Practical Action Publishing
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Sustaining Agricultural Biodiversity
"Genetic resources are the result of millennia of evolution and belong to all of humanity. Therefore, there should be a prohibition on biopiracy and patents on living organisms, including the development of sterile varieties through genetic engineering processes. Seeds are the patrimony of all of hu...
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Sustaining Local Food Webs
Local production provides food for more than 70 per cent of the world’s population and secures a livelihood for well over 2 billion. In local food webs the distance between producer and consumer is geographically and culturally short – with food and labour shared between families, neighbours, villag...
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Systems Thinking and WASH
Water supplies in developing countries fail at unacceptable rates. In an era of high technology and a global drive for sustainable water and sanitation (SDG6), we need to find solutions to the ‘wicked problems’ that characterize water for development programmes around the world. Systems Thinkin...
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Tech and Tools Book
A research manual of appropriate technologies used throughout the world in women's projects. Includes sections on support systems, credit training, and technology transfer.
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Technical Principles of Building for Safety
Andrew Coburn, Richard Hughes, Antonios Pomonis, Robin Spence
This book describes principles and construction techniques for builders, householders and communities who are building in hazard-prone areas. The principles are clearly and simply presented- and in a form which can be adapted for use in training or public information campaigns - with an emphasis on...
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The Technological Transformation of Rural India
Using case studies from India this book presents a conceptual model of commercialization of rural technologies in developing countries. It concludes that India has not placed enough emphasis on ensuring the efficiency of small-scale production units.
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The Technological Upgrading of Service Institutions
The Technological Upgrading of Service Institutions describes the processes involved when technology is introduced into a developing country from a donor country. It discusses the techniques and problems of setting up a technological service institute in the host country and in particular the import...
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Technology and the Future of Work
Through a year-long project supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, Practical Action and WIEGO have explored the disruptive impact of technologies on informal workers, examining the technologies themselves and the influence of cities, work, and systems. This policy briefing presents evidence of the...
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Technology Choice
A comprehensive review and critique of the theory of Appropriate Technology, which proposes a framework for integrating traditional economic development with its techniques - a sober look at the obstacles, and an appreciation of its value.
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Technology Development in Rural Industries
This book is a study of the development and acquisition of technology by a group of small and medium-sized rural industries in Sichuan province, China. The enterprises are mainly collective ones, but they are compared with other ownership groups, such as private and state enterprises. Careful analys...