The Small is... Festival 2011 celebrates the Centenary of E.F. Schumacher by bringing together enthusiastic young engineers, experienced professionals, and members of the public in the beautiful grounds at The Schumacher Centre for Technology and Development, near Rugby, on 2nd-4th September, for a weekend of technology, discussion, and hands-on activities.

In recognition of its achievements in engaging the public in technology and engineering, The Small is… Festival has been granted one of The Royal Academy of Engineering’s Ingenious Awards. Festival co-ordinator, Ray Gorman, enthused, “this is a huge honour for us and should allow us to deliver something really spectacular!”

First held in 2008, the Small is… Festival is a collaboration between Practical Action and Engineers Without Borders UK, and has created an open, family-friendly space for everyone to engage with and question the ideas, technologies and issues surrounding international development and sustainability, in all areas of our lives.

Celebrating and exploring the principles set out in E.F. Schumacher's seminal book, Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered, the Small is... Festival is a festival "as if people mattered".

The 2011 festival promises to expand on the success of previous years, engaging the public in new and interesting ways, adding exciting new workshops, technologies and speakers, upgrading the festival facilities to include solar showers and rain water harvesting in addition to its famous eco-latrines, and most important of all involving its audience throughout its planning and delivery!

The Small is... Festival was selected to receive an Ingenious Award along with a number of other truly exciting public engagement events and programmes. The Small is… Festival, Engineers Without Borders UK and Practical Action extend their thanks to The Royal Academy of Engineering for this award.

Small is... Festival website

ENDS

For further information, please contact Abbie Upton, Practical Action Media Officer, on 01926 634510 or 07714 205342.

Notes for Editors:

Practical Action believes that the right idea, however small, can change lives.

Practical Action is an international development charity with a difference, working together with some of the world’s poorest women, men and children, helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world through the innovative use of technology.

Practical Action’s particular strength is its ‘simple’ approach: finding out what people are doing and helping them to do it better. This enables poor communities to build on their own knowledge and skills to produce sustainable and practical solutions: driving their own development.

Whether enabling women and men in Darfur to feed their families, providing people in Bangladesh with the chance to control the impact of flooding on their lives or working with remote communities in Peru to introduce electricity, Practical Action’s activities are always people focused, locally relevant and environmentally sensitive, offering tangible ways out of poverty.