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---Appropriate Technology
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-Production af Ayurvedic medicine in
a
private factary near Kandy,
Sri Lanka.
Appropriate technalagy cauld be af great help tor the revival
af
this
importent medical system.
)
f
(
Appropriate Technology
for Developing
Countries
W.
Riedijk
editor
T
U Delft Library
Prometheusplein 1
2628
ze
Delft
Published and Distributed by:
Delft University Press
Stevinweg 1
2628 eN Delft
The Netherlands
Telephone (0)15-783254
CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK, THE HAGUE
ISBN 90-6275-085-0
Copyright
©
1982, 1984,1987 by Delft University Press,Delft,The Netherlands. All rights reserved.Published 1982. Second editon 1984,Third edition1987. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may bereproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,electronicor mechanical,including photocopying,recording or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from Delft University Press.
Printed in The Netherlands
(
F I A A T M T D T AJTE
Fi AI DE Wi L. Si We H.Contents
Preface
I
n t r o d u c ti o n to the Theoretical Aspects
of
App
ropriate
Technology
(A.T
.l
Appropriate Technology for Developing Countries. Toward a General Theory of Appropriate Te c hnolo g y / W. Riedijk
Management of Appropriate Te c h n o l o g y Projects / C. van Bilzen The Evaluation of Appropriate Technology Projects / E.W. Hommes
Developrnent and A.T . ,
the Three Key Concepts
of A.T .
Development and Liberation / Sj. Theunis
The Technology Gap in the Case of Smal l Enterprises De v el o p me n t / M.P. van Dijk
Selfmanagemen t in th e Modragon Cooperat ives / H. Thomas Appropriate Technology in China; Stepwise Technology Acquisition / B. van Bronckhorst
Technical Applicat ion s
Food and Water
Farming / H. Toxopeus
Appropriate Te chn o l o g y for Processi ng Agr icu l tu ral Pro d u ct s in Developing Countries / F.W . Korthals Altes
Hydraulic Engineering in Irrigation and Drainage Appropriate Technology in Developing Countries / H.J. Schoemaker and A. Figee Water Supplies in Rural Areas of Developing Countries /
L. Huisman
Sanitation and Health
We ste r n Me d i c al Te c hnolo g y and Tr a d i t i on al He al ing Systems / H.C.J . Nijhuis VII - XI 3- 20 21- 33 34- 38 41- 50 51- 69 69- 82 83-101 105-116 117-150 151-181 182-214
Sanitation Technology for Rural Areas in Developing Countries / H.J. Pöpel
Sanitation in Rural Areas in Developing Countries / V. van Amelsvoort
Housing
Appropriate Building Methods and Materials in Developing Countries / P. Huybers
Energy
Renewable Energy Sources for Third World Countries / C. Daey Ouwens Solar Driven Refrigeration System / A.L . Stolk
Metallurgy
Appropriate Te c h n o l o g y in Metal Product ion and processing / F.J. Kievits and K.V. Prabhakar
Epilogue 231-262 26 3-2 70 271-300 301-31 8 319-332 333-351 352 -3 56
Preface
The cage of AT
Seri ou s, ca p ab le and expe r ie nced people, eng inee rs , scie n t ists and managers cooper a t i ng wi t h bas e groups in th e fie ld of approp r ia te te chn ol o g y. Th ousand s of pro jec t s run by hundre d s of organ is a t io ns, institute s and grou ps , worldwid e. Th a t is the pic t u re of AT to d a y.
So man y peop le, 50 muc h work, 50 mu c h ha rdwa re, but l i t t le recogn i t ion. So many no v elti e s, 50 few implementations. Is i t the lack of fu n d i ng and th e la ck of qua l i ty rel ate d wit h it? I don' t thi n k 50.
In third wo r l d cou n t r ies A.T . is of ten seen as secon d best, even as a for m of neoco lon i a l ism. In ind u stria l i s e d count r ies A.T . is condemned as a back -ward str iving dream of ecofreaks. Nei t h er of the two jud g e me n t s are fair , but the y are understandabl e. To outs i de r s A.T. is no thing mor e than a name ide n t ifi ed wi th hobby is m, sma l l ness and l o weff iciency. To ins i d e r s AT is the technology of li b era ti o n.
The most important probl em nowaday s, af ter al mos t twenty yea rs of hard work of man y people, is the cage in whi ch AT is threa tened to be trapped by it s own pr o ponen ts: Th e misund er s t andin g tha t a techn ica l device equa ls a tech -nolo gy. This is a dan g erou s con f us i o n of tho u g h t. A ca r is a te chnic al contrap t ion . It work s becau se i t is a par t of a complete system of technical provis ions and orga n isat ion a l ar r ange ments ro o t e d in a cu l tu ra l system of value s and co des. Th e windmi l l ha s be c ome an imp ortant sy mbo l of AT, but i t is at best an appropr iate techn ique, th a t mig h t eventu a l ly become an appro-pr iate te chnolo g y if cer t a i n cond i t ions, tobe sp e cified bel o w, are met. Te chni que alwa ys require s techno l ogy. It is imp o s sibl e to develop techniques that do not fit wi th in th e ex ist i ng technology in which a technique is good if it br ings in mon e y. The pr o b le mof A.T. is that it wa nts someth i ng that is not poss ib le wit h i n today's val ues. Every nation meas ur e s i ts prog ress in term s of accumulat ion of capita l, ma t eri a l we al t h and growth of the gross national pr o d uct.
We are all trapped in the cage of economie values and 50 is appropriate tech-nology. The yardstick of appropriate technology is its ecological appropriate-ness, its harmony with man and nature. Th e yardstick of western technology is its adjustment to economie values.
The reader of this preface could think now "wh a t is wrong with economie values?" The answer is"nothing~ but if they re main dominant this might in the end lead to extinction of mankind .
Extinction?
Ma n ki n d severe ly threa te ns it s prope r ex is tence . Ei t h er by extinction of other organ isms plants and anima ls or by a worldwid e nu cl e a r war .
Th e strategy for su rvi v a lseems to be si mp ie: conservation and re v er t i n g the nuc lear ar ms rac e. Thi s su r v i va l cou ld be reali s e d by transfor ming the pre-sent consume r socie ties int o sus t a i n a b le so ciet ies.
So ci e t i e s dedic a ted to live in harmony wh ic h natu re and its constraints , rather than in cont inuous conflic t with i t. A conf lict in which the effort to conquer nature ma y fi n ally lead to ou r own extinction .Minor changes in the sociopo l i t ica l sy s t e m would not·lead to a sol u t i o n. The two main causes leading to extinction are the growth of the world s population and the necessity for economie growth. (1) St o p p i n g the popu lat ion growth and the economie al growth wo u l d seem to be the solution. But especi a l ly in poor countries and the poor are as in ind u s t rial i s e d countries people thin k child ren to be a means of surviva l , an old day's in s u r a n c e for paren ts . And i t does not require a lot of thinking to explai n, that th e threa t of imme d i a t e extinction to which hundreds of mil l ions of people are expo s e d today is merely a resul t of economie de p e n d enc y rel a t i on s. And how can econom ie growth be hal ted if the primary goa l of any nation is econo mie growth ?
Ma t eri al gr o wt h has become a cen t ra l el e me n t of human cu l tu re. Eve n more so, since material growth and well-b eing ar e told to be the sa me .
