Message-ID: <357BA3E5.BA024182@tpgi.com.au> Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 18:42:13 +1000 From: Roland Lubett <mailto:lolagi@TPGI.COM.AU> Subject: feed mills and other tech To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
tom abeles wrote:> I would be reluctant to suggest any alternatives in your book that you
> do not have concrete examples to show folks. That is an operating
> business which works from a technical perspective and you can show the
> operating costs from both an economic and technical perspective.
> I have been through large parts of the developing world and talk with
> folks in the AT game- the villages are littered with projects of well
> intentioned development "experts". Please do not include ideas which
> have not had a thorough evaluation and for which you might stand ready > to say "hey folks, this is a great idea, I am
so sure that it will > work that if you fail, I will make things right"Fair enough, but this begs three *big* questions:
1. how do you evaluate the technology without actually trialling it in some Third World setting, and probably, ending up with a useless "project"? no 2 ways about it, that technology has to be tried out. It's a question of how rather than whether. Just selecting the right locale for the trial/pilot is a minefield. My experience shows that selection by the (outside) developers is fraught with danger. A process of self-selection is slower but better: guarantees involvement of the operating group/community.
2. what are the criteria most likely to determine "appropriateness"? Low cost, simplicity, reliability and a strong dose of local knowledge/ innovation in the development phase. Most of all, it has to be needed. The vast majority of those failed projects were plunked down in a locale without preliminary processes of needs analysis, problem identification, appraisal etc.
3. Where are the success stories? Let's hear some and learn from them...
rgds
Roland L