Adapting ideas
This issue shares some of the good ideas for practical improvements in development sent in for the Millennium Competition, together with some other ideas, which have either been shared or requested by Footsteps readers. Many of these ideas are not necessarily new – they have simply been adapted to fit a particular local need. This is the reason for the term appropriate technology. Not all new technologies are useful – many may not be appropriate at all. However, having the confidence to take an idea, adapt it, test it and adapt it again until it meets the local need, is very important. Then a new technology becomes an appropriate technology.
All the ideas shared in this issue are very practical and concern the most important needs of our day-to-day lives – food production and preparation, water supplies, health, and fuel for cooking and lighting. I hope that every reader will find at least one useful idea here to try out and adapt. Maybe the issue will remind you of a good idea that you’ve always meant to share, but you’ve never got round to doing so…
COMPETITION WINNER
Wheelbarrow
Didier de Failly sent in this design for a wooden wheelbarrow produced by Bureau d’Etudes Scientifiques et Techniques (BEST) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The original design came from a missionary in Angola back in the 1970s. It has been shared with various countries, organisations and faiths in the past 30 years. BEST use a wooden wheel and sides that can be partly or completely removed.
Photo: Didier de Failly
Isabel Carter