The ind us t r i a l revolu tion has brought mass-produ c t io n. It cou l d also have bro ught pr o d uc t i o n for the ma s s es. But it has resulte d in enormous in e q ui t i e s. especial ly bet ween the firs t and the third world, wh ich are rel a t ed by the
proces ses of development and underd e velopment. Whate v er the bea uti fu l name for third world develo pment models inv ented by the ri ch cou ntr ie s wi l l be (fro~ triekledown strate gy to regi on a l development programmes) there wi l l be no
other deve lop ment than withi n th e western ec onomi e system, in clusiv e its ne-gative ef fe c t s .
Economists and the politicians advised by the economists tend to behave as if the world we re infinite. As if natural resources are infinite and interchange-able. Most economists and decisionmaker donot understand that because of logical limits i t is not possible even with perfect behavior to keep the eco-nomic system growing forever (2).
The solution to transform consumer societies into sustainable societies sounds quite convincing. However we should not forget that a multitude of sustain-able cultures (and their technologies) have disappeared because of the fact that material growth and its economic foundation have become a central element in human culture. So, if we really want to change something. If we really want to prevent extinction, especially right now in third world countries, we need a different way of thinking, a different set of values, a different develop-ment strategy. Such a strategy is Appropriate Technology (A.T.l .
AT,
the morning flower in the dusk
of modern times
I
~ith a selfsatisfied face we are cutting off the branch of the tree of life on which we are sitting. Well-educated people are uttering slogans in ezpen-sive meetings, while the rural poor and the industrial unemployed are fed with the incantation "wa i t and see" .
The dusk of modern times is the discouraging picture of reality sketched in Global 2000 (3), report to the president of the U.S .A . But there is practi-cally no change in policy neither in the USA nor in any other industrialised country. One of the reasons might be that there are no theoretically well-considered alternatives for development strategies. The theory presented and illustrated by the various authors in this book is an attempt to order the diversity of trends in order to strengthen the AT movement by development of a theoretical foundation. A unifying general theory of AT, rooted in the reality of AT in the 1980's .
AT takes a firm standpoint against the so-called common sense that there is only one recipe for development. The western way, if i t gives any development at all will benefit elites, but i t certainly results in poverty. The western system appears to be a gigantic web of economic, political and spiritual
dependence relations. It wi l l be quite di fficu l t to grow an alternative strategy aimed at economic, political and spiritual autonomy for base groups.
Yet this is precisely the objective of and the alternative offered by"appro-priate technology",the growth of an alternative system, changing the existing
system from the inside . Although the edito r devel ops a gen eral theory of AT in the first ch a p t e r of this book, the in di vi d u a l authors were given co mpl ete freedom in using their own point of view writing their con t r i b u t i o n to a spe -cific theme.
May the formula and content s of this book give inspirati o n to col l e agues every-wh ere in the third world to st a r t, develop and st re ngthen their acti viti e s in th e field of AT .
A.
T .
at
Delft U
n ive r sity
of
Te chnol o g y
The composition and variation of the cont ributions to this book are a re suit of five years developmen t of a course "a p pro p ri a t e technology for devel opin g countries ". Thi s cou rse , developed and coordinated by the editor is a part of the curriculum of the discipl ine group Science, Technology and Society. Thi s group also offers courses in the fields of history of technology, te chnolo gi-cal forecasting, development cooperation , safety sc ien ce and social and nor -mative aspects of the engineers profession. Th e sci enc e shop, a "sh op" for individuals and groups normally having no access to the univ ersity, als o forms a part of this discipline group.
When the co u r s e started five years ago, ther e was an introduction to th e sub-jec t AT after which various lectures especially on techni cal subjects were gi ven by exp e r i e n c e d teachers. Every lecture was ca refu l ly ev a lu a t e d and ne x t ~ear's program was planned in coherence with th e ev a l u a t ion reports.
Although the theory of AT is supposed to be holistic and conse q u e n t ly vali d in any region, in any community, the needs in third world countries have a different character than in the first world. In most industrialized countri e s there is no problem satisfying existence needs. The means to sa t i s fy tho se needs are amply present : food, reasonable housing , health care systems. Wh ere-as is most third world countries th e r e is for the majority of the people, especial ly the rura l poor , a con t in uo us th r e a t of bare existence. Continuous problems with the supply of food, no adequate housing and l i t tle access to health care systems. Precisely those and other aspects like liberation move -ments have been stressed in the program at Delft university of technology. Nowadays the course contains three main parts which are also to be found in this book:
A. Introduction to the theory of A.T . B. The three key concepts of A.T . C. Technical applications
Literature
1. Extinction , the causes and the consequences of the disappaerance of species Pa ul an d Anne Ehr l i ch, Random House, New Yo r k 19 8 2, chapter X
2. lb i d (1) p. 245
3. Th e Globa l 2000, report to the president of the U.S .A., G. Barney, Per-gamon Press, New York 1980
Acknowledgernents
Th e editor is grateful to the col le a g u e s that were prepared to contribute to this book. He is especia l ly gr a tefu l to th e ma n y people that have personal ly helped him in the la st seven years in dis cu s si on s and fie ld work to develop his thoug h t s abou t A.T.
Jan Willem van der Eb, former director of TOOL- f o u n d a t i o n To m La wa n d, Br a c e Resea rch lnst itute, Quebec
Fr a n z Barrios, l.P.T.K. Bolivia
Niha l de Mei, Approp r i a te Techno logy Gro up, Sri Lank a
Tom Fox, formerly lnsti tute for lo c al self-reliance , Wa s h i n g t o n, now working in the Bro nx
Fil ino Haraha p, Develo pmen t Technology Center, l.T. Bandu ng Wit old Ry b s z yn s ki, th e au thor of'pape r heroes'
Ben van Br o n c k h or s t, rur al water supply project, We s t Java Roberto Caceres, CEMAT, Guatemala
Ouologuem, Cooperative of East-Mali Bil l Ellis, Tra n sna t i on al network of AT and many ot hers.
Special thanks to the staff of our disc ip l i ne group of which especial ly Wi m Raves te i jn, ant hropol o gi st and AT-researche r sho u l d be menti o n e d.
Corrie van der Drift, secretary to the disc ip line group,. coordinated the pro-duction of th i s book and she went through the process of typing and retyping th e manuscr ipts of th e editor.
Introduction to the Theoretical
Aspects of Appropriate
Appropriate Technology for Developing
Countries. Toward a General Theory of
Appropriate Technology
w.
RiedijkDelft University of Technology Kanaalweg 2 B
2628 EB Delft, The Netherlands
I.
why appropriate technology
-the
myth of the sorcerers
apprentice
An analysis of the quite substantive number of books on AT and reviews and eva -luations of AT-projects at first sight does not make the impression that there is a unifying thought behind the praxis of AT.
Of course there is the Godfather of AT Schumacher(l) .He has introduced some important notions concerning spritual autonomy, small scale organisations and intermedia te technology. But he did not integrate them into a coherent theoretical framework. Ultimately his approach turns out to be an economic one. Schumacher claims that "g o o d work" requiring intermediate investments is in-finitely more important to the poor, than the creation of expensive jobs in the urban areas delivering products for the affluent elite. Essential in Schumachers approach is:
- poverty is caused by the negative influence of the industrial system on the ecology;
- those people who do not belong to the industrial system are for the time being the victims of the consumption of fuel and other minerals and pollu-ted industrial products;
- the industrial system destroys the moral and spiritual quality of people; - the armament race is a part of the in-built violence of the industrial
philosophy. In the end i t will lead to destruction of mankind(2) .
