Developing Technologies for the Rural Poor

This selective review looks at case studies where NGOs have been involved in rural/agricultural technology programmes directed at the rural poor, and attempts to identify those common features which characterize the agencies that have met with success. (Published in the ITDG Occasional Paper series).

Stephen Biggs retired from DEV in 2004 but has continued researching fair trade, rural poverty reduction, rural mechanization, employment and energy policy, and science and technology policy. Most of his research and professional interests have been concerned with rural poverty reduction in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. Currently, he is working with colleagues on rural poverty, mechanization, employment and energy policy in South Asia.

Ruth Alsop has worked as a rural sociologist in South and East Asia, and in East Africa. After completing her doctoral research, her career in development began with British NGOs. Since then she has worked as a Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia, for the Ford Foundation, the International Food Policy Research Institute and the World Bank.