The Campaign

Children often play in the waters not too far off from where their mothers are doing their chores or washing. Research has shown that most parents in low to middle income communities do not know how to swim. Giving mothers an advantage when it comes to emergency situations where every second matters. We armed mothers who cannot swim, with a device that turns them into lifeguards, so they can help to rescue a drowning child within their reach. Just by adding a serrated edge to the swim board, we created the Washboard Lifesaver.

Creative Execution

After considering a vast selection of options, we derived a visually pleasing, optimized combined design of a washboard and swim board, and made it with a composite material that's cost-effective and highly functional. High density compressed 45 EVA foam board, 10m nylon rope, and a plastic whistle. The Washboard Lifesavers are disseminated through the Water Giants outreach program network. 100 units have been produced to date, and are currently being distributed to low and middle income communities in Malaysia.

Reduced number of child deaths by drowning in rural communities. The Washboard Lifesaver can be easily mass produced at a low cost, making it affordable for the Water Giants to easily venture into more rural communities across Asia. The Washboard Lifesaver is a supplementary tool that helps pave the way for the Water Giants outreach program to teach children in rural communities to swim. Our volunteers connected with our target audience through product demonstrations of the Washboard Lifesaver. We expect the idea to garner further interest, which will attract future investments from additional resources.

The Washboard Lifesaver is an innovation that can change the lives of our target communities without changing their way of living, as it combines the functions of both a common washboard and a swim board into a device that can save lives.