Respect for people and recognition of the fact that the ecology contains our lifecapital -me a n i n g that man is basically dependent on nature for his physical existence- are basic id e a s of Sc h u ma c h e r. He seems to believe that the myth of the sorcerers apprentice (the apprentice who stole an in c a n -tation from the master-sorcerer without knowing how to stop the effect of it) can be applied to modern science and technology. Likewise many critical
scientists li k e Franck (3) , Galtung (4) , Alvares (5) have given clear evidence
that development and underdevelopment, affluence and poverty are closely re-lated with the built-in values and lifestyles of western science and techno-logy. Only the accent given to the various effects of the modern science and technology vary from author to author. Dickson (6) another famous au thor on the field of AT, has a political approach of AT. He uses the concept of "alternative technology" . In his view power structures are the key element for any posi t i ve change.
In fact the integration of Schumachers and Dicksons concepts gives a rather complete picture of the values and lifestyles found in the AT-movement. Schu-macher and Dickson both recognise clearly the disavantages and negative effects of the industrial system: poverty (especially in the third world), un-employment of the powerless, alienation of the members of the industrial society , destruction of the ecological systems. But whereas Dicks9n looks for political autonomy of the ma s s e s, Schumacher puts the accent on what we might describe as economic autonomy of the poor. Schumacher gives some indi-cations about the l if e s t y l e required to quarantee and acquire a dignified life to everyone. This dignified life also implies the understanding that there are limits to growth. Intermediate technology than is the technology of scarcity. The recognition that the consumption of non-renewable re-sources is a dead end., We may conclude that technology is not an aim in it-self, but a means to an end: satisfaction of needs. This leads to the necessi-ty to say something more about the essence, the character of technology. The assumption underlying modern technologyseems to be: technology is value-free: The application of a technology ~s lying outside the responsability of the engineer. Decisionmakers like politicians , bankers and captains of industry carry the ultimate responsability . This assumption is according to present knowledge unjustified. History teaches us a different lesson.
Dickson shows that innovations may deliberately be used to suppress the labour-force (7). Kranzberg (8), a wel l -known au thor in the history of technology, defines the character of techno logy as follows : " Te c h no l o g y is neither good nor bad, nor is it neutra i " . At fir s t sight a mystifying definition, but he explains that technology isnothing more or less than the expression of the values and li f e s t y l e s living within society . These values and lifestyles can be seen as a part of the "c o d e" of a culture. Some authors could give technology to o much honour: Reddy, an AT-professional from India, once said that technology contains the genetic code of a culture. This assumption is quite important. The process of introduction of western science and techno-logy is evidently taking place all over the world.
Accepting Reddy's assumption would mean that the implementation of western technology would finally lead to a westernised culture all over the world. Alvares, an anthropologist, clearly shows in his dissertation "Technology and culture in India, China and the West since the fifteenth century" that of a multitude of technological cultures finally the only surviving one may be the western technological culture (9) .
There is one striking example of an anthropological case study in which is shown that an egalitarian and ecologically balanced society was almost com-pletely destroyed within ten years after the introduction of western techno-logy. This study by Pelto (10) describes the effects of the introduction of the snowmobile in a skolt-lap society in northern europe. Now, let us be pre-cise. Nothing was done on purpose. The inven tion of the snowmobile was done by a Canadian engineer. His daughter died during transportations by a horse-drawn sled to a hospital . The nucleus of the problem is that the introduction of western technology se ems to require a special structure of society. A structure in which for the majority of people there is little spiritual, poli-tical and economical autonomy. A society in which the totality of techni-cal provisions and organizational arrangements form a so techni-called "t e c h n o -structure". A concept introduced by Galbraith (11). This technostructure for its mere survival, according to Galbraith, causes poverty for people who are no member of the technostructure, makes the members of technostructure believe they need its products, needs people who are completely devoted to the continuity of this technostructure and finally i t needs the production of weapon systems for planning purposes and undisturbed technological innovations
(12). Maybe, to you the reader of this text, these thoughts and facts are not very original, but they are crucial to the AT-movement. For the theory of AT, deployed in the next paragraph, i t is an essential assumption that the techno-structure produces the above mentioned problems in the form of "side"-effects . The included lifestyle, in which a minority of people in the industrialised countries , let us say one quarter of the worlds population , consumes the majority of re s o u r c e s, let us say three quarters of the worlds resources, is an unjustified and disrespectful one. If we look more closely at the "c o d e" expressed by this life-style we can arrive at some interesting observations:
- First of all we find as a striking element in the technostructure:mass-productions, which is like Schumacher said,essentially different from production for the masses. But what does i t mean: Mass production means the obligation te create anonimous "markets", the obligation to export, the obli-gation to drink the same coca cola at Delft University of technology as in
the back streets of" Jakarta. It means the necessity of "o v e r p r o d u c t i o n " pro-duced by the techn ical provis ions of the technostructure . Th i s overproduc-t io n nec e s s i tate s economic depende nce relations. Worldwide because of mass-product ion .
Secondly massproduction re q u i r e s specialisation , requires a burocracy with ranks, with hierarchy . Eq u al i t y is ba~ely possible within mass productions. Ma y be i t is eve n un d e s ir a ble. In other words th e organizational arrangements of th e te chno structur e demand pol i t ical depen dence of the workers in the system. Selfmanagement in a nuc lear reactor is highly undesirable and even dangerous. The organizational ar rangements of the technostructure can only be stabie if th e members are political ly dependent.
Th e third aspect of the code is th e most delicate element. Marcuse describes thi s element in his book "the one dimensiona l man "(13) . In order to accept pol i t ical and economica l do min ati on, in order to accept massproduction, man must be "o n e dimensiona l ". He mus t be kept spritually underdeveloped or alienated.
The code of western society does not al lowemancipation nor does i t need libe-ration. The spiritua l autonomy of indi vi d u al s and consequently of groups is the key factor for th e developmen t str a t e g y cal le d appropriate technology. Wit h o u t emancipat ion no spi r i tual au tonomy . Science and technology serving man -kind, serving the ma s s e s, in s t e a d of serving massproduction , means deliberate-ly choosing for liberation (also of the scientistsl, for selfdetermination and selfsufficiency . Th e code of western technology , diametrically opposes these elements, i t presupposes and produces spiritua l , poli tical and economic do-minance of masses by el i te. The et hics of sci e nti s t s and engineers saying that they are not respons ible for the negative effects of the magic formula they produced with their own minds , fits in this picture . The code of western so-ciety also contains an artif icia l pattern of "n e e d s ". So called needs created by the necessity to maintain ma s s p r o d u c t i o n. The needs of western society stand close to greed. Greed for materia l satisfaction . It might be se en as the tra-gedy of western society, that th e mo r e we possess, the le s s we find spiritual fulfillment. Greed is a feeling that might never be satisfied . The more we possess, the more we want. Ghandi once said that there will never be enough for everybody's greed. Schumacher supposes that the earth can satisfy everybo -dy's fundamental needs, if we treat the ecology with due respect. The ATmove -ment takes fundamen ta l ne e d s of peop le as a starting point. It seems to be more than a coincidence that the I.L.O. in it s basic needs strategy (14) does not mention any needs at all, but only the means to fulfill those needs. Food is a means to fulfil l the need for existence.
