Appropriate Technology:
the tools of Village Self Reliance
Appropriate Technology describes, in essence, any tool that contributes to the
ease, dignity and well-being of a worker and his or her environment.
Appropriate Technology can describe technologically sophisticated items, such as solar
chargers, or traditional implements such as spinning wheels.
WVI requires that any technology we use meet certain standards:
- It must increase the productivity of the worker.
- It must not replace the worker.
- The worker must have complete control of the technology.
- It must be ecologically and economically sustainable.
- It must produce necessary goods or services.
There is a philosophical distinction here.
Industrial mass-production assumes that the ultimate goal is to produce the largest quantity of goods
for the lowest cost. Appropriate Technology reverses the paradigm, and says that it's
more important to have a population that is happy and employed with creative, fulfilling
work than it is to have a massive number of products for a low cost.
Appropriate Technology has a practical and humanitarian foundation:
1. It is smaller in scale and therefore better-suited to meet local needs.
2. It develops and extends human labor and skills, as opposed to replacing people with
machines.
3. It represents a human scale of activities and mistakes which people at any level can
manage.
4. It minimizes transport of goods, reducing petroleum dependency, lowering costs, and
promoting local cooperation.
5. It makes unnecessary many accessories of large-scale operations such as advertising
or finance management, allowing resources to go to necessary local goods and services.
6. It helps establish a self-sustaining and expanding reservoir of skills in the
community.
7. It provides a buffer against global economic fluctuations.
8. It promotes self-sufficiency and independence by recognizing that people want to and
will do things for themselves.
In general, Appropriate Technologies:
1. Use locally available materials, in order to lower costs and reduce supply problems.
2. Are more labor-intensive than modern technology, but less labor-intensive than
outdated technology.
3. Are small-scale and affordable to families or small groups.
4. Can be understood, built, controlled and maintained by villagers without a high level
of specific training.
5. Are open to modification or innovation.
6. Are not harmful to the environment.
7. Are compatible with the human need for creativity.
There are also guidelines for creating Appropriate Technology workplaces. These guidelines expand upon the principles of Appropriate Technology, and
create an environment conducive to safe, fulfilling and meaningful employment.
In general, Appropriate Technology workplaces:
1. Must be created in the areas where people are living, as opposed to metropolitan
areas which force people to migrate.
2. Must be cheap enough that they can be built without massive injections of capital.
3. Must employ relatively simple production methods, so that the demands for high
specialization are minimized.
4. Utilize mainly local material and produce goods for local use.
Because of its sustainability and foundation in humane principles, Appropriate
Technology provides the guidelines for all the tools of Village Self Reliance.
For more information on Appropriate Technology, check out:
The Appropriate Technology Sourcebook by Ken Darrow and Mike Saxenian
Small Is Beautiful by E.F. Schumacher
Essays in Gandhian Economics edited by Romesh Diwan and Mark Lutz |
