NO STAMP ISREQUIRED

but using one will save us

money

Supporter Services Unit

Practical Action

The Schumacher Centre for Technology

and Development

FREEPOST CV1753

Rugby

Warwickshire

CV23 9BR

The Schumacher Centre For Technology and Development, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UKT +44 (0)1926 634400 I F +44 (0)1926 634401 I E practicalaction@practicalaction.org.uk I W www.practicalaction.org

Practical Action is the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd.

Company Reg. No 871954, England I Reg. Charity No. 247257 I VAT No. 880 9924 76 I Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB

The first year of trading under our new name has been significant for Practical Action, with the celebration ofthe charity’s 40th anniversary. Practical Action waschosen as one of the beneficiaries of The Independentnewspaper’s Christmas Appeal. A total of twelve stories were featured about our work, including two onthe front page.

A 40th birthday is a time for making plans for thefuture, as well as reflecting on the past. PracticalAction has come many miles since Dr E F Schumacher,author of ‘Small is Beautiful’, set up an organisationto promote intermediate technology as a means ofimproving the lives of poor people in developing countries.

Over the years, there have been many successes tocelebrate – fuel efficient stoves reaching hundreds ofthousands of poor people; new farming techniquesincreasing yields dramatically; renewable energyreaching communities remote from any national grid;smoke hoods protecting families from dangerousindoor air pollution – the list could go on and on.Practical Action has grown into an international organisation working in 14 countries.

Entering our fifth decade we can truly say that ourideas and approach have inspired and influencedmany others. In spite of this our world is still divided.Huge technological advances have largely only been ofbenefit to the wealthy, while poverty still afflicts millions worldwide. Now climate change is making ourtask even more difficult and threatens to plunge morepeople even more deeply into poverty. This is a terribleinjustice because the world’s poorest people have contributed least to our changing climate yet they arehardest hit by the devastating effects.

We still have much more work to do in order toachieve our vision of a world free from poverty inwhich technology is used for the benefit of all. But weremain committed to working together with communities, developing solutions to bring about lasting change. Our work is made possible by thegenerosity of our supporters. We are extremely gratefulfor this support, which enables our work to grow andto change more lives for the better.

Simon Trace, Chief Executive, Practical Action

Summary of Income and Expenditure 2005/6

Total Yearly Income £m Income £m

Expenditure £m

Financial Review

Financial Review

Donations £7.9 (46%)

Trusts & Companies£1.5 (9%)

Governments, Institutions & NGOs £6.4 (37%)

Consultancy & Publishing£1.3 (7%)

Other £0.2 (1%)

Operational Programmes£12.3 (75%)

Fundraising£2.6 (16%)

Statutory Management &Administration £0.2 (1%)

Consultancy & Publishing£1.3 (8%)

16

12

8

4

0

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

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3

14

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2

13

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5

13

.67

5

15

.09

1

17

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2

Financial ReviewIt has been a very successful year for Practical Action with income increasing by 15% to £17.4m. Spending on operational charity programmes has increased by 32% to £12.3m.

Annual Highlights 2006

Practical Action Publishing

Practical Action Consulting

Practical Action joined forces with other leading development and environment groups for the StopClimate Chaos ‘Carbon Dating’ Lobby of Parliament.Supporters from Practical Action joined hundreds ofothers to lobby 80 MPs who moved from table to tablein a ‘speed dating’ format. Practical Action supporterswere able to raise issues directly with the politiciansthey met. Margaret Beckett and David Cameron wereamong the MPs who were lobbied about the need forurgent action on climate change.

Nazmul Chowdhury, Practical Action’s Project Managerfrom Bangladesh, was a keynote speaker at the event.In an inspirational address he gave first-hand testimony of the impact of climate change on thepoorest people of Bangladesh, who are forced to copewith increasingly severe flooding that washes awayhomes and crops year upon year. Nazmul called forUK politicians to take urgent action to cut UK carbonemissions and to guarantee help for the world’s poorest countries as they adapt to the impact of climate change.

One highlight of the year was the publication of ‘The State They’re In: An Agenda for InternationalAction on Poverty in Africa’ by Matthew Lockwood. Itexamines the roots of poverty in Africa and explainshow a better understanding of African politics cancontribute to the formulation of improved policies onaid, trade and debt.

The book has attracted enthusiastic endorsementsfrom the Department for International Development,international development NGOs, and many others,even Bob Geldof. It is already in its second edition. Intotal Practical Action Publishing published 19 newbooks in the course of the year.