Housing is a means to fulf i ll the need for safety. In this way needs are r e> duced to a technique, which is again typical for western society. If you do not know the needs, there is a great risk, that the wrong technical means wi l l be delivered. "Mi l k powder, but no clean water". In AT, although general ly not defined~xplicitlv , fundamental needs of people anywhere in the world are basic to al l activities. Maslow (15) assumes that al l people have the same hierarchy of needs, physiological, safety, relation, esteem and growth needs. Criticism on his model fundamental ly says that his view is ethnocentric, based on western values. Aaronoff (16), one of Maslow's pupil s,however has given some evidence th at Maslow's hier a rchy may be valid tr a n s c u ltura ll y, in other cul tu res th a n th e western . For prac t ica l purposes we can disti ngu ish three fundamen tal needs: exis tence, rel ation- and growth needs (17). Th e assump-tion for a de v el opm ent stra t e g y by AT is th at th e s e ne e d s are valid eve ry-whe re. Furthermore i t is assu med th at a ba lan ce between the th r e e fundamental needs is more rel evant than the hiera r c hy in i ts el f. In othe r words: a d ig-nified human l if e sa t isf ies th e needs for ex istence and relat ions and creates condi tions in which the ne e d for grow th may be fu lf i l led ,which is "b e c o mi n g who you are" (18).
Coach wor k factory ne a r Kurunegalla Sri Lanka.
These elements le a d to the following vis ion on man and society:
1. The satisfaction of the needs for existence and relations is the goal of the structure of society. It should be the sole result of the organizational
ar rangemen ts and technica l provisions . In order to grow an individual shou ld prefe rab l y posess suffi c i ent satisfaction of existence and relation ne e d s.
2. Th e fu lf i llment of the need for growth equa ls the necessity for li b e r a t i o n. Ed u c a ti o n should lead people away from underdevelopment in the direction of development for action, part icipation, self-help and finally liberation
(19).
3. It may be assume d, that there is a grea t re s erv o i r of creativity within the masses. Society shou ld be organ ized in such a way th a t this potential may be used in a proper way. Th e role of the elite in this vision is not a leading ro l e, but a serving contr ibut ion .
4. As a matter of fact AT assumes that people with reasonably satisfied exis -tence needs can man a g e their own lif e and work , and that any organization or techn ique, which does not sti mu late this process is not acceptable. In other words, cent ralised organ iza t ions or technica l provisions are only acceptable if they cannot be prevented. Th e r e is nothing wrong with centra -lisation as long as i t stimulates decentral isation in order to give people spiritual, polit ical and economical autonomy.
Th e val u e s behi nd the code an d as sumption s of AT appare n t ly are:
1. Man is bas ically good and gifted wi th tal en t s. Society should stimulate the development of those prope r ties.
2. Th e accumulation of private money is not justified . The protection and maintenance of the capital o f life, re pr e s e n t e d by the ecologica l system is alway s mo r e imp ortant than the ac cumul ati on of monetary capital.
3. Spiritual , economica l and pol i t ica l au to n omy are developmen t goals in accor -dance with the fundamental ne e d s for existence, relations and growth.
These values, assumptions and codes form the basis on which a theory of appropriate technology can be devel oped , tested and implemented.
2. What is appropriate techno
logy :the
technology o
f
li
b er a ti o n
Appropriate technology as a theory for development of society must contain concepts, th e elements of th e th e ory, hypotheses, the relations between those eleme n ts and a meth odol o g y, a meth o d to intr o d u c e, impl e me n t and maintain AT in society. Esse n t ia l of this pa rt of AT theor y is that it can be tested , ver ified or fa ls if ied .
The theory deve loped in th i s paragraph is in a preliminary vers ion accepted
8
by the council of the Center for Appropriate Technology of Delft Univer-sity of Technology in september 1981 as a set of starting points for their policy. The attempt towards a general theory that has been
worked out at Delft University of Technology belongs to a program for courses and research in the field of AT developed within the disciplinegroup
Science, Technology and Society of the Department of Humanities.
This program looks as follows: at the moment there are two courses. The first one is the course" AT for developing countries" , of which this book is the handbook. The second one is an intensive course called "i n t r o d u c t i o n to AT", both given yearly. The introductory course handbook must be studied as weil as selected literature in the field. In the academie year 1982/83 a third course will be started cal led "appropriate technology for industrialised countries". It will essentially have the same concept as the course AT for developing countries. Preparatory research will be carried out in 1982.
Production of a ferrocement ferryboat ne ar Pelabuan Ratu , Indonesia.
The research program started in 1978. Nowadays i t has three subjects: 1. a conceptual framework of AT
2. field research to test the theory 3. implementation research
The first subject is primarily a li t e r a t u r e research. It has been supported by vi sits to important AT-centers and short fie ld-studies. Th e research has been publ icised in three invi ted le cture s in 19 81 (20) . In 1982 it will for
the time being be concluded by a book to be published internationally under th e t i t le 'AT, tech nolo g y of li b erati o n'.
Th e field re s e a r c h is prima ri ly aimed at te s t i n g and reinforcing the theoreti-cal framework , especial ly the hypotheses mentioned before. preparations for the field research started in 1981 . A research plan has been made in coopera-tion with a Yugoslavian research fel low. Students anthropology have already executed some preparatory research on Sr i La n k a and the Orkney Isl a n d s. Th e impl e me n t atio n re s e arc h has to gi ve inf o r ma ti o n concerning the factors that are de ci siv e for succesfu l innova t ion wi t h AT . Preparations wi l l be made in 19 8 2.
One of my st u de n ts once made an at tempt to analyse al l defini t ions of AT he cou ld fi n d in l i terature and to si mp l y ch o o s e the mo st fre q u ently me n t io n e d elemen t s as basi c elemen ts of a go od definition. He came to 35 defini tions and 8 basi c ele me n t s. Und oubte dl y new definitions can be added in the mean time . Ma y b e the mos t imp ortant reason why there is as yet not one genera l ly accepted defi n i t ion of AT is the fac t th a t rarelyatt e mpt s h a v e been ma de to base a genera l framework (a nd a de finiti on) on an expl ic i t set of value s , codes and assumptions. This is als o val i d for the definition in the firs t ed i tion of this book: " Appro pri ate te chnolo g y is the applicatio n of al l (technological) abi l i -ti e s based on (s cienti fic) kn owl edge for th e satisfac t ion of the (fundamental) needs of a specific group of people in i ts own cultura l and na t u ra 1 environment using appropr iate management and organizati on methods enabling th e group it -self to star t , maint ain and cont i n ue the product ion of th e ir goods and services"
(21)•
Today, th r e e years later, af ter elaborate li te r ature re s e ar c h, fie l d work , visits to othe r AT institute s and an expl icit lo ok on values , codes and assu mpt i o ns of AT would result in an differe nt attempt for a definition of AT:
appropriate te chnol o g y is aimed at th e pro du c t i o n and app l ica t ion of the to ol s, 'orga n i z a t ion a l arrangement s', ' te chni cal provis ions ' and 'e ma n c i -pation, to ob t a i n the mean s of selfmanagement, selfsuf f ic ie ncy and self-development, in orde r to sa t is fy and fulf i l l th e fundamental ne e d s of ex is tence , relat i o n and growt h of bas e gro ups in th ei r own cultural and na t u r a l en v i r onme n t.
