Development studies
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Motors as Generators for Micro-hydro Power
This is a guide to the use of induction motors for electricity generation in remote locations. It is written as a practical handbook for engineers and technicians involved in designing and installing small water-power schemes for isolated houses and communities. This revised edition brings in new co...
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Negotiating the Seed Treaty
The International Seed Treaty came into force in 2004 was the culmination of over 20 years of negotiation. The need for a treaty arose out of a growing awareness that crucial plant genetic resources are being irretrievably lost. This book describes the complex process by which a wide range of partie...
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A New Weave of Power, People and Politics
Lisa VeneKlasen, Valerie Miller
This field manual provides a well-tested approach for promoting citizen participation. It breaks down the traditional boxes separating human rights, rule of law, development, and governance, and reconnects them in order to create an integrated approach to rights-based political empowerment. A New We...
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Practising Gender Equality in Education
Sheila Aikman, Elaine Unterhalter
Drawing on the work of the Beyond Access, Gender, Education, and Development project, contributors discuss some of the key challenges in achieving gender equality in education, give examples of initiatives in a range of contexts, and make recommendations for action. They suggest that there is a more...
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Producer Organisations
Small-scale producers face huge challenges in todays world. They have to adopt a market-oriented approach if they want to compete in and benefit from local and global markets. This book opens with an explanation of why collective action in the form of producer organisations is a key strategy for i...
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Trail Bridge Building in the Himalayas
A co-publication with Helvetas in their Experience and Learning in International Cooperation series, this publication describes the rural infrastructure support work conducted by Swiss development agency Helvetas in Nepal and Bhutan where over 4000 trail bridges have been built in the last 40 years....
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Village Savings and Loan Associations
While many banks and microfinance institutions provide valuable services to the poor in the developing world, they are most successful in economically dynamic urban or peri-urban areas. 30 years since the start of the microfinance revolution, poor people who live in many rural areas and urban slu...
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Voices from the Margins
Roger Lewins, Stuart Coupe, Francis Murray
Describes the work of Practical Action in introducing consensus-based planning approaches in villages that are poor even by Bangladesh standards, where 90 per cent of people live under the poverty line and over 60 per cent are illiterate. These methods work on raising the voice and confidence of the...
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Water Supply and Sanitation Services for the Rural Poor
Safe drinking water near to the home and adequate household sanitation save poor households time, reduce illness and increase a sense of well being and dignity. Gram Vikas, a non-government organization working in one of the poorest states in India, recognized this key role and encouraged villages t...
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What's Wrong with Microfinance?
Thomas Dichter, Malcolm Harper
Microfinance has been a long-lived development fashion and in 2005 it enjoyed the accolade of a UN International Year. Many of the world's biggest multinational banks are now eagerly committing quite substantial sums to it, for business as well as public relations purposes. However, there are some i...