing machine, which requires both electricity and plumbing, remains rare. But the good news for these communities is that a British non-profit is doing its best to change that.

After witnessing the daily grind of women in an Indian village, Navjot Sawhney - a former Dyson engineer - founded The Washing Machine Project in 2019 with the aim of revolutionising housework in the developing world. “Hours and hours of hand washing denied them opportunities to work, study, and rest, it’s physically exhausting. It’s time consuming. It causes skin irritation, chronic back pain and other health problems,” Mr Sawhney told The Telegraph.

His solution: a light-weight washing machine that can be shipped anywhere in the world, is manually powered (i.e. hand-cranked), and requires no electricity or running water whatsoever to operate. It's the world’s first flat-packable washing machine. A manual, off-the-grid washer that helps save up to 50 percent of water and 75 percent of the time compared to hand washing clothes.

Costing less than $200 to build, each machine is given free to its users and funded through corporate donations and grants from the British government. The machine is designed to be assembled rapidly and easily by anyone and sits on rubber wheels, meaning it can be moved around and shared between families that need it. Crucially, it only uses around 20 litres of water per load - roughly half of what is used to wash the same quantity of clothes. Apart from that, it works much like a normal washing machine.

The Washing Machine Project has now shipped the device - known as a Divya - to more than 50,000 people in 13 countries, transforming the lives of thousands of women and girls. The effect on communities who have received a Divya is remarkable. Women using it report spending 75 percent less time on laundry each week, and the charity estimates they’ve saved women a total of 17 million hours over the last five years. Allowing them to focus on other matters, such as growing their own businesses.