Appropriateness is defined in two interre lated ways:
1. There must be a direct relation between fundamental needs, means to ful-fill/satisfy those needs and tools to produce those means. This is im-portant because needs are assumed to be transcultural, whereas organi -zational and technical means and tools are defined by respectively cul-tural and nacul-tural environment.
2. It is assumed that people at the basis of society are capable to decide about their own life and work. The ultimate goal is spiritual, economical and political autonomy. So selfdevelopment, selfmanagement and s elfsuffi-ciency are the three main means deciding about the appropriateness of a technology.
needs means tools
growth selfdeve lopment emancipation
relations selfmanagement organizational arrangements
existence selfsufficiency te c h n i c a l pro-vis ions
relation between key concepts of AT
Instead of using the well-known concept "t a r g e t-g r o u p" I use the concept "b a s e group". Target group implies that somebody feels the necessity as a "mi s s i o-nary" to help a specific group at the basis of society. For example the poor fishermen in th e bay of Pelabuan Ra tu on Java. Th i s is a top-down approach. Elite deciding on the ta r g e t needing help .
Some of the concepts introduced in this chapter may need a description. This counts especia l l~ for th e three keyconcepts: selfdevelopment , selfmanagement and sel fs u ffic iency.
1. Selfsufficiency means that technical provisions are to be installed as close-ly as possible wi th in a ne i g h b our ho o d or region. Naturally i t has to be re-cogn ised tha t this is neit h er comple te ly possib le, no r desirable, because mutua l dependenee between two economically equa l partners can he quite useful. Selfsufficiency impl i e s that maximum use will be made of locally or regionally availab le resources and te c h nique s. The ultimate goal is economie au to nomy.
2. Selfmanagement implie s th at peopl e, especially regional groups (like ethnic un i t ie s, geograph ica l or nat iona l en t i ties) manage and posess their own or -ganizations and means for produc tions . Selfmanagement does not imp l y that there may be no hiera rchy . It impl ies , th a t if the people concerned need hiera rchy the y choose their own management and that they decide upon the pol icy to be executed by th eir managemen t. Selfmanagement ultimately means pol i t ica l au tonomy (22).
3. Selfdeve lop men t refers to the process of emancipation , which can be found in liberation movemen ts al l over th e wo rl d (farmers in South-America, the Basks in Sp ain an d France, th e feminis t movement) and in selfdeve lopment of indi viduals into persons (23). Selfde v elo p me n t means that in d i vi d u a l s are cons cious of their own capabi lit ies and ne e d s. Selfdevelopment or self -disc o ve r y ultimately le ad s to spiri t ual autonomy.
The basic hyp o the sis of AT is th at fu l f ill men t and sat isfact ion of fundamental needs of people by selfsuff ic iency , sel fma nage ment and selfdevelopment is in harmony with th e require me n t s of huma n nature.
The second hypothesis is th a t selfsuffic iency, selfmanagement and selfdevelop -ment shou l d be applied synchronio usly .
Th i s has re s ul t e d in a work i ng hypothes is which wil l be tested by fieldresearch in 198 2 in Yug o sla vi a: "Selfma n a g e me n t and selfdevelopment are only possible and only have sense if selfsufficiency can be reached" (24) . Selfsufficiency can thus be cons ide red decisive in a development strategy in which selfmanage -ment and selfdeve lopmen t are offic i al goals. In more concrete terms: as long as there are in t ern ati o n al econom ie depende ne e rel a t i o n s it may be futile to strive to wards politic al and spiri t ua l auto n o my. Be c a u s e selfmanagement and selfdeve lopmen t can on l y be fru i tfu l in case of selfsuffic iency as a means for economie autonomy.
AT as a development st r a tegy
Much has been said by many peopl e about the weakn e s s es of the wes te rn tech -no s tructure. Crit i c al scien ce and technolo gy is an ex isting phenomeno n nowa-days wit hin our universiti e s. Undo u btedly the AT-movement has par t ially re -su l ted from this criticism: AT wan ts to off er an alternative. But at the same ti me and this ma y not ofte n be re c o gni s e d, AT is also the most modern techno-logy. It want s to us e and apply th e most advanced science and technology in order to finally give a dign ified lif e to al l human beings.
In that respect western technology and appropriate technology are adverseries:
WT AT
people alienation selfdevelopment
techniques oversupply selfsupply
organizations subordination selfmanagement
needs standard ized needs fundamental needs
th e antagonism of western and appropriate technology
Accepting AT as a development strategy also implies that the concepts of AT may be used as a model of analys is. Appl ied in this way i t can for example show why i t is so difficul t for the Dutch cofinancing organizations like NOVIB to attain their goals (25). Self-re liance, emancipation and selfmanagement by local groups are policy goals for NOVIB. A two years worldwide evaluationprogram le d by an expert steering commi t tee and executed by four fieldresearchers showed that the weaknesses in the projects are primarily concerned with pro-ble ms related to the la ck of spi r i tua l, economie and pol i tical autonomy. The concepts of AT can be appl ied as a model of analysis and than enable us to evaluate th e rel e v ane e of a project with regard to its poten t ia l to satis -fy and fulfill fundamental needs. Although it must be stated, that the theory developed in this chapter is stil l in the process of being tested. But how does this work? This brings us to the next paragraph.
Wat erwe l l in the sahelre gi o n in Mali ne a r Homb o ri. Urgen t ne e d for mo r e appropr iate te chno l o gi e s.
3. A
T,
how does
i
t wo
rk
-
the soft road to liberation and harmony
For the purpose of this book, which is titled appropriate technology for developing countries, it is time now to turn to this reality. The reality of rural poverty and pol i tica l and economie dependence.
Everybody work ing in the field of appropriate technology whether this is in urban projects in the western world, li k e the neighbourhood open space coa -lition in New York City (26) or the West Java rural water supply project (2 7 ) has to know that making a technical device is just one step in a process of development. Any AT project has to start with some kind of a needs assessment. It is not sufficient to say people are hungry or i l l, let us deliver some Dutch milkpowder or some American antibiotics . This is in two ways a wrong approach. One because we have seen that the means to satisfy a need may be very differen t depending on th e cu l tu ral and natural surrounding. In many Asian countries rice wil l do as a basic foodstuff whereas in many African countries this will not be right. Bu t there is a second more basic problem to this kind of help . Delivering western chemical pharmaceuticals to a third world country may be helpful to battle a disease but i t is often highly symp -tomatic, and in the process making the country dependent on our medical sys -tem. In my opinion that is the most important danger of all western develop -ment coopera tion. Even the basic-needs approach of I.L.O . mentioned before, essential ly is a technocra tie one. And th e in t r o d u c t i o n of western produets wi l l requi re western to ol s, which in th e i r turn ask for western organizations, which finally le a d as we can see to the westernization of third world coun -tries .
Critical readers may say now, but that is exactly what people in third world countries want. If they can choose between coca cola and the local fruit drink they will choose for coca cola. I am afraid these readers are right, and I am also afraid that they do not und e r s t a n d the influence and dominanee of the western market ing system. Since the beginning of colonialism whites have told colou red people that whi te is bette r and th a t their way of lif e is th e one that is preferabie to the one of non-western cultures. And non-western has always been and stil l is equal to primit ive. Furthermore we have developed an industrial system by which a smal l majority of mostly white people consume a la r g e majority of resources. Maybe th e wisest thing western society can do is keep talking about development cooperat ion and in the meantime continue to have business as usual in which for example the national economy of 57
countries of th e third wor ld is dependent of just a few export produets (2 8 ).
