Nav at Festival in Kuilipalayam India no.1

Flat-pack washing machine spins a fairer future

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A former Dyson engineer is revolutionizing household chores in deprived communities after inventing an off-grid, flat-packable washing machine.
Nearly five billion people in remote and developing areas still wash their clothes by hand. It’s a job that places an unfair burden on women and young girls, who may work up to 20 hours a week.

Enter Navjot Sawhney, who founded the UK-based social enterprise washing machine project (TWMP) to tackle this, and has now shipped nearly 500 of its hand-crank divination machines to 13 countries, including Mexico, Ghana, Iraq and the US.

The Divya washing machine, composed of an outer drum and a rotating inner drum, operates a 30-minute wash cycle, where it caters to a 5 kg load, requiring only a few minutes of manual turning.

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it works Like this: After loading clothes, detergent and water and leaving it on for 10-15 minutes, users can close the lid and spin the handle for two minutes, repeating this twice ten minutes after placing the clothes in the middle of the spin. And voila – water can then be drained from the machine using the front-mounted tap.

This saves 75% of the user’s time and reduces water consumption by half. “The machine takes a task that is tedious and time-consuming and turns it into something simple, easy to manage and time-saving,” Sawhney said.

The development of the divine project did not end with its invention. “We went back to the drawing board and really listened to the people we were designing for, the context they lived in. That research changed everything,” said Laura Tuck, the organization’s R&D lead.

An important consideration was to ensure that the divas were suitable for the locations where they would be used. For example, in Uganda, machines were delivered to a small island on Lake Victoria using a fishing boat. Repair or replacement could not easily occur, so the TWMP team needed to rethink how the originally complex gear-system machine could operate under these conditions. Solution? To design a product that is simpler, more intuitive and repairable locally, using available skills and infrastructure.

Inspired by feedback from real users during workshops and focus groups, TWMP improved the machine’s durability, material stress and usability, with the team introducing stronger metal frames, simplified workflows and improved seals and taps.

The innovation has already impacted the lives of nearly 50,000 people – and Sawhney is just getting started.

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TWMP hopes to reach 1,000,000 people by 2030, but says it cannot do it alone; It is building a network of partners including NGOs, UN agencies and local communities, including the Whirlpool Foundation, the charity wing of the US-based home appliance firm.

Localized production will begin as early as 2026, building a new generation of machines in India, closer to those who use them. The project is also operating a ‘hub’ where the machines can be assembled and delivered, but training, workshops and educational activities are also provided, increasing the impact of the time saved by the Divya machines.

It is also calling for policy partnerships to include laundry access in broader strategies around water, sanitation, hygiene and gender equality.

Images: Washing Machine Project

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