Bhutan's Inclusive Makeathon — ADB/JFPR Co-Design of Assistive Devices with Disabled 'Need Knowers'

In February 2025, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR) convened a South Asia Regional Makeathon at Thimphu's Royal Textile Academy, marking the 40th anniversary of Bhutan-Japan diplomatic relations. Around 100 participants — including disabled 'need knowers', special-education teachers, fabricators and international advisors such as Professor Harshit K. Dave of S.V. National Institute of Technology, Surat — worked in nine teams to design assistive devices tailored to individual disabled students, rather than generic products for a disability category.
The top three prototypes were selected for refinement, led by SEAT (Sensory Engagement and Attention Tooling), a multi-functional desk/chair for students with ADHD. ADB documented a case in which a 12-year-old girl with mobility issues received finger-grip and pencil-holder aids at the first Makeathon and, a year later, an improved version built directly from her feedback at a second iteration — evidence that the co-design loop worked for at least one participant.
This remains an early-stage, event-based programme: ADB itself notes that building a system to distribute these solutions beyond the Makeathon to special-education-needs schools nationally is still under discussion, and no country-wide rollout or independent evaluation has yet been published.

Read the full analysis: https://kathmandupost.com/national/2025/02/21/experts-advocate-for-affordable-and-easily-accessible-assistive-technology