ISBN-13: 9780415073448 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 186 str.
ISBN-13: 9780415073448 / Angielski / Miękka / 1993 / 186 str.
Development aid is often ineffective and unsustainable. The scale of problems being faced by the Third World demands large scale, replicable solutions but the high rate of failure in aid projects is often ascribed to inadequate consideration of local culture and conditions. Can demands for actions be reconciled with location-specific solutions? The Critical Villager argues that community-based participatory research and transfer of technology are not rival models of development but, complementary components of effective aid. The eight practical principles for evaluation and action describes a call for students, development workers, policy makers and researchers to put themselves in the shoes of the intended beneficiaries of aid. The Critical Villager suggests that despite the wide range of cultures and circumstances, there are certain constant principles underlying how people select new technologies and practices which can guide how aid interventions are designed.
When aid to the Third World actually works it is usually on such a small scale that it makes little impact on the world's problems. Can demands for generalizable actions be reconciled with location-specific solutions? The Critical Villager considers how community-based technical aid can be made more effective and sustainable. Calling for development workers, policy makers and researchers to put themselves in the place of the intended beneficiaries of aid, it suggests concrete principles for action and research. It argues that participatory research and 'transfer of technology' should not be regarded as rival models for development but rather as complementary components in a single process of effective aid.