STEP – the Sustainable Technology Education Project– aims to raise young people’s awareness of the economic and environmental impacts of the technology we choose. Its new-look websitewww.stepin.org is easier to use and offers increasedsupport for teachers of the 11–16 age group.

Thirty-five colourful case studies from around theworld focus on practical, sustainable solutions to realproblems, ranging from Smart cars and solar lanternsto organic baby food. Each case study is supported by

activities appropriate for the age group. For example,one of the case studies is based on a Practical Actionproject on organic cotton in Peru, exploring the connection between organic cotton and fair trade fashion in the western world.

There are links to relevant background information,including fascinating ‘did you know’ facts and inspirational websites, resources and activity ideas.The STEP site has become a popular resource withboth teachers and students, helping them incorporatesustainability into their designs.

Practical Action Consulting has undertaken a WorldBank study to find quicker ways of assessing ruraltransport services. The study covered both passengerand freight transport in a typical rural region ofBurkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania and Zambia.

Transport users, operators and authorities at theregional capital and in three market towns were questioned about the quality and cost of services toand from urban centres. Interviews conducted in fivevillages provided further insights into the transportneeds of users, including farmers, traders, school children and marginalised people. In addition trafficcounts, which included bicycles and pedestrians, werecarried out in a variety of locations.

This study will make it easier for agencies to carry outrapid, low-cost assessments of rural transport servicesin other countries, which will help them to adoptappropriate policies for the provision of affordablerural transport services.

A New for Education

Pushing for change

Forty Years of Challenging Poverty

A M

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foldfold Moisten and seal here

Moisten and seal here

Moisten and seal hereJust complete and return this form to us by folding and sticking the edges together.

Yes, I’ll help find practical answers to povertyI’d like to make a donationPlease accept my gift of:

£10 £25 £50 Or my own amount £

Ienclose my cheque/postal order/charity voucher made payable toPractical Action

I wish to pay by Mastercard / Visa / Maestro / Charity card

Card Number

Good News! Your gift could now be worth 28% extra throughreclaimed tax. Tick here and we will send you a simple form.

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Issue no: Signature:

or call our donation hotline on: 0800 389 16 24

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Please send me more informationAbout Practical Action’s work

On how to make a regular gift On leaving a legacy to Practical Action

Title:

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Surname:

Address:

Postcode:

Telephone No:

Email:If you are happy to be contacted by telephone and/or email with updates on projects, campaigning and fundraising, please provide your contact details; you can unsubscribe at any time.

Data Protection Act 1998In accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act, Practical Action holds any detailsyou give us for marketing purposes. If you do not wish to receive any future information or updates from us at Practical Action write to the Data Controller atthe address shown. From time to time, we allow other like-minded organisations towrite to our supporters. If you would rather your name was not included, please tickthis box

Nepal is one of the most mountainous countries in theworld and many villages are completely inaccessibleby road. Hom Bahadur Upreti is a farmer and a member of the village management committee inKumpur in the Dhading district of Nepal. PracticalAction helped this village of 150 households to installa river crossing – a tuin in Nepalese – to connectKumpur with the other side of the Trishuli river.

Practical Action provided technical support for the project and the villagers contributed labour, gravel,sand and stones. The tuin saves valuable time as children going to school no longer have to wade acrossthe river, taking their lives in their hands. As a resultthe number of children enrolled at school hasincreased.

There have been economic benefits as well – transportation costs have reduced and the value oflocal land has doubled. The tuin is also both environmentally friendly and cheap to maintain.

“This has helped me identify new opportunities for marketing my goods,” declared Mr Upreti. “Our farmers’ group has become so encouraged after thetuin installation that excitement about communitywork has increased visibly.”

Altogether nine improved river crossings were installedthis year, in five districts of Nepal. To ensure that thesystems are kept in good working order local peoplehave been trained in their operation and maintenance.Not surprisingly Practical Action is receiving requestsfrom many more villages that are keen to have a tuininstalled.

Crossing the rivers of NepalP

ract

ical

Act

ion/

Lucy

Ste

vens

During the monsoon season much of the farmland inGaibanda, Bangladesh is covered in water, making itimpossible to grow crops. Practical Action has developed a new cultivation technique, using a raftmade of water hyacinth.

Tara Begum lives with her husband and son in a smallcompound in Shingria, near Gaibanda. She has beendriven from her home seven times by river erosion andnow lives on the flood protection embankment. Herfamily own a small plot of land where Tara can growsome food during the dry season, but in the monsoonthis is covered with water and her family go hungry.

Practical Action provided Tara with training on vegetable production and the technique of making afloating vegetable garden. She collected water hyacinth,a common weed in the river, and used this to build asimple floating raft, which she covered with soil sowedwith vegetable seeds. As it floats on the flooded riverthe hyacinth roots act as a natural fertiliser.

