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Good practice Imported

WoeLab — Togo's Grassroots E-Waste Fab Lab and Its HubCité Replication Network

Togo · Lomé · See the Togo profile · See the Lomé profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 66% 62/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2012, Lomé's WoeLab has built more than 20 working 3D printers from discarded electronics — including the crowdfunded W.Afate — and tried to replicate itself as a network of neighbourhood 'HubCité' fablabs across Togo, teaching digital fabrication in local schools.

20+
3D printers produced from e-waste (by 2018)
$4,600+
Initial crowdfunding raised (2013)
WoeLab — Togo's Grassroots E-Waste Fab Lab and Its HubCité Replication Network WoeLab — Togo's Grassroots E-Waste Fab Lab and Its HubCité Replication Network

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
WoeLab / L'Africaine d'Architecture
Period
2012–present
Keywords
digital fabrication, e-waste recycling, fablab, open hardware, youth education

Context

WoeLab is a grassroots fablab founded in 2012 in Lomé, Togo, by architect Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou and the collective L'Africaine d'Architecture, built around the idea that low-cost digital fabrication and open hardware could be built from what wealthier economies throw away.

Activities

Its best-known project is the W.Afate 3D printer, built by technician Kodjo Afate Gnikou largely from discarded scanners, printers and computer parts and funded through a 2013 Ulule crowdfunding campaign that raised over $4,600. WoeLab's HubCité and RepLab programmes aimed to seed small, low-cost neighbourhood hubs across Lomé and beyond, placing W.Afate printers in local schools.

Results

By 2018, 3DPrint.com reported WoeLab had produced more than 20 e-waste 3D printers; CNN covered it as one of the first 3D printers built almost entirely from e-waste.

Conclusions

The initiative has run for over a decade on crowdfunding, small grants and founder-driven energy rather than a stable institutional budget, and no independent study has measured the employment or skills outcomes of the schools placed with printers.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — Funded through crowdfunding (e.g. the $4,600+ 2013 Ulule campaign) and small grants rather than institutional budget.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Operating continuously since 2012.
Staffing & skills
WoeLab / L'Africaine d'Architecture founders and technicians

Conditions for success

  • Designed explicitly for replication via the HubCité/RepLab neighbourhood-hub model

Common failure modes

  • No stable institutional budget; relies on crowdfunding and small grants
  • No independent measurement of downstream employment or skills outcomes

Where it fits

Governance type
grassroots collective
Scale
Lomé and affiliated hubs
Income level
low income

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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