Annual Highlights 2004

Welcome to ITDGPractical Action's annual highlights for 2004, which review our work around the world supporting poor communities, and look to the challenges of the future. These can be read online, below, or downloaded as a full-colour PDF file.

Highlights from around the world:

• Learning to cope with flooding
• Building a future for women
• Technology saving lives
• Extra energy from biogas
• Water for life
• Solving a fuel crisis in Nepal
• Every picture tells a story
• Natural medicine for farmers in the Andes
• Smoke - the killer in the kitchen
• Sustainable design for the world

Annual reports:

• Chief Executive's report
• Intermediate Technology Consultants
• ITDG Publishing
• Summary of income and expenditure
• Regional office reports and previous years

Download Annual Highlights 2004 as PDF ~866k
Note: during 2003-4, Practical Action was still known as ITDG, and is referred to as such in these Annual Highlights.

Five thousand years ago, in present day Iraq, the Sumerians invented the plough. Today 840 million people go to bed hungry. Two centuries ago Edward Jenner carried out the first successful vaccination. Today a quarter of all children born each year - 34 million - are not protected against diseases for which there are affordable vaccines.

I could go on about a long list of inventions that are failing to reach the very people whose lives could be transformed through centuries-old technologies.

It is a world turned upside down that tolerates the poverty of the many, while pursuing rapid scientific and technological advancement to satisfy the few.

ITDGPractical Action has been playing its part in helping turn the world the right way up for some of the world's most vulnerable people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our approach is not about low-tech or high-tech but righttech - technology that puts people first.

It is more than technology. It is about how poor people choose the right technology for themselves and how they use it. Ultimately it is about building poor people's confidence in themselves, in their communities, in their way of life and in their own know-how.

The world is rapidly changing. A combination of new and transformative technologies, along with aggressive global corporations seeking new markets, is likely to have a dramatic impact on the world in which we live. This highlights even more the need for real and informed choices about the technologies society wants. With the generous help of our supporters, ITDGPractical Action is well placed to play a part in meeting these challenges at the beginning of the 21st century.

Over the years ITDGPractical Action has been building on its unique approach to human development. I believe that this approach of putting local people at the heart of their own development will help put them, and the world, the right way up.

Cowan Coventry,
ITDGPractical Action Chief Executive

ITDGPractical Action worked closely with the community to provide an early warning system of flooding for villagers and to provide safe shelter and access to the village during flood times.

Following a community meeting to set priorities, the villagers started by building a bridge to improve access during the floods. Local people provided labour and materials and were supported by a government grant. A community centre was built in the same way, for use as a place of safety and also for meetings and education.

Notice boards were placed at strategic places in the villages to give information on the water level of the river in an easily understood format. This early warning system means that villagers no longer need to evacuate their homes in a panic, but have time to collect essential items and take them to the community centre.

Many additional benefits have been gained from these improvements. A microcredit scheme has enabled people to start small enterprises such as mat making and the manufacture of feed blocks for cattle from the waste products of the local sugar cane factor.

One of these blocks can feed a buffalo for a week, thus providing an excellent means of supporting cattle when the fields are flooded.

Women are now able to travel to town to attend family events and festivals, instead of being isolated in the villages during the rainy season. Working together as a community has developed many other skills.

Villagers have gained the confidence necessary to negotiate with the local authorities for help from livestock specialists and health professionals. The success of this project has led as Oxfam to replicate it in ten other villages in the region and ITDGPractical Action is working with government agencies to use this as a model for other flood prone areas.

More about ITDGPractical Action's work in disaster mitigation

Saed Rasool from Kamra says: "With the impetus ITDGPractical Action has given we have come together as a community, and have realised our own strength. Now we are able to face floods and tackle village development issues with confidence."

Many women experience prejudice at work. They also struggle to combine raising a family with earning a living. To fight for equal rights and improved conditions in the workplace, Zimbabwean women have formed an association called ZWICA (Zimbabwe Women in Construction Association), which is open to all women working in the construction business.

The association was formed at a conference in Harare, organised by ITDGPractical Action Southern Africa as part of a project aiming to improve women's lives through active participation in the construction industry. Practical results of this project include adaptations of brick presses and moulds to make them user-friendly to women. Women have also been trained in construction processes and business management.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth Development, Gender and Employment attended ITDGPractical Action's conference. He announced that his ministry would be launching a National Gender Policy, which would work to eradicate gender inequality in all sectors of the community.

More about ITDGPractical Action Southern Africa's work with Women in Construction

Elizabeth Chakudunga, president of the newly formed ZWICA confidently asserted, "I have been a builder-cum-contractor for several years but bidding for construction contracts has been an uphill struggle for women. Now that we have an association, we will make so much noise that our voice will be heard."