This is a direct result of the way in which the western countries have or ga n ised international econ o mi e dependence.
So e v e n if th~ocal el i t e wants a Japane s e motorcar instead of a l ocal one and
even if th e po or woma n in th e vi l l age prefer s Heinz ba b y food for her baby thi s
probably only means that the dominanee of western culture has also "h y p no t i s e d" tho s e pe opl e. Crea t i n g ne ed s that are at least su pe r f l uo us and often ha r mf u l. As s e ssin g need s mean s clearly separating need s created by the multinational marketing syste m fro m fundamental needs. It als o mean s that nothing can be decidedwi thout the people concerned. Assessing needs also mean s preventing
an y body who reall y wa n ts to help base groups to think in solu t i o n s of his
or her own cu l t u r a l pattern. The means and tools of western society may not
be us eful or va l i d in a third world country.
Two con t r a d i c t i o ns seem to evolue from the previous text:
- ne ed sas s e ssment may imply a top-down approach, a thing to be prevented in
AT. Here the indispensable help of social scientists, especially anthropo -logist s wil l enable the basegroup to formulate its real needs. Finally a
ba s e g r o u p should defin e its proper need s, in this phase of (international)
development however i t will mostly be quite difficul t to do this without
ou ts i de hel p .
- "h y p no t ise d" basegroups cannot be expected to clearly see their needs.
Unb i as sed inf ormation by unprejudic ed ou t s i de r s will be nec essary to make
basegroups aware of their real intere sts.
Here we must again be quite precise. A critical reader again would say "a nd how about the success of this nuclear reactor in India, this airplane fac -tory in Bandung, this beautiful bauxitemine in Suriname?" The answer would be: do you know how Eu r o p e a n experts making a road through th e Sahel reg ion live ?
They live in almost complete isolation from the local culture. Exactl y the same counts for western technology in a developing country. In Nawinna on
Sr i Lanka I once visited the state factory of ayurvedic medicines. Ayurveda
is the beautiful medical system of Sri Lanka. In this factory there was a German bottlingmachine. When the machine was out of order a maintenance man had to be flown in al l the way from Germany. That is western technology.
If you buy one aspect of i t for example a TV-set , you have to acquire th e whole western infrastructure with it. The glassfactory of Philips on Taiwan is a precise copy of the glassfactory in Ho l l a n d. And this is absolutely ne-cessary. Massproduction requires uniformity, requires standards, requires the same de si g n for the 1.0 0 0.0 0 0 t h Volkswagen as for the first one. Th e methodolo-gy of western technology assumes uniformity. It asks for one dimensional
machi nes in th e hands of some ano nym o u s owner making massproducts for the satisfact ion of created ne e d s meant to be used by anyone over the world who would li k e to buy them. Success of western technology only imolies accumula -tion of capi ta l in is ol ati o n of th e soc ia l and natura l environmen t.
Gr a i n storage in Nige r near Niamey. Traditional technol o g y that may be stren gthene d by appro pri at e te chnol o g y.
The methodo logy of ap pro pri ate te chnology assumes pluriform ity . It asks for lib erated people workin g in co mpl ete jobs de mo cr ati c al l y unified in factories owned in selfmanag eme nt making produ e ts for th e sa t isfaction of fundamental needs of lo c al pe ople tak in g ~n to ac c ount th e specif i c set ting of th e local cu l ture and nature. This als o means that in th e methodology of AT th e r e is a place tor handiera ft and art. For perso n a l exp ress ion in a product . Ways must an d can be found to us e and apply advanc e d technology and at the same time gi ve this technology a lo cal character.
Take for ex a mple the New Al c hemy Institute on Cap e Cod in th e USA. Th ere is a group of people, manyof them with various academie background s develo p ing appropriate technologies for survival in the we s t ern wo r ld. The y use ad v an c e d mea suring and data eq u i pmen t and their advanced ed uc a t ion to create simp le method s for survival in ou r ev e r faster polluting western wor l d (29). Th is institute is one of the many hundreds of institute s and group s all over th e world in the field of AT, developing bits and pie ce s of har dw a r e (30) . One of the first things that sho uld be done by one of the UN-organ i z a t ions
(whether UNIDO , ILO or any othe r ) , re a l l y wanting to ass is t third wor ld countries in making their own ap propriate technolo gi e s, is ma k i ng a
prec ise re vi e w of all AT availab le in th e wor ld. Th er e is so much and so l i ttle is done with it. To ment ion some examples : the extensivo "r~'"'~Qn1:ation on AT at To mLa wa n d s Brace Research In st i t ute of the Me. Gill University in Can ada , VITA' s (voluntee rs in te c hn i cal as si s t a n c e ) information unit in Ma ry-land/Washington , ATDA (appropria te technology development association) i~ Lucknow/India , CEMAT (center of study of AT) in Colombia, the DTC (develop -ment technology cente r) of ITB (the technology in s t i t ute in Bandung) In d o n e-sia, CAT , the cente r of AT of Del ft Uni v e r si t y of Technology in the Nether -lands. These and many other in s t i t u t e s have in f o r ma t i o n on technical applica-tions. Th e internationa l center of selfmanagement in Ljubljana in Yugoslavia has ampl e inf orma t i on and year ly interna ti onal me e t ing s on selfma nageme nt . Th i s kind of in f o r ma t i o n should be made easi ly accessible via UN-organizations on UN-owned gratis computer service. Th a t would most probably be of much bigger help than maki ng big priva te ly owned cement- , sugar - , and soapfactories, which almost instantly put lo cal smal l enterpr ises out of bus iness .
Applying this kind of kno wl e d g e could be done according to a simple develop -ment mode!. In thi s mo d el the "fl at surface " of the technos tructure of society is represented by the axis for organization a l and technica l development. Se lf-development, which in this model is put on the positive side of the vertical ax is of ma n and socie ty, re f er s to th e pro c es s of emancipation. Eman cip ati on is a necessary addi tion to the process of innovation along th e axes of tech-nigue and organization.
~.-~~~~.
'
->:
..
Hot water production for a hos pita l by asolar instal l ati on near Bandung, Indonesia .
:;::~;:::-~~...
, '"
Innovation wi th app.rop.r i.at.e technology
See "Te c h n o l o g y for liberation" Willem Riedijk Delft University Press, 1986/ page 177
Innovations along three axes in positive directions would be cal led appro-priate technology. A matrix could be made to fill in some notions. They may be used as criteria for review of projects.
development WT AT
sp i r i t u a l alienation selfdevelopment
domination emancipation
inequali ty participation
organ izationa l subordination selfmanagement
burocracy democracy
centralization decen tralization
bigness smallness
unif o r mi t y plur iformity
technical oversupply selfsupply
hard techniques soft tecniques
consumption recycling
wasting sparing
complex simple
Some notions illustrating the difference in tendencies between development by western and appropriate technology.
This matrix is a summary of a more elaborate scheme of criteria develo p e d as
a checklist for the evaluation of projects (31). These notions ca n be seen
as con c epts of orientation , which may direct ev a l u a t i o n and review studie s
as weil as the mo r e fundamental resear ch regarding the hypothe s e s developed
in thi s chapter.
