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In May 2008 a FabLab was installed in the village of Bagrami near Jalalabad, Afghanistan with funding from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGER) program. This FabLab is a continuation of a program started in 2002 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA). Currently there are approximately 40 such labs in 11 countries all interconnected with high speed internet. The aim of the Jalalabad FabLab was to investigate post-war and disaster recovery applications of digital fabrication that benefit from access to on-demand, local, custom production capabilities rather than relying on long, slow, and expensive supply chains. The Jalalabad lab was expected to have special emphasis on health care needs that require on-site customization for individuals.

FabLab Overview

Any day sees up to 400 Afghanis visiting the lab to attend courses or work on projects. These people range in age and educational level, but they are all share one common passion: work on technology that helps construct a better life in Afghanistan.

The Fab Lab promotes local solutions from start to finish---technology which originates from local people instead of being "translated" from a foreign culture. The FabLab provides access to tools with which local communities can explore design concepts and build physical solutions to problems. The lab in Jalalabad is run by Afghans.

The intended outcome is to develop a highly-skilled, local workforce: Afghanis who can look at a common problem, conceptualize a solution, and then build it with advanced tools. Some participants will turn these solutions into products that can be sold on the local market. Other will gain the credentials and desperately-needed skills to help rebuild Afghanistan. (See the CNN article "Afghani entrepreneurs find profit in technology" at [[1]].

The Afghanistan Fab Lab is one of nearly 40 labs in 11 countries. All are connected via high speed internet and a global video conferencing system---allowing Fab Lab users in Lorain County, Ohio and the South Bronx, New York, for example, to exchange ideas with other users in South Africa and Iceland. Over the last several years, Fab Lab users have made RF components in Norway, copier gears in India, and even robotic crafts in the inner city of Boston.

Local Projects

Since the Afghanistan FabLab opened in late summer 2008, local users have focused on basic craft and utility projects---including printed t-shirts, small art projects, and long range wireless antennas. As the community gains more advanced skills, they will begin to tackle more difficult projects that address local, personal and community needs. Over the long-term, the FabLab is well-suited to address immmediate needs in health care and other areas which are currently constrained by the need for long supply chains or large local inventories. Some recent and ongoing projects in the Afghanistan FabLab focus on either enhanced communications or skills training for Afghans.

Communication Projects

Fab-Fi: FabFi uses low-cost building materials and off-the-shelf network routers to transmit wireless, high-speed ethernet signals across distances of up to 15 kilometers. The FabLab recently built and installed FabFi networks in a school, hospital, university, and a non-governmental organization in Jalalabad. More -->

Teacher Laptop Training: The FabLab trains local teachers in the Bagrami school with basic computer and internet skills, loaning them laptops to take home for personal use. The FabLab supports the teachers as they introduce laptop computers and integrate technology into their curriculum. More -->

Digital Pathology: With Dr. Mendoza from San Diego Sister City Project, the FabLab installed a frozen section machine, digital microscope, and internet connection at the Jalalabad Hospital to permit real time remote pathology consultations. This will facilitate enhanced medical diagnosis and treatment. More -->

Bagrami Online: Since the successful installation of the FabFi high-speed internet link to the primary school in Bagrami, the village (which lacks water and electrical utility lines) is now interested in extending the wireless network to serve all 5,000 inhabitants.

Learning Projects

T-shirt Club: The t-shirt club makes and sells custom t-shirts at a small profit, providing an incentive for students to learn basic digital 2D fabrication methods and business skills. The club uses this practical training to learn skills such as pricing, accountability, stock management, and quality control. More -->

Challenge Coins: Through the design, production, and sale of souvenir tokens for local organizations, the challenge coin program provides an incentive structure for students to learn more advanced digital 3D fabrication methods and management skills than the t-shirt club. A prototypical methodology was developed in November 2008 and demonstrated to members of the FabLab community. More -->

Weather Station: The FabLab is equipped with a weather station (anemometer, temperature, barometer). For now, FabLab users carefully record the temperature and barometric pressure conditions in a journal and are learning how to track and graph the data.

Self-Study Projects: In addition to making t-shirts and other crafts, the FabLab students can use a number of games and other projects to develop skills in engineering and science. These self-organized projects often include stamps, music boxes, microcontroller-based circuits, Pico-crickets and Scratch graphical game design and programming.

Taj Fab Shop: Technology jobs-for-hire focusing on apprenticeship-style skills training for locals.

Facilities

The fab lab program in Afghanistan is headquartered at the flagship lab in Nangarhar Province at the edge of Jalalabad. Jalalabad is about 90 miles to east of Kabul, and about 35 miles from Pakistan border at the Khyber Pass. The Fab Lab is located within a compound in the village of Bagrami, directly adjacent to the Taj Mahal guesthouse. It is approximately equidistant between Nangarhar University and downtown Jalalabad. If you happen to be in Afghanistan and would like to visit the lab, please contact us.

Virtual Tours

You are welcome to visit our fab lab on a virtual tour. We maintain an online photo gallery, and you can also watch a live video feed from global fab labs (username "guest" with no password). Because of time zone differences, you will not always find us working at the lab. But you are welcome to drop in to see if you can find us!

The lab staff also maintains a here to keep track of what happens in the lab (or try here) .

Staffing

The FabLab employs several paid teachers who manage different aspects of the FabLab community. The FabLab provides young Afghani women and men with valuable management experiences. Over the long-run, the FabLab is intended to be a self-managed and self-sustaining community.

Funding and Support

The initial capital equipment, site preparation, and a portion of the first year's operational costs were funded by an National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. The installation of the lab was a collaborative effort among the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Bits and Atoms, Rotary International Jalalabad - San Diego Sister City Project, and MindTel LLC.

Free Range International provided "outside the wire" secure transportation and logistics services into the rural districts of Afghanistan. GATR Technologies also furnished an inflatable SatCom antenna system---providing a high-bandwith internet link for the FabLab network.

Steady state operational funding of the lab is in part from the sale of successful user projects and mini-businesses and in large part from individual and corporate donors. You may donate through a credit card or for larger donations ($1,000 and up) contact us at amy at fabfolk dot com.

How You Can Help

Donations to the lab are greatly appreciated to support the basic operations of the lab. This is to keep a minimal staff and to buy building materials for the projects. Please use the "Donate button" on the left side of this page.

Job placement is needed for users who have demonstrated mastery of various computer, networking, and technical skills.

Interact on-line with the Jalalabad users! This will allow them to practice English (written and oral) and encourage them to share pictures, video, and descriptions of the projects they are working on.

Papers and Documents

2009 Annual Report prepared for National Science Foundation grant reporting Feb 2009
Information Brief: Bagrami School
Information Brief: Jbad Lab Monthly Recurring Costs Forecast (prepared Sept 2009)
Information Brief: FabFi Project Overview (draft) Sept 2009