Now ITDGPractical Action is helping people to talk about HIV/Aids through one of the most influential devices in rural communities - the radio. Radio reaches 75% of people in Africa and is a vital tool for communication, especially with illiterate communities.

ITDGPractical Action East Africa has been organising debates about HIV/Aids and the issues it raises for the lifestyle of rural pastoral communities. These are recorded and edited into a programme along with comments and advice from local experts and policymakers. The programme is broadcast by the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation in local languages.

The hope is that as more information on the risks of infection is available, the impact of this devastating disease on the community will be reduced.

More about work with HIV/Aids in Kenya

Programme co-ordinator, Sophia Duba, says: "The radio programmes have given a voice to previously unheard members of the community, especially women. "They discuss HIV/Aids together with men in their respective communities."

ITDGPractical Action were able to help the family by showing them how the waste from their cows could provide them with all the energy they need. The construction of a biogas plant at their home has transformed their lives. The plant produces methane gas from animal dung by adding water to the waste and letting it ferment. This gas produced can then be used to provide energy for cooking and lighting. This energy source is popular in Sri Lanka where ITDGPractical Action has introduced 60 new biogas schemes. The use of biogas also helps to reduce dependence on wood, which has caused environmental damage in many areas of Sri Lanka.

Sakunthaladev, freed from the daily drudgery of firewood collection, now has more time to spend on activities that generate income for the family. Also the organic waste from the plant improves the productivity of their vegetable garden.

Sakunthaladev's husband has become skilled at installing and maintaining the biogas plant, making him crucial for the development of other plants in the area. In order to help make biogas a more widely used fuel ITDGPractical Action is also now working on setting standards for biogas systems in Sri Lanka.

More about ITDGPractical Action's work with biogas

Water is a precious resource in Sudan. Rainfall is erratic and frequent drought shrinks the pasturelands, causing nomads to turn to farmers' crops to feed their herds, which provokes conflict.

With ITDGPractical Action's help, farmers from Turra in Northern Darfur completed a dam just before the rainy season. This immediately filled to 85 per cent of its capacity and holds sufficient water in the dry season for the domestic supply of the 4,000 people living there. There is also enough to provide for the animals of nomadic herders travelling through and for the irrigation of a nursery to raise seedlings for local farmers. Previous experience of such dams in the Darfur area indicates that the area of cultivated land can increase tenfold, meaning larger harvests for farmers.

Although many of the specific areas of Darfur where ITDGPractical Action is working have not been touched directly by the fighting, this safety has a price. There are many new arrivals in these communities as displaced families seek shelter. Poor communities are doing all they can to help their neighbours at this time of distress. Families are taking in twice their own number and sharing the little food that they have with them.

The Women's Development Associations that ITDGPractical Action helped to set up are playing an important role. Some have been trained to administer first aid, others are using their assessment skills to work out who needs help and in which order of priority. Such groups are helping to share food and to ensure sufficient supplies can be grown for future needs.

By providing long-term solutions to the some of the problems in this region that cause conflict, ITDGPractical Action is helping to increase security for the people of Darfur.

More about Women's Development Associations in Sudan
Water conservation and agriculture in Darfur
The humanitarian crisis in Darfur

More than 60 families in this area of Nepal make a living from wintergreen oil. They have formed a co-operative of smallholder farmers called the Community Forest Users Group who collect and sell the raw material to the processing plant.

The processing plant, which was run on wood, was on the verge of shutting down because of a scarcity of fuel and low profits. ITDGPractical Action adapted the plant's stove to burn the waste from the wintergreen after the oil had been extracted. Now firewood is only required during the monsoon and even then the adapted stove uses considerably less fuel than before.

In addition, ITDGPractical Action installed a system to unload hot raw material after the oil extraction process. This has further reduced fuel consumption, reduced the number of accidents and increased production capacity. Consequently the price paid to the wintergreen collectors has been raised by 50% because the processing can now be done more cheaply.

Maya says: "In the past, we were turned away most of the time because of firewood scarcity. I used to earn between 700 and 800 rupees per month in the past, but now I earn 1500-1600 rupees per month. Now I can feed my family and save something extra for clothes and medicines."

Usha Bala lives in Amgram in the Madaripur district of Bangladesh. Her husband is a carpenter and they have two young children. When she heard that ITDGPractical Action were running a video training programme, she joined enthusiastically, despite never having seen a video camera before in her life.

Along with eleven others, Usha learned the techniques of video production. By the end of the course they had made a short film called 'Samaj Jure, which means 'Society Wide'. The film highlights some of the problems faced by their community - drinking water contaminated by arsenic, poor roads and lack of sanitation facilities. All of these have major implications for their families.