Literat
ure r
e f er e r e nc es
1. Schumacher, E.F . ,
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Abacus Lo n d o n 19 732. Schumacher, E.F . ,
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vol. 22, nr. 1, jan. 19 81, p. 149 9. Ibid (5) ch apt e r 710.Pelto, P.J. ,
The snowmobiZe
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Beac o n , Bo ston 19 6414.Gha i, D.~ . c.s . ,
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I.L .O . Geneva 19 77 15.Maslo w, A.H. ,Motivation and personaZity
,
New York 19 5 416.Ar o nof f, J,
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Sa mson, Brus s el 19 8 0-p.9 0 note on Alderfer s si mpl ef i e d hierarchy of nee d s 18.Freire , P. ,
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AT-news Center for Appropriate Technology D.U .T . -vol 2,20. Le cture s by W. Riedijk, 1.
Innovation,
the empeI'oI's
"new clothes"
2
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AT means
spiI'i t ual, economic and political
auiionormj
3.
AT,
a
sc
hool foI' rife
ad 1. On the occasi on of the yea r ly me etin g of th e uni on of scien t i fic workers public is e d in
Wetenschap
en Samenle inçr
ju ly 19 81, 1981/7 p. 8. . ..20ad 2. Ce n ter for Appr opr ia te Tech nolo g y,congress fo r non-sc ientific person -nel at Delft university of technol o g y, publ ic ised in
OVeI'zicht
de cembe r 1981, XI , nr. 4, p. 16...20ad.3. Symp o s i u m on AT at Dutch engineering schoo ls on integ r a t ion of AT in
the educationa l programmes. To be public ised sho r tly in PT-Aktue el. 21. Riedijk,
w.
(ed.)AppI'opI'iate
Technology
fOI' developing countI'ies
,
Delft Un i versity Pres s, 197 9, chapter I. p. 12
22. Wal r a vens, A., "Ilor kers pa.rt.i.ci.pat.Lo n, institu t ions and exne r i men ts " The dutch cas e, Round Ta ble 19 80, pa r t ic ination, self-ma nagement , socia -lism, Jug o slavia, sept. 19 8 0, p. 29/30
23. Roszak, T. ,
PeI'son/planet
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the
cI'eat i ve desintegI'ation of industI'ial
society
",
197 7, chapt.e r 11.24. Raves te ij n, 11. "App r o pri a t e Te c h n olo g y re s ear c h in Jugoslavi a " - research plan, discipl i negroup Science, Te c h nolo g y and Society, sect ion A.T. , Delft Un ive r s ity of'Tech no logy, 1981, p. 9
25. Hommes, Luni n g, Kiedij k, Streefl a nd,
Beleid belicht,
an e aluation of
NOVIB
';;
pI'oject
policy
",
NOVIB, the Ha gue, 19 7 926. Fox, T. "Ur ban ag ri c ul t ure as an annron riate technoloqy" in
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aspects of A.T.,
Delft University ~ress, 1QS0, P. 39..5227. Pompe, C.
AppI'opI'iate TechnoZogy fOI' I'UI'aZ wateI'-supply,
Proj e c t OTA-33/ J-7, Bandung, 198128. Ra n g a j a r an , L.
Commodity Conflict,
Lon d o n 19 7 8, p. 80/8129
.
New Al.chemu
(JuaI'tel'Zy,
Fal l 19 81 , no. 6, p. 1530. Jequ ie r , N.,
AppI'opI'iate
TechnoZog
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DiI'ectoI'Y
,
OECD, Pari s 197 9 31 . Ibid 20. 1Management of Appropriate
Technology Projects
G. van Bilzen
Center for Appropriate Technology Delft University of Technology Stevinweg 1
2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands
o
.
Introduct
ion
In t.hi.s paper a first introduction to project management, especially of appropriate technology projects in third world countries, is presented. This presentation is based on experiences with organizing appropriate technology projects within the Center of Appropriate Technology of the Delft University of Technology. Since 1978 projects in several African, Asian and Latin American countries were started, e.g. in the field of water pumping, solar ice making for small clinics, low cost housing, small scale sugar processing, preservation of bamboos etc.
Managing Appropriate Technology Projects is a complex process.
Many things have to be organized, arranged etc. This process can beanalyzed in various ways. Here an analysis is presented, concentrating on two points of view.
Af ter a short description of some general elements of projects, a distinc-tion between flows and phases is presented. Flows represent the different factors of a projects, while phases represent the most important steps in time. Of course more aspects can be distinguished, but most of the more important elements in project management can be discussed based on this distinction.
In analysing the different flows, not all factors of a project are dis -cussed. As an example only finance, personnel and information are presented. The same model of analysis can be applied to the other facets of a project. The analysis model is based on a study by De Bruijn (1977) (1).
In analysing the phases of a project, special emphasis is given to research projects, because in all appropriate technology projects research forms a very important factor. With respect to special implementation projects until now only very few examples of completed projects are available, so no definite conclusions can be presented.
1.
Projects
Projects can be defined as temporary cooperation activities, to obtain
certain clearly defined objects, within time and budget constra1nts. Each
project should have a weIl marked beginning and end. In principle projects
are executed only once.
These statements seem rather obvious, however, they are not. Very often the
objects to be obtained are not clearly defined, right from the beginning, many times there is a change in the objects during the execution of a
project. That projects have a starting point is obvious, but some so called
projects never end. These activities we do not call projects. The same
applies to activities that have to be repeated many times. Of course, i t is
possible to cal l the production of e.g . a car a project, but we do not.
In each project we can distinguish flows and phases. Both can be studied
apart. Relevant for project management are the flows and phases as listed
in table 1.
Table 1 Flows and Phases in a project
Flows Phases l. Finances l. Preparation 2. Personnel 2. Execution 3. Material 3. Follow up 4. Means of Production 5. Energy 6. Information
2
.
F
low s
To analyse p~ojects, to know what is going on, to know wh en something should
happen, be organized , be pai? etc. , i t is imp o r t a n t to analyse the different
flows apart. Usual ly there are people in v o l v e d in projects, trying to obtain
certain objects, using material, machinery and energy. These factors change
during the project and can be defined as flows. Apart from these material
factors, money and information is floating in a project. Also these factors
can be analysed as flows.
"Flow" indicates a dynamic fa c t o r. There is something happening to i t during the ex e c u t i o n of a project. We can define the fol lowing steps; for each flow:
1. Obtaining;
2. Preparing (for transformation) 3. Transforming;
4. Ending.
Of course there is a certain relationship between these steps and the phases, as presented above. But while phases represent the project as a whoie, steps represent only changes in one factor. For steps it is possible that a cycle of "o b t ai ni n g, preparing, transforming and ending" is repeated e.g . hire and lay-off of personnel. Steps in one factor not necessarily
correspond with steps in an other fa c t or.
Apart from the steps in each flow, it is also possible to analyse for each fl o w contacts with diffe rent groups, such as:
1. Basic group; 2. Counterpart institution ; 3. Financi ng agency; 4. Local government; 5. Suppliers; 6. Other.
Constructing a matrix, with 6 flows and several contacting groups, resu lts
in several cel ls that can be ana lysed ap a rt. It is be y ond the scope of this
paper to analyse these cel ls in detail.
With respect to materia l, or ene rgy it wil l clear wh a t these steps are .
