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Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group
by Robert Katz
It is a familiar story: post-college volunteer (Peace Corps,
etc.) returns from the developing world with a desire to help the
community in which he or she has been staying. The subsequent projects
are also familiar – they often involve selling local handicrafts to first-world markets, or aggregating donations of used computers
and cell phones to send back to the community. I don't question the
motivation behind such initiatives, and I applaud some of them for
attempting to bolster the local economy or jump-start development with
first-world technology. More often than not, however, these small
projects operate much like typical top-down development projects; that
is, they depend on human and physical capital that only the
donor/benefactor can provide. In order for such projects to become
truly sustainable, they must be able to stand on their own.
Peter Haas
knows this story well, having spent years traveling to and volunteering
in low-income communities, where well-intentioned development projects
often failed without constant donor intervention. With his first-hand
knowledge of the problem, Haas set off to find a solution, founding the
Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG) in 2004. The AIDG web site describes exactly what it is they do:
The Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG)
works to provide rural villages in developing countries with affordable
and environmentally sound technologies...Through a combination of
business incubation, education, training, and outreach, the AIDG helps
individuals and communities gain access to technology that will improve
their lives. Our model provides a novel approach to sustainable
development by empowering people with the physical tools and practical
knowledge to solve infrastructure problems in their own communities.
In
short, the AIDG tackles infrastructure development – energy generation,
clean water, sanitation, cooking – though a combination of
locally-appropriate design and small business development. Much like Amy Smith's
famous D-Lab at MIT, they work directly with local communities to
design technologies appropriate to local needs and conditions. Then
AIDG combines the local needs assessment and appropriate design with
cutting-edge small enterprise development services. Similar to KickStart,
AIDG helps set up locally-staffed workshops to develop, manufacture,
and repair the systems. The shops get off the ground with a recoverable
grant, financed by the workshops’ profits. These monies are then
funneled back through AIDG to start more workshops in new locations,
completing the cycle.
Sustainability – of the environment as well as of the model – underpins the entirety of AIDG operations. Its appropriate technologies
are explicitly designed to be environmentally sound, such as
high-efficiency combustion stoves, solar-powered water heating, animal
waste biodigesters, and low-tech, high-efficiency windmills. Creative
commons reigns: their designs, technical manuals, and other
intellectual capital are available – free of charge – on an AIDG web site. The organization itself is a 501(c)3 non-profit staffed by young, well-educated volunteers and supported by a grant from Echoing Green
.
They aren't out to make money for themselves, but rather to bolster the
economies of the communities in which they work while simultaneously
addressing some of the most grievous affects of poverty. All that, and
they’re environmentally friendly to boot. If there were ever an
organization that single-handedly embodied what it means to be
Worldchanging, this is it.
The original blog post is available at:
http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/005246.html
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