During the last monsoon, Tara was able to grow redonions, okra, sweet pumpkin and gourd seedlings,which she transplanted once the flood had died down.She now has enough food for her family and surplusvegetables to sell in the market. After the end of themonsoon season the raft can be used as compost.Tara’s neighbours are now copying the idea and making their own floating gardens.

Floating gardens in Bangladesh

The village of Massengena in Mozambique had an inefficient earth canal irrigation system, which wasdestroyed in the floods of 2000. The villagers tried toreinstate the system but the water always seeped awaythrough small holes in the earth walls, so farmersbegan to ferry water from the river by hand. Their harvest was restricted by the small amount of waterthey could carry.

Practical Action is working with the people ofMassengena to revive and improve the irrigationscheme by using sand, small stones and cement tocover the canal walls to make them stronger. QuefasseMomad Abdul, a 37-year-old farmer with three children, describes the project:

“Practical Action trained us to construct the canalsand to build houses and other structures. This has hadquite an impact on us because from the time we weretaught to build we’ve been contracted to extend houses and build toilets for people and we’ve beenable to earn money. There has been a serious droughthere so we’ve used the money from building to buyfood.”

More than 400 men and women are working on irrigation schemes in this area and 50 hectares havealready been irrigated.

Irrigation for Mozambique

At over 3,800 metres above sea level in the Andes ofPeru, vegetation is scarce and the native potato provides the staple food for farming communities.Remarkably little research has been done on nativespecies of potato, which commonly produce only 3.5tonnes per hectare. Extreme weather conditions in theregion and the marginal quality of the soil on steeplysloping land make subsistence farming here hazardous.

Practical Action has been working with these communities to improve their crop yields. More than100 varieties of native potato have been collected and

a variety of techniques have been developed, emphasising ecological soil management and controlof pests and diseases. As a result yields increased tofive tonnes per hectare during the first year with scopefor further improvement. Forty farmers have trained asexpert producers of these native potatoes, who now provide technical assistance to farmers in their localarea.

Abrahan Quito Apaza, a farmer from the Pumaorccocommunity, was delighted. “My vision is to become aleading crop producer so that my community can prosper. I am encouraging young people to participatein the training courses and become good farmers.”

Peru, birthplace of the potato

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/E

mm

a Ju

dge

Getting agricultural information to farmers in remoteareas of Peru is challenging. Practical Action is testing podcasting as a means of disseminating technical and market information to farmers in the rural region of Cajamarca in northern Peru. Regularupdates are podcast to a network of information centres around Cajamarca, where they are downloaded, listened to on CD and broadcast on localradio, which is the most popular information mediumamongst a rural population with low levels of literacy.The podcasting format was chosen because it is cheapto produce, can be distributed fast over the internetand uses local voices.

Programme content was targeted to local needs in thedifferent areas of Cajamarca. In Chanta Alta, information was given about cattle and dairy production, while in Chiliete, a wine producing area,they concentrated on information about grapes andbeans.

The language was kept simple, to make the podcastsmore accessible than technical leaflets. Farmers whoheard the podcasts were better able to make decisionsabout when to take their produce to market and learntnew ways of dealing with pests and diseases, leadingto increased yields.

Practical Action plans to undertake further trials of podcasting in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Podcasting in Peru

Maximising the impact of our work is very important.Though our projects are often small in the face of thescale of world poverty, by sharing experience andencouraging others to copy and learn from our work,we can reach many more people. This multiplier effecthas been at work in Sri Lanka, where larger agencieshave studied our technologies and methods of community involvement and used them as a model forlarger projects.

Following the tsunami in December 2004, hundredsof international organisations descended on Sri Lankato help in the relief and rebuilding work. To managethis influx, the government established the Task Forcefor Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN), charged with the

task of completing the reconstruction process by theend of 2005. As a result the views of people mostaffected by the tsunami were often ignored. Using ourexperience in Sri Lanka, Practical Action suggestedguidelines to make the rebuilding process work infavour of poor people. Many of these were adopted bygovernment, donors and UN agencies.

Our demonstration development of 40 houses have features such as a brick-laying pattern with a cavitybetween two rows to keep the house cool and a flatroof using rubble from the tsunami. Bricklayers trainedin the new construction methods can now build moreof these houses and agencies such as the Red Crossare using the designs for their own projects.

