Facilitation
The study trip is facilitated by Mona Mijthab (Member of the Core Team ZHdK Strategic Design) and Omar Crespo (Guest Lecturer CAS Design Methods & CAS Design Cultures)
Mona Mijthab is a social entrepreneur with 8 years experience in teaching and research at ZHdK. Mona is a team member of the MAS Strategic Design and partially based in Switzerland and Guatemala. Mona founded Mosan, a social enterprise developing circular and climate-positive sanitation systems, transforming human excreta into biochar, which is used as a fertiliser and carbon sink in agriculture, to regenerate soils and increase farmer resilience.
Omar Crespo is a Guatemalan expert in participatory design, consultant at MIT D.Lab, and the founder of the organization Link4, a social enterprise that fosters local innovation and sustainable development, capacity building and social impact experiences. Link4s mission is to make design accessible to everyone. Its team is composed of Guatemalan experts and local community members guiding study trip participants through this immersive experience.
Both organizations Mosan and Link4 are based in Santa Catarina Palopó since 2018 as active members and facilitators in the local innovation ecosystem. Study Trip participants get to delve in and contribute to the ongoing innovation process within the community.