Biography
Mona is a social entrepreneur, international speaker and designer with a focus on circular product and service design and social innovation. She is passionate about solving complex challenges, while inspiring others and leading diverse teams. In her work she applies participatory approaches to involve local populations in the design process.
Mona founded Mosan, a social enterprise improving the living conditions in low-income communities with access to safe sanitation. Mosan currently offers its services in Mayan communities in Guatemala. www.mosan.com
Mona works at ZHdK since 2015 in various roles. She has many years experience in teaching and facilitation of large and diverse groups, she is a lecturer and core team member of the MAS Strategic Design, where she develops and leads several courses (e.g. Design Thinking for Social Innovation, Design Methods – User Research & Co-Creation, Design Cultures Studytrips, Intercultural Competencies).
Besides teaching Mona has several years of experience in academic research. In 2018 she led the 2 year project "Design with Social Impact", a 3-country collaboration project among Kenya, Macedonia and Switzerland. Mona developed course concepts, facilitated the program, developed curricula, organized student exchanges and research methodologies. Since 2014 Mona is a member of the IDIN network at MIT D-Lab, where she works in research projects and facilitates workshops and innovation processes worldwide (e.g. in Kenya, Tanzania, Morocco, Colombia, Guatemala etc.).
Mona on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/monamijthab/
Publication
Mijthab, M., Anisie, R. & Crespo, O. Mosan: Combining Circularity and Participatory Design to Address Sanitation in Low-Income Communities. Circ.Econ.Sust. 1, 1165–1191 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-021-00118-w
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s43615-021-00118-w
Wanderausstellung "Social Design" Start 2018 Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, 2020–2021 Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (MKG)
https://museum-gestaltung.ch/de/ausstellung/social-design/