We will briefly analyse these steps for the financ ia l, the personnel and the information flow.
2.1 Finance
To obtain fina nces proje c t proposa ls mus t be written, budget est imates be given, and a proposal offered to a financing agency. Th e s e agencies can be the authorities of the organiza tion , or, in the case of projects in the fie ld of appropriate technology , nationa l governments, special ized national
or international funding agencies etc.
Each agency sets it s own criter ia , and it is very imp o r t a n t to know ex a c tly the terms of each agency. (obtaining)
Once a proposal is approved, the budget must be detai led, a plann ing for li q u i d i t y has to be set up. (p r e p a ri n g)
When the actual project execution starts , funds are trans fer red to the differen t users. He r e speci al prob lems aris e in the fie ld of transferr i ng
money to other countries , caused by different tax regimes, by differences in change rates etc. (t~ansforming).
At the end of the flow a justification has to be given of all the money used, a balance has to be prepared, a cash flow analysis has to be made etc. (ending)
2.2 Personnel
To obtain personnel first a description has to be given of the type of persons, needed in the project. Knowiedge, experience, and attitude to-wards appropriate technology are important criteria, but also a certain form of idealism and readiness to accept certain hardships. ance these descriptions are made, advertisement and selection can start. (obtaining) Af ter having found the right people, these people should be prepared for their jobs. Usually, before working in third world countries, courses are given to le a r n the local language, to learn something of the local cul-ture, etc. A technical preparation is also important. It can be important to arrange for backstopping contracts. ance working in an isolated spot i t may be good to have th e possibility to contact somebody (or some organization) who is ready to assist fieldworkers in their specific situation. (preparing)
Before being sent to be third world country, i t is important to arrange for all legal things, like contracts, containing the "t e r ms of reference" of the job (being the basic items of the job), and to be clear on
regulations with respect to finances, organizational matters etc. Before starting th e job,usua l ly an immuni z a ti o n program has to be carried out, visa have to be applied for, the same as for "agreements", tickets have to be bought, assurances arranged etc. (The job: transforming) Af ter the job has been done, personnel is being dismissed. More and more
in s t i t uti o n s and unions are looking for certain forms àf career-planning
as to avoid that people, having worked for 4-5 years in a project, come back and have to look for an other contract during months and years.
(endi ng )
2.3 In f o r mati o n
As already was indicated for the mon e y-fl ow, project proposals have to be formulated to get money. These proposals have to contain a lot of in-formation which we will discuss later on. (obtaining)
ance a proposa l is approved , arrangements have to be made for communi
-cation channels , in str u cti o n for reports, report schemes etc.
24
It has to be clear who will be responsible for certain forms of information, when certain information has to be collected etc. (preparing)
During the execution of a project a lot of information is generated, in the form of reports etc. As we will see later on, each important phase of a projects ends with a "b a s e line document" . The generated information has to be compared with the original criteria, objects etc . and a feedback has to be organized. (transforming)
When a project is completed in f o rm a t i o n has to be selected, comprised, in the form of definite reports, drawings, publications etc.
It can be important to have a check in licencies, and to ar range for one if necessary. (ending)
3
.
Phases
Projects usually need a considerably lo n g time to get prepared. Some people
de fine this period as not belonging to "a project", but we feel that i t forms an integral part of a project. In most cases this part takes two to three years, and in this period an important basis is being formed for the success of a project.
After the objects of a project are obtaineá, usually a long time is needed to check whether the results are lasting. The institute, that was responsible for the execution, has to be stand by, during at least five to ten years,
in case of problems in this phase.
Therefore the fol lowing division in phases can be given : 1. Preparation;
2. Execution;
3. Follow up.
3.1 Preparation
This phase can be divided in several sub-phases , from the first identi
-fication unti l the definite project proposal :
1. Id e n ti f i c a tio n;
2. Orientation;
3. Conception;
4. Feasibil ity;
5. Appraisal.
Of course these phases can be combined in some projects. In other projects e.g. the feasibility sub-phase can be divided in several sub
confrontation between real i ty and a certain id ea l situation (ide al according to the id e n t i fi e r),( s e e 3.1 .1). In the next sub-phases, a process of detailing of th e propo sal is started, on the one side con-fronting the plans with certain appropriate technology criteria, and on the other hand considering certain constraints. This proc e s s is shown in the following scheme:
I
Ide al Si tuati on t---./---:~1.Id entifi cati onJ"'...~I/_ _---{ Re ali tyI
1
I
Cr i te r i a ~ Or ie n t a t ion ~1
Con c eption1
--71
.
Fea s i b i li t y1
~ Appraisal~
Constrain tsI
Of course i t mig h t be nece ssary that the process has to be stopped in a certain sub-phase and that one has to re t u r n to a previous sub-phas e. For the simp licity of the scheme this is not in d i c a ted.
3. 1.1 Identification
Important in th is ident ification phase is the question who id entifi es a ce r t ain problem . For many years, this was done most of the time by we stern professiona ls. This resulted many times in purely wes t e r n styled projects, no t geared to the problems of the people living in third world countries. To avoid such situations the participation of a co u n t e r p a r t organization is essent ial in the preparation of a project. Need
-assess-me n t studies can be und e rtak en to ana lyse the real needs of people in a certain region, bu t the contribution of an in t e r me di a te is essential for western researchers. Th is does no t me an that these researchers cannot take part in th e id e n t i f i c a tio n. They can suggest alternatives which are not known to the counterpart organization .
An in t e g r al part of an id e n t i f i c a t i o n is the def i n i t ion of a basic gro up , a groupof people that forms the object of the project. In appropriate technology projects these groups belo n g to the poor strata of the
2
6
-population. This definition is not unambigious. Groups are devided in several sub-groups, by e.g. religion , race, la n g ua g e, caste or class.
It is very important to de fine the groups to be reached by a project,
because, if someone tries to analyse the success or failure of a project, one should be able to in v e s t i g a t e whetherthe group for which the project was organized, benefitted from i t or not.
Usually appropriate technology projects concentrate on groups in rural areas, or in urban slum areas. People in these areas frequently face problems in the field of housing, safe drinking water, food, medicins
etc. , subjects directly linked to the so called "basic needs", of man-kind.
It is essential in appropriate technology projects that members of the basic group, participate as soon as possib le in the preparation and
exec~tion of a project. Basic ideas in appropriate technology projects are self-suff iciency, self-determination of management and se
lf-development, and these guidelines cannot be realized without an active
response of the basic group. Self-suff iciency with respect to materials ,
skills, maintenance etc. , self-determination of management with respect to organizational decisions and self -development with respect to an autonomous development process, fitting in ecological limits (see chapter I of this book.
At the end of the identification sub-phase, an outline of the problem is presented, corresponding to the criteria as described above; a description of the basic group is presented, and an id e a on how to tackle the problem. It is a basic i te m of project management th a t each
(sub)phase is concluded with a so cal led "b a s e-lin e-d o c ume n t" , in which the main decisions in that phase are described.
3.1 .2 Orientation
In the orientation sub-phase the attention is focussed onthe definition
of the project goals. In the identification sub-phase a description of the problem was presented, and in the orientation sub-phase a choice is made on how to solve the problem. If i t was identified that a certain
region la c k s water, then there are probably severa l ways to "s olv e" this problem . In the orientation sub-phase a choice is prepared which way should be fol lowed.
