Technology for the Third World, by the Third World
By Ashok Khosla

“India is bigger than the world”, said a character in one of the last novellas of the great Argentinean writer Jorge Luis Borges.  So one could say of any nation, large or small, old or new.  For any organisation, the demand for its services and the fields of its activity tend to grow--especially away from home.  There is, however, more than enough work to keep one Development Alternatives busy in its won country.  And there are also other, more fundamental and philosophical issues involved in the expansion of operations internationally.

One basic premise underlying the work of Development Alternatives has always been that genuine and meaningful development has to be implemented at the local level.  At best, the design of technologies or institutions might benefit from the “economies of scale” at the national or international level, but adaptation and implementation must always be by the people, for the people.  Ultimately, the capacity both to innovate and to deliver must be endogenous and community based.

Of course, there are items of equipment for production and even for consumption that will clearly be more economical to import into the community from the urban/industrial economy.  But the bulk of the goods and services required to satisfy basic needs will always have to be made, sold and bought locally.  Thus the primary thrust of development action must be to generate sustainable livelihoods in the community, and to produce within it both the things needed, and the purchasing power to buy them.  Local sustainable enterprises are the means to achieve this, and with them, to “tighten the economic loops”, the basis of local self-reliance.

What applies within the country also applies overseas.  Despite the current trends towards liberalisation and globalisation throughout the Third World, there is much still to be said for national self-reliance.

The Development Alternatives approach to its international responsibilities is to export (or, more accurately, exchange) its knowledge, technologies, ideas and insights to those who wish to have them.  An effective way to do this is through the exchange of reports, design, blueprints, prototypes and people.  We welcome visits of experts from other developing countries who learn (and, equally, teach us) by working and doing the things we ourselves do everyday.

We do not, as a policy, export our technologies and products in bulk, even to places where they would be highly appropriate.  Just as our aim is to build capacity at the community level - capacity to innovate and deliver - we recognise the importance for each country to build its own capacity in the same manner.

To prime the pump, however, we do make available our technologies to partners abroad who plan to use these as part of their worn strategy for strengthening their appropriate technology capability.  As the international Development Alternatives network grows, the numbers of technologies shared by the partners will undoubtedly grow.  Already, several of our products, under the TARA brand name, are now being used in pilot production centres in other countries.

Two examples described in this issue, one from Africa and the other from South America, highlight the possibilities of partnerships among independent organisations for the acceleration of appropriate technology use in the Third World.

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