Usha, who narrated the film, is very proud of their achievement. She feels that by making this film and showing it to local government officials, they have put their issues on the agenda both locally and internationally. The ambition of this group of women is to have their own ICT centre, which they can use to communicate with the world.

More about women telling their own stories - in India and Bangladesh, and in Kenya

A parasitic disease known as sheep liver fluke causes lower milk yields for these farmers. This disease affects both sheep and cattle in the Andes and is spread by snails. The parasite rarely kills the livestock, but infected animals weigh a third less than healthy ones and cows produce 50 per cent less milk, which means a reduced income for farmers. They cannot afford conventional medicines to treat their animals, so the animals' health deteriorates and they often die from secondary diseases.

ITDGPractical Action have helped to develop an affordable and effective treatment for sheep liver fluke. Using a blend of local herbs, a medicine has been formulated which farmers themselves can easily make from locally available plants.

ITDGPractical Action's training scheme for farmers - locally trained farmers known as kamayoqs - was vital to the success of this project. The kamayoqs were able to show farmers how to make and administer the medicine as well as teach them new ways of using the increased quantities of milk produced by the healthier animals for yoghurt and cheese production.

Farmers throughout the Peruvian Andes are now producing the medicine and starting to build a better future.

María Huamán Quispe, a kamayoq from the Sicuani district involved in the development of this medicine says: "We've learnt a lot through agricultural experimentation and at the Kamayoq School. Now I raise improved pigs. I was given these animals by the community of Pichura and I shared them with my neighbour. I also built a small stable for five heads of cattle and I have become a specialist in fattening bulls. All this has been done with ITDGPractical Action's support. My husband and I dedicate ourselves to taking care of our animals, pastures and crops with better techniques."

ITDGPractical Action has worked in the area of household energy for many years and this experience provided evidence for a new report entitled 'Smoke: the killer in the kitchen', which details the health impact of smoke in homes in the developing world. It also presents technical solutions and makes recommendations to combat this major problem. The report, published by ITDG Publishing, was covered in the press with articles in the Lancet, New Scientist, New Internationalist and Geographical magazine.

Despite its impact on the health of millions of people in the world's poorest countries, indoor air pollution continues to be "the forgotten risk". ITDGPractical Action is working through the worldwide 'Partnership for Clean Indoor Air', to persuade policy-makers at the global, national and local level to give indoor air pollution the attention it deserves and to take action to end the deaths from smoke in the home.

More about Smoke: the killer in the kitchen

In Sri Lanka, ITDGPractical Action South Asia's Ramona Miranda and the National Institute for Education developed a new syllabus for 14-16 year old students. This is currently being piloted before rolling out at national level in 2006. It requires a major change in approach for both teachers and students but they are all relishing the challenge.

In Zimbabwe, ITDGPractical Action took part in an international workshop called to help design a curriculum to develop creative young Zimbabweans into the designers of the future. ITDGPractical Action hopes to be able to launch a pilot scheme there in 2005. Encouraging designers to think about sustainability when they design, choose and use technology will play a part in building a better world for the future.

More about the Sustainable Design Award

During the year ITDG Publishing underwent a major review of the business. As a consequence the business has relocated to Bourton Hall to be more closely aligned with the work of ITDGPractical Action. The London bookshop, therefore, closed at the end of March 2004.

ITDG Publishing continued to publish new books with 19 titles appearing in addition to the Waterlines and Small Enterprise Development journals. Highlights of the year included the publication of further titles in our Urban Management Series, strong titles on water and sanitation issues, and cooperation with ITDGPractical Action colleagues in the production and publishing of the first ITDGPractical Action Briefing, Smoke: the Killer in the Kitchen.

The communications challenge

The World Bank commissioned ITC along with ITDGPractical Action Latin America and Intelecon, a Canadian organisation specialising in communications, to find out how Peru could benefit from this new technology. The team studied recent programmes which subsidised public phones in remote areas, most of which were linked to the national networks by satellite. ITDGPractical Action Latin America's experience in setting up telecentres in remote rural areas provided a vital contribution. They were able to demonstrate how important it is for any expansion programme to respond to the needs of all sectors of society.

The hope is that the telephone will improve the lives of people in even the most isolated parts of Peru by making it easier to operate a business, to access vital information and to enable people to keep in touch with their families.

Download printed version

These annual highlights can also be downloaded as a six-page full colour document, in PDF format.

Download Annual Highlights 2004 as PDF ~866k
Note: during 2003-4, Practical Action was still known as ITDG, and is referred to as such in these Annual Highlights.