- Over 60% of听the global population still handwashes their clothes – a task that can take up to 20 hours a week and disproportionately affects women and girls.
- The听Washing听Machine听Project designs and distributes off-grid, manual听washing听machines听that save up to 75% of听the听time and 50% of听the water used in handwashing.
- Our flagship product,听the Divya, is flat-packable, durable and can be assembled or repaired with just two tools – currently deployed in 15+ countries, including refugee camps, hospitals and off-grid villages.
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What is The Washing Machine Project?
The Washing Machine Project is a not-for-profit social enterprise founded in 2019 to solve a basic but overlooked challenge: the time, effort, and health burden of handwashing clothes in humanitarian and low-income contexts. We exist to restore dignity and ease to millions of people – primarily women – through innovative, appropriate technology.
鈥淚t started with a promise I made to my neighbour Divya while volunteering in South India. Watching her hand wash clothes for hours each day, I asked her what would make her life easier. Her answer was simple: a washing machine. That conversation changed the course of my life – and became the seed for this project.鈥�
Since then, we鈥檝e interviewed over 4,000 families in 13 countries to co-design the Divya, and we鈥檙e now scaling up to reach 1 million people by 2030.
Want to be featured as 91探花鈥檚 Startup of the Week? Find out more about this weekly feature, and how to get involved,听here.
Is There A Market for the Divya?
The market for the Divya isn鈥檛 just a commercial opportunity – it鈥檚 a global humanitarian need. According to the latest figures, three in five people globally still rely on hand washing. That鈥檚 billions of people – from women in rural India to displaced families in refugee camps – who spend hours each week on this physically demanding task, often without access to running water or electricity.
This unpaid labour has hidden costs: lost educational opportunities, chronic back pain, poor hygiene outcomes, and exposure to cold or contaminated water. The Divya was built in response to this. It鈥檚 an off-grid, manual washing machine that鈥檚 flat-packable, repairable, and uses up to 50% less water. Crucially, it saves people听time – often the most precious resource they have.
We鈥檝e already impacted thousands with our Divya machines in 15 countries through partnerships with UNHCR, Oxfam and the Whirlpool Foundation – and we鈥檙e only just getting started. In 2025, we鈥檙e opening our first manufacturing facility in India with the capacity to produce 10,000 units annually, exponentially growing our current output.
The potential for scale is enormous – and so is the impact.
A Little Bit More On the Divya and What鈥檚 Next for the Washing Machine Project
The Divya can be disassembled and repaired with just two tools – a key design feature to support long-term use in tough environments. It鈥檚 already helping families in Gaza, the Congo, Chiapas (Mexico) and beyond. This year, we鈥檙e also piloting Divya 2.0, a modular version with even better water efficiency and local manufacturing adaptability.
Looking ahead, we鈥檙e exploring new innovations in off-grid听cooking, cooling, lighting and refrigeration – all driven by the same principle: practical products, co-designed with communities, that give people time, dignity, and opportunity.
