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By Jane Eason
Rezal Karim is a 22-year-old student living in Faridpur, Bangladesh. In this most vulnerable area, floods are becoming more common place and precious land where people live and earn a living is washed away. The struggle to escape from poverty has never been harder.
Rezal could no longer afford to continue his education, which he hoped would lead to a better life for him and his family. He knew the unused pond on his family's land could be used for fish farming and provide an answer, but he didn't know how to do it.
Millions of people in developing countries have the ideas to lift themselves out of poverty but lack access to information to take practical measures and make that dream a reality.
The rewards of knowledge sharing
However, with help from Practical Action, an international development charity with more than 40 years' experience working in 11 countries, Rezal, along with some of the world's poorest communities, have been given help, assistance and advice on appropriate technologies to lift people out of poverty.
Through the charity's Practical Answers service, Rezal was given help, knowledge, support and technology to get started. From basic fish culture, fish meal, information on how to prepare a pond, he was able to start fish farming - meaning he could continue his education.
As well as doubling his production and taking on another farm, Razel is now earning Tk 20,000 - or £180 per pond, every year, while furthering his education.
This is only one small example of how the Practical Answers service is helping hundreds of people around the world overcome their own poverty, through the provision of knowledge and information.
As well as extensive project work in Africa, Latin America and Asia, Practical Action is one of just a handful of organisations which provides a technical enquiries service.
Now in its fifth decade, Practical Answers deals with more than 3,500 enquiries every year. It allows people across the world to access a wealth of its technical information and experience, including detailed information and manual and engineering drawings. This is a free service providing technical and development information to people who are seeking to combat poverty.
Another major success story was a women's group in Zambia. Around 70 women were responsible for planting and harvesting crops, by hand. These were then delivered to market either via bicycle or on foot. With literacy levels low, access to information was difficult, yet contact with Practical Answers resulted in the development of a simple bicycle trailer scheme and the group reaped rewards.
A local welder with some training was able to use a Practical Action brief to make trailers for a relatively low cost, meaning women could transport more to market and use the trailer as a mobile market stall. The women's group also learned that processing food could make more money. In fact, processing nuts into peanut butter meant they could double their profits.
Through this ‘Practical Answer', more than 70 women gained independence through income generating activities, 70 households have a better standard of living, 280 individuals have better nutrition and more children can attend school.
The technical information which the service offers varies from fruit drying to water pumps, rain water harvesting to solar energy and bio diesel techniques. People can benefit from a wealth of technical information.
Drawing on the experience of professionals, this service is not just UK-based, but includes a dedicated office in each country the charity works in covering Africa, Asia and Latin America. This all increases the accessibility of the information. Information is provided in local languages and appropriate format to make it as accessible as possible. Usually this is not just a written brief but will be accompanied by the thoughts of local experts and the experience of the charity.
Through sharing and disseminating information, this practical support has had major impacts on the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of poor men and women throughout the world.
The ‘Practical Answer' to poverty
Often, development information is not aimed towards the needs of poor people, but generated by and aimed at people in Western economies and their research objectives. Information in local languages is often limited, while people with no formal education or access to internet struggle to access information and implement solutions
Engineering techniques - from very simple ideas to more traditional methods - are being embraced by developing communities but without knowledge sharing and scaling up ideas, results often remain localised.
However, through the Practical Answers international network of enquiry services, the Service is able to call on the expertise of several hundred professionals in technical, economic and sociological disciplines to help formulate the answers to enquiries.
With more than 250 practical guides, manuals, a global interactive website including audio and video, CDs and journals, Practical Answers offers case studies with detailed technical and engineering information on how to apply technologies. Practical Answers also has a number of resource centres based in Practical Action offices across the world which are open to the public and hold a distinctive collection of appropriate technology and development literature.
Yet, this service is more than just offering information; it is about putting communities in touch with others who have benefited, experts and also working in partnership with other organisations, encouraging people to share information and take ownership of their projects. Future developments include more multimedia formats, multilingual website and decentralised knowledge centres.
A consultant working for the UK Department for International Development commented in a recent report that "it is hard to imagine many other development projects that could provide such good value for money" (John Rowley).
Knowledge - the key to success
The success of development projects often relies on access to knowledge and measures in place to share information. Often information, which is accessible through community centres or larger towns, has no way to disseminate information - especially in areas where literacy levels are low.
Through using a range of information platforms and communication channels, Practical Action has been able to share knowledge with those who need it most while having major impacts on people's quality of life. Practical Answers project explores the use of multimedia, mobile phones, Internet and traditional methods of communication aiming at creation of a network of local knowledge nodes which will be able to understand the needs for knowledge in communities and facilitate knowledge sharing supported by local as well as global knowledge resources.
Yet, without creating a market where private industry invests in these kind of services to provide training centres, manuals and equipment to further development and provide ways for people to work together while scaling up knowledge, progress will remain slow.
Co-founder of Practical Action, George McRobie, believes that Practical Action's approach of putting people and the environment first is more relevant today than ever before.
"The gap between the rich and the poor in developing countries is increasing. This is a disaster for the poor, a disaster for the developing countries and, in the long run, a disaster for us all. We need greater localisation to prevent people being ground into the earth by big technology."
Practical Action has a very clear message: sharing knowledge through a range of techniques, while embracing and complimenting traditional cultures, will help millions of people escape poverty. It believes this is one of the most effective ways to address poverty and improve people's lives, now and for generations to come.
Practical Action was founded by radical economist, philosopher and author of ‘Small is Beautiful', Dr. E.F Schumacher who strongly believed that the right idea, however small, can change lives, create job and improve health and livelihoods. The tools to reduce poverty may be simple or sophisticated, but to provide long-term, practical answers, they must be firmly in the hands of local people.
The Practical Answers website, which includes more than 250 downloadable free technical briefs, can be found at: www.practicalanswers.org
By Jane Eason
Written by Jane Eason
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