Is small still beautiful? We think it is. In an increasingly divided and fragile world, Practical Action aims to demonstrate and advocate the sustainable use of technology to reduce poverty in developing countries.
Practical Action was founded in 1966, as ITDG (the Intermediate Technology Development Group), by the radical economist Dr EF Schumacher to prove that his philosophy of 'Small is Beautiful' could bring real and sustainable improvements to people's lives.
With our commitment to poverty reduction, environmental conservation and technology choice we think Practical Action is uniquely placed to contribute to a world free of poverty.
Practical Action has a unique approach to development – we don't start with technology, but with people. The tools may be simple or sophisticated – but to provide long-term, appropriate and practical answers, they must be firmly in the hands of local people: people who shape technology and control it for themselves.
Using technology to change the world[edit | edit source]
Practical Action believes that the right idea – however small – can change lives. It can create jobs, improve health and livelihoods, and help people have better lives. That's why, since 1966, we've been working with poor people to develop the skills and technology that will enable them to build a better future.
Practical Action's approach really is unique – and we focus our work on four key areas:
- We help reduce the vulnerability of poor people affected by natural disasters, conflict and environmental degradation – events which, sadly, are increasing.
- We help poor people to make a better living – by enabling producers to improve their production, processing and marketing.
- We help poor communities gain access to basic services – like safe, clean water, food, housing and electricity.
- We help poor communities respond to the challenges of new technologies, helping them to access simple effective technologies that can change lives forever.
In everything we do, Practical Action is about bringing positive, lasting change to people's lives.
Read more about how we aim to change lives in Technology Challenging Poverty, or read about our most recent work in our annual highlights.
License[edit | edit source]
The Practical Action conditions of use page licenses their content is licensed under the GFDL (the Gnu free documentation license). This is a 'copyleft' license which lets anyone copy and reuse the content provided the revised content is also licensed under the same license.
This is the license which was used by Wikipedia and Appropedia until 2009 when they changed to the CC-BY-SA license. Under the terms of version 1.3 of the GFDL any Practical Action content which was added to Appropedia before November 1, 2008 was relicensed under the CC-BY-SA license with the rest of the Appropedia.[1]
Technical briefs[edit | edit source]
Practical Action Technical Briefs are a form of technical information for development from the pioneering appropriate technology organization, Practical Action in the UK.
These cover a wide range of information, often relating to village-level industry, commerce and agriculture. These were ported to Appropedia to enable wider sharing.
- A continuous low-cost bottle & jar cooling system
- Anagi tray dryer (Practical Action Brief)
- Banana beer
- Banana chips
- Beekeeping
- Bicycle Trailers (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Bottle washing and steam sterilisation (Practical Action Brief)
- Brown sugar
- Butter making (Practical Action Brief)
- Canning of foods (Practical Action Brief)
- Cardamom
- Cashew nut processing (Practical Action Brief)
- Cinnamon processing
- Cocoa and chocolate (Practical Action Brief)
- Coffee Processing (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Cold storage of fruits and vegetables
- Community-based animal health care
- Compost bin
- Compost bin manufacture (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Conservation of indigenous breeds (Practical Action Brief)
- Coriander (Practical Action Brief)
- Cumin processing
- Dairy processing (Practical Action Brief)
- Diesel engines
- Drying of apricots (Practical Action Brief)
- Drying of chillies (Practical Action Brief)
- Drying of foods (Practical Action Brief)
- Earthquake-resistant housing (Practical Action Brief)
- Energy from the wind
- Essential oils (Practical Action Brief)
- Food poisoning and its prevention (Practical Action Brief)
- Food processing building design (Practical Action Brief)
- Food processing equipment design (Practical Action Brief)
- Fruit juice processing (Practical Action Brief)
- Fruit leathers (Practical Action Brief)
- Fruit waste utilisation (Practical Action Brief)
- Gundruk (Practical Action Brief)
- Handpumps
- Home composting (Practical Action Brief)
- Honey Processing (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Hydraulic ram pumps
- Integrated soil fertility
- Kerosene and liquid petroleum gas
- Lime Oil and Juice (Practical Action Brief)
- Lime cordial (Practical Action Brief)
- Lime juice manufacture (Practical Action Brief)
- Lime marmalade (Practical Action Brief)
- Marshmallows (Practical Action Brief)
- Mercury retort (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Methods for testing lime in the field(Practical Action Brief)
- Micro-irrigation
- Microhydro power
- Mineral processing (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Mixed Fruit Juice Manufacture (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Mud plasters and renders (Practical Action Brief)
- Natural Dyeing of Textiles (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Oil Extraction (Practical Action Brief)
- Oil Soaked Wood Bearings (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Packaging Foods in Glass (Practical Action Brief)
- Papain Production (Practical Action Brief)
- Passion Fruit Jam (Practical Action Brief)
- Peanut Processing (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Permanent magnet alternator construction
- Pickled Cucumber (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Pickled Papaya (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Pickled dry salted lime (Practical Action Brief)
- Pineapple Peel Vinegar (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Pineapple jam
- Plywood Boats in South India (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Presa de arena
- Processing of Nutmeg and Mace (Practical Action Brief)
- Production of preserved passion fruit juice
- Quality Control (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Rainwater Harvesting (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Recycling organic waste
- Reuse of faeces and urine
- Run-off rainwater harvesting
- Rural lighting
- School buildings in developing countries (Practical Action Brief)
- Seed fairs (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Seismic retrofit
- Slow sand filtration water treatment plants
- Small Scale Drying technology (Practical Action Brief)
- Soapmaking
- Solar (PV) water-pumping
- Solar thermal energy
- Spice Processing (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Sugar Production from Cane Sugar (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Testing methods for pozzolanas (Practical Action Brief)
- The 'A' frame (Practical Action Brief)
- Toddy and Palm Wine (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Tomato semi-processing (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Tray dryers (Practical Action Technical Brief)
- Tsetse fly management (Practical Action Brief)
- Turmeric (Practical Action Brief)
- Ventilated Improved Pit Latrine
- Water Hyacinth
- Water harvesting in Sudan
- Water supplies for food processing
- Windpumps
- Yoghurt Incubator (Practical Action Brief)
- Yoghurt Production (Practical Action Brief)
See also[edit | edit source]
- Practical Action/porting - Where progress was tracked on the porting of numerous technical briefs originally published by Practical Action
External links[edit | edit source]
- Practical Action Homepage
- Practical Answers - Practical Action technical brief homepage