The Tolocar project sends mobile makerspaces into Ukraine to support, train, and equip local communities.
Toloka is a traditional way of showing solidarity through the provision of physical support in Ukraine. With that in mind, German and Ukrainian partners with support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) co-created the Tolocar project just a few weeks after the start of the full-scale Russian* invasion of Ukraine. The goal of the project is to support both the emergency relief activities, and the development of a participatory innovation ecosystem for the socio-economic recovery of Ukraine.
With a fleet of mobile makerspaces at its core, Tolocar brings together experts from the fields of making, distributed manufacturing, and urban planning with civil society organizations in Ukraine to:
▶ Harness Ukraine's digital innovation capacity to meet urgent humanitarian needs
▶ Strengthen decentralized production systems at partner locations, such as displaced businesses, makerspaces or community workshops
▶ Support both new and existing stationary makerspaces
▶ Develop the capacities of Ukrainian makers and makerspace managers
▶ Expand the reach of Ukrainian makers by connecting them to national, regional, and global maker networks
What is a Tolocar?[edit | edit source]
A Tolocar is a converted van that offers the possibilities of a makerspace or fablab on wheels.
This means they bring the capacity of high end manufacturing or diagnosis technologies to the point of need. But crucially they remain plugged into a world wide community of diverse domain experts who can bring their collective intelligence to bear in ways that complement conventional relief or rebuilding efforts.
The aim is to enable communities to replicate some of the capabilities and so to catalyze rebuilding efforts and establish support networks.
How To Tolocar. Playbook for Mobile Makerspaces[edit | edit source]
With the playbook, the Tolocar project showcases different interpretations of what mobile makerspaces are, shares use cases and equipment lists, and introduces the different qualities of the team which have been essential to the successful implementation of the project. The PDF version can be found on the Tolocar website, but it is also available as a living document / open edit version on Appropedia.
Projects on Appropedia[edit | edit source]
Other Tolocar content[edit | edit source]
Tolocar is a project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH with support of HIWW in close collaboration with Ukrainian and international partners.