By Nangamso Mabindla
09 May 2007

THE lives of some of Mdantsane's residents could be changed for the better - the Buffalo City township has been chosen for a design competition in an international project involving the United Nations International Children's Fund (Unicef) and the Audi Design Foundation, based in Europe.

In the competition day-to-day needs of township residents are identified, and systems are designed to help. Areas that will be focused on include child-headed households, crime and underdeveloped schools.

Mdantsane came to the attention of the international partnership after Unicef joined the City to launch the Buffalo City Youth Strategy in 2005. Buffalo City official Shaun Petzer said the Audi Design Foundation aimed to make a difference to daily life in developing countries.

"It does this by undertaking needs assessments in these communities and then it requests tertiary students in the United Kingdom to design and develop items for daily living that will enhance the quality of life in these communities."

Petzer said the foundation and Unicef had already worked in Brazil and in Khayelitsha in Cape Town. "In 2004, the focus was on Rio de Janeiro's shanty towns; hanging vegetable and flower gardens were designed.

"Then, in 2005, it focused on Khayelitsha and designed a multi-purpose wall hanging that could be used to suffocate fires, insulate the home or serve as a bed."

Now it's Mdantsane's turn and a questionnaire was circulated to residents to discover people's needs. Through the questionnaire the foundation discovered that the three main challenges in Mdantsane were the prevalence of child-headed homes, crime and poor conditions of schools.

"The students in Britain will be invited to design and develop an item that could help to make a difference in the lives of Mdantsane residents. The winning design student will be given an opportunity to visit Mdantsane and to share the design concept," Petzer explained.

The international project, which is seen as a valuable opportunity to forge networks with international development role players, will be completed in September.