The Reasoning Behind AIDG
by Catherine LaineSeptember 4th, 2006
In an interview, Peter Haas spoke with Echoing Green about Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) and how he first learned to approach complex problem-solving.
Moment of Obligation: Why did you want to create your new organization?
There really is one moment that solidified the need for the organization in my mind. I was in Cuba, on a U.S. Department of Treasury permit, to look at urban agriculture and I visited two small pig farms just outside of Havana.
The first farm had a biodigester for treating the pig excrement that had been installed by a nephew of the owner. It supplied methane gas for lighting, a stove and a gas-fired hot water heater. In addition, the fertilizer generated from the biodigester bolstered the agricultural productivity of the farm. Overall, the farm lacked the typical odor associated with pig farming operations and had a clean well. The kitchen inside was spotless, thanks in part to the biogas stove, and the house was cool and shaded from numerous nearby trees.
The other farm presented the most direct contrast one could imagine. The place was a sanitation nightmare, it reeked; pig excrement was everywhere and was contaminating the nearby stream. The kitchen was filled with black smoke from inefficient wood fires, for which they had cleared all the surrounding trees. Without the tree cover the house baked in the sun. To light the house at night, the farmer was paying significantly for kerosene.
Unfortunately the second farmer had no recourse to buy a biodigester if he wanted one. There were no biodigester businesses selling and repairing them the way there were tractor or well-digging businesses. As time passed and I worked in more countries, I saw this situation again and again. It became clear that these two pig farms in Cuba weren’t some isolated instances; they were a representation of a greater need for the spread of appropriate technology. Those two farms initiated my realization that there was a niche for an organization like AIDG and the businesses it creates.
Gall to Think Big: What has given you the ability to take on deeply entrenched social problems?
When I was about six, I took apart my dad’s power drill to see how it worked. I won’t go into the reprimands I received for that indiscretion, but it led to a fascination with how complex systems worked. This was the slippery slope that led to many experiences of repairing other people’s technological refuse and reclaiming the utility. It made me see how much you could do with very little. I recall repairing my CD player once with a screwdriver, a paper clip, and dental floss (eat your heart out Richard Dean Anderson!). It gave me a confidence that even the most complex problems can have diagnosable and, if not repairable, at least surmountable root causes.
New and Untested: Describe what’s innovative about your new work.
Most of the technologies we work with have been around for years, but our combination of training, education, and outreach to disseminate them is truly unique. In our model each incubated shop eventually provides financial support and training teams to subsequent shop incubations. Already our shop workers in Guatemala train people from universities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia. Most of them, however, have never left Guatemala. I am almost giddy for the chance to fly these workers to our next planned shop location and give them the opportunity to pass on the training and skills they have received to people in similar economic settings.
Seeing Possibilities: What do you believe are the most important qualities to do social change work?
You need the standard entrepreneurial traits (innovation, commitment, organization, a solid work ethic), but most importantly I think you need to have some time on the ground. If you can live with your constituency and understand the quirks and peculiarities of their lives you will have a better chance of finding solutions that will actually help them. It is very easy to design ivory tower solutions for the world’s problems, but without the time with the people affected by those problems you lose access to the minutia that can make or break even the most specific organizational plan.
