Technology Development in Rural Industries

Hannah Piek

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...

Acceptability and Use of Cereal-Based Foods in Refugee Camps

Catherine Mears, Helen Young

The fortification of cereal-based food rations is increasingly accepted to be the most efficient way of preventing micronutrient deficiencies in large refugee camps. Little is known, however, about the degree to which such foods are acceptable to refugees, or how they actually use them. These factor...

Accountable Aid

Patricia Feeney

The Earth Summit in Rio in 1992 generated much rhetoric about the need for collaboration between local communities and multilateral funders of major development projects, in order to preserve natural resources. Since then there has been intense debate about the importance of local participation, acc...

Bacchanal!

Peter Mason

For two days each year, Trinidad's capital, Port of Spain, hosts "the greatest show on Earth" - a raucous mix of music, costume and revelry known as Carnival. The festival has become more or less synonymous with the Caribbean island of Trinidad and is an intrinsic part of its identity and popular cu...

Water Hyacinth

This document suggests solutions for the control of water hyacinth - biological, physical and chemical - and discusses possible practical applications of the plant.

Composting in the Tropics

Organic matter is often piled up in the compound but left unmanaged. This will produce compost but the materials will take a long time to decompose and nutrients will be lost.

Demystifying Organisational Development

Rick James

Organisation Development (OD) consultancy is being prioritised by many Northern NGOs as a key strategy for building the capacity for NGOs in the South. Few NGO decision-makers, however, are sure of what OD consultancy looks like in practice; whether it does really strengthen NGOs; and on what factor...

How to make Sri Lanka's Anagi Stove

A step-by-step guide to making a two pot ceramic stove.

Peru In Focus

Jane Holligan

Peru is perhaps one of the most dramatic and unpredictable of all Latin American countries. Blessed with natural wealth and historical sites, it is also cursed by widespread poverty and a legacy of political violence. A gulf separates the westernized elites of Lima from the indigenous majority of th...

Chile In Focus

Nick Caistor

Once a byword for military repression and human rights abuses, Chile's image is now that of a dynamic success story. The "Chilean Miracle", based on radical free-market reform and export-led growth, has been presented as a model for all developing countries. Yet this transition has also created its...