Farmer Research Groups

Dawit Alemu, Yoshiaki Nishikawa, Kiyoshi Shiratori, Taku Seo

It has long been recognized that agricultural research should involve the farmers themselves. Participatory agricultural research methods have been developed to help farmers and researchers to identify the most appropriate technologies and techniques for a particular area. However, mainstreaming thi...

Technology and the Future of Work

Jonathan Casey

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...

Kivuko cha Watoto

Gill Gordon

Kupata VVU inaweza isiwe hukumu ya kifo, lakini madhara yake bado ni makubwa. Watu wengi wanaoishi na VVU wanakabiliwa na ukanaji na kutokuwa na hakika kuhusu mustakabali wao, na wasiwasi huu unaweza kuonekana kwa undani zaidi kwa watoto na vijana. Kivuko na Watoto kinawapa mashirika na watu bina...

Real-time Monitoring, Control and Payment Technologies for Mini-grids

This brief discusses the factors of mini-grid economic viability revenue, tariffs and costs - and introduces technologies and approaches for enhancing viability through real-time monitoring, control and payments. It introduces the benefits of integrated monitoring, control and payment systems and pr...

Food Security for the Extreme Poor in Bangladesh

The Policy Brief is prepared based on experiences of partner organisations in the northern and southern regions of Bangladesh and the food security framework i.e. food accessibility, availability, utilisation and sustainability, which are mostly included in the 7th Five Year Plan 2016-2020, where co...

Quality assurance checklist for house construction in disaster prone areas

This document is intended mostly to help building contractors and site supervisors to maintain reliable standards in order to ensure that the final product would be of durable quality. It is hoped that users of this information will contribute to the construction of houses that will successfully wit...

Walls using the ‘rat-trap bond’ technology: technical brief

The rat-trap bond technology has been developed by Architect Laurie Baker with the HABITAT Resource Centre in India and is a result of its experimentations in cost-effective housing technologies conducted over 40 years.

Delivering decentralisation

This is an introductory leaflet to the project Delivering decentralization: slum dwellers' access to decision making for pro poor infrastructure services.

Developing Mini-grids in Zambia

Up to now, mini-grids have struggled to grow beyond pilot projects. Today, raising awareness about the main hurdles and learning from successful experiences is imperative in order for mini-grids to make a meaningful contribution to electricity access. ENEA and Practical Action are convinced that bui...

Making a Manual Fuel Briquette Press

This brief describes the process of making and using a simple low-pressure manual press for fuel briquette production. This press can also be used for other purposes, such as vegetable oil extraction. In this brief however we will concentrate on fuel briquette making only.