METHODOLOGY
Looking
over the range of requests coming from villages in a variety of African
countries, similar patterns of problem determination, resolution and
implementation appear. Complementing these patterns, distributed
across the spectrum of
Appropriate Technology, are
products clustered at specific regions marked by groupings
of market needs.
Village
Profile/Status Determination Phase: Determine the Village's overall need
(Appreciative
Inquiry Layer)
and initially address any pressing problems ("firefighting"
efforts like contaminated water, broken pump...) as top priority (Maintenance
and Repairs Layer)
Maintain/Round-Out
Sustainability Phase: Map the Village's problem determination results to
problem resolution projects utilizing Appropriate Technology (AT) to develop
sustainable living (Appropriate Technology Determination, Recommendation,
Implementation Layer)
Stimulate Economic Development Phase: Implement AT solutions to problems in ways that can lead to jobs (Micro Enterprise/Credit Configuration, Recommendation, Implementation Layer) and expand microenterprises in ways that can lead to businesses (Mainstream Enterprise/Credit Configuration, Recommendation, Implementation Layer)
The details of the "Phases and Layers" are listed below; each layer offers a "Resource Model" which represents a recommended approach for achieving the goals of that layer. Corroborative resources are provided by links to Friends of African Outlet (FOAO) Resource Directory references.
VILLAGE PROFILE/STATUS DETERMINATION PHASE
(1) Appreciative Inquiry Layer
Resource Model: Peace Corps
The Peace Corps, through their experience of years of operation with thousands of staff and volunteers in many countries, has developed a powerful set of tools for working with the village community to determine their situation, needs and problems, generally referred to as techniques of "Appreciative Inquiry". The Peace Corps has published their knowledge base to the web in the Peace Corps Online Library, whose Community Development section document "Promoting powerful people", along with a recommended book "The Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry", are the primary starting points.
FOAO
Resource Directory references:
Peace
Corps Online Library
(2) Maintenance and Repairs Layer
Resource Model: Peace Corps; Appropriate Technology Library
Once problem determination has been made, problem resolution can begin, through the initiation of various Projects typically applying Appropriate Technology solutions. The first of these should be aimed at resolving any immediate, pressing, urgent Village needs, for example problems involving water supply, contamination, broken pumps and the like. The Peace Corps Online Library Community Development section includes a "Peace Corps Programming and Training Manual" that covers Project design and implementation. The Peace Corps Appropriate Technology Library offers an extensive collection of low tech, low cost, "do-it-yourself" from readily-available-materials construction plans.
FOAO
Resource Directory references:
Peace
Corps AT Lib
MAINTAIN/ROUND-OUT SUSTAINABILITY PHASE
(3) Appropriate Technology Determination, Recommendation, Implementation Layer
Resource Model: Peace Corps; Appropriate Technology Library; Real Goods Company; The Sustainable Village
The spectrum of Appropriate Technology solutions coverage includes Water, Power, Energy, Air, Lighting, Shelter and ranges from the low tech, low cost, "do-it-yourself" from readily-available-materials construction plans of the Peace Corps Appropriate Technology Library to a full range of "off-the-shelf" solution available from companies like Real Goods and Sustainable Village. The companies typically further offer an online "Ask a Tech" webpage as well as general consulting services. Beyond basic repair and survival issues, the Village can "round-out" problem solution Appropriate Technology implementations to attain enough of what it needs to sustain a comfortable level of existence.
FOAO
Resource Directory references:
Peace
Corps AT Lib
Real
Goods Company
The
Sustainable Village
General
AT Resources
STIMULATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PHASE
(4) Micro Enterprise/Credit Configuration,
Recommendation, Implementation Layer
Resource Model: Peace Corps Appropriate Technology Library; Sustainable Village
After resolving any most pressing problems and applying general Appropriate Technology solutions to reach a satisfying level of sustainable living, the Village may wish to move into a more active economic development mode, particularly if it is still struggling with general poverty issues and lack of economic opportunities. It turns out that many of the Appropriate Technology solutions themselves, being needed at a given village, are also needed at other villages, and can be turned into microenterprises by providing affordable solutions to fulfill additional market needs. The Peace Corps Appropriate Technology Library offers a number of microenterprise candidates. A particularly robust set of resources for finding, funding and launching a host of microenterprises is provided by The Sustainable Village Microenterprise website, implementing their philosophy of "Start with a Problem, Finding the Causes, Looking for Solutions that Create Jobs". To help fund the launch of the enterprise, microfinancing/credit such as that available from Grameen Bank offers "small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans". The impact of successful microenterprises on the quality of life and the community can be profound, as in the case of the ApproTEC Super-MoneyMaker water pump, of whose African entrepreneurs it was recently written, "Once barely able to feed their children, the new entrepreneurs are now providing food for their families, sending their children to school, building homes, obtaining health care, starting other businesses and becoming role models..."."
FOAO
Resource Directory references:
Peace
Corps AT Lib Microenterprise
The Sustainable Village Microenterprise
webpage, slideshow
ApproTEC Super-MoneyMaker water pump
FOAO Resource: Wired Magazine "Low Tech Triumphs"...THE
RAINMAKER..."Supermoneymaker" story
Grameen
Bank
(5) Mainstream
Enterprise/Credit Configuration,
Recommendation, Implementation Layer
Resource Model: SCINET WORLD TRADE SYSTEM Mini-plants
Successful Microenterprise operations could provide the economic base for mainstream economic development of fully developed and mature businesses, initially implemented as Portable Production Systems, which are typically a fully self-contained "plant" in a truck-sized 40-foot Mobile Container. Companies such as SCiNET World Trade System offer over 700 such "mini-plants" for developing countries, and further offer connection to the World Trade System (WTS) as well as to added financial incentives. With resources like these, a village that was struggling for survival, and yet one whose agricultural assets may include, for example Palm Oil, could begin at the start of the Village Enhancement Methodology described herein, and over time, work through the resolution of its immediate problems and accomplishment of it's general sustainable living goals, then advance to the economic development of it's resources, for example a microenterprise to bottle and market it's Palm Oil locally, followed by a high-volume Palm Oil Press in a Portable Production System "mini-plant" connected to the World Trade System, to market high quality Palm Oil to the world on a global scale.
FOAO
Resource Directory references:
SCINET
WORLD TRADE SYSTEM Mini-plants