A small organisation with a big impact

Another year of drought has hit East Africa hard.Kenya’s earth dams ran dry and 4 million people wereat risk of starvation. Pastoral communities in NorthernKenya lost most of their precious livestock. PracticalAction has been helping by supplying feed and healthcare for nucleus herds. These animals will providebreeding stock to enable these communities to returnto their way of life when the drought ends.

Cattle rustling has always been a problem, but is nowmade more dangerous by the ubiquity of automaticweapons. Herders who still had livestock converged onplaces with grazing available, leading to conflict

between pastoralist and agricultural communities.Practical Action is helping to set up local peacecommittees to manage this conflict.

In the Turkana district of northern Kenya nomadicherders have less and more erratic rainfall in recentyears. Practical Action is supporting thesecommunities by restoring and improving traditionalshallow wells.

A shallow well in Kalokol village, used by 40 families,was covered, had a hand pump installed and wasstrengthened with concrete culverts. It now has a volume of 6,000 litres of water per day. Followingtraining, the community are able to maintain theirwells and the pumps themselves.

Drought in East Africa

Persistent conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan hasdriven many people out of their villages into camps onthe edge of towns. Recurrent drought is making landmore difficult to cultivate each year. Practical Actionis working with communities to find ways of mitigatingthe effects of drought. Water harvesting technologiessuch as earth dams and crescent terraces have beenadapted to local conditions and drought-resistant varieties of local food crops help to improve harvests.

Practical Action is also providing donkeys for transport. Tayba Zibeir Bateil Kursi, who lives in UmShijeira with her four children, describes the benefits:“I have been working in pottery-making to secure anincome for my family. I used to carry the materials,like mud, dung and water on my head to the production centre. The project has increased my

income from pottery-making by 50% because thematerials transport alone was about half the cost.Really the project has done much for me by bringingthis donkey which I was badly in need of.”

More than 500 donkeys have been supplied to poorhouseholds in the area, ensuring that, like Tayba, theycan live a better life.

Working donkeys in DarfurTending a floating garden in Bangladesh

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/A

nnie

Bun

gero

th

Tuin linking Kumpar to the highway to Kathmandu

Concreting the irrigation channel

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n B

angl

ades

h

Collecting water in Sudan with the help of a donkey

foldfold Moisten and seal here

Moisten and seal here

Moisten and seal hereJust complete and return this form to us by folding and sticking the edges together.

Yes, I’ll help find practical answers to povertyI’d like to make a donationPlease accept my gift of:

£10 £25 £50 Or my own amount £

Ienclose my cheque/postal order/charity voucher made payable toPractical Action

I wish to pay by Mastercard / Visa / Maestro / Charity card

Card Number

Good News! Your gift could now be worth 28% extra throughreclaimed tax. Tick here and we will send you a simple form.

Valid from: /Expiry Date: /

Issue no: Signature:

or call our donation hotline on: 0800 389 16 24

(Please delete as applicable)

(Maestro Only)

(Maestro Only)

Please send me more informationAbout Practical Action’s work

On how to make a regular gift On leaving a legacy to Practical Action

Title:

First name:

Surname:

Address:

Postcode:

Telephone No:

Email:If you are happy to be contacted by telephone and/or email with updates on projects, campaigning and fundraising, please provide your contact details; you can unsubscribe at any time.

Data Protection Act 1998In accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act, Practical Action holds any detailsyou give us for marketing purposes. If you do not wish to receive any future information or updates from us at Practical Action write to the Data Controller atthe address shown. From time to time, we allow other like-minded organisations towrite to our supporters. If you would rather your name was not included, please tickthis box

Nepal is one of the most mountainous countries in theworld and many villages are completely inaccessibleby road. Hom Bahadur Upreti is a farmer and a member of the village management committee inKumpur in the Dhading district of Nepal. PracticalAction helped this village of 150 households to installa river crossing – a tuin in Nepalese – to connectKumpur with the other side of the Trishuli river.

Practical Action provided technical support for the project and the villagers contributed labour, gravel,sand and stones. The tuin saves valuable time as children going to school no longer have to wade acrossthe river, taking their lives in their hands. As a resultthe number of children enrolled at school hasincreased.

There have been economic benefits as well – transportation costs have reduced and the value oflocal land has doubled. The tuin is also both environmentally friendly and cheap to maintain.

“This has helped me identify new opportunities for marketing my goods,” declared Mr Upreti. “Our farmers’ group has become so encouraged after thetuin installation that excitement about communitywork has increased visibly.”

Altogether nine improved river crossings were installedthis year, in five districts of Nepal. To ensure that thesystems are kept in good working order local peoplehave been trained in their operation and maintenance.Not surprisingly Practical Action is receiving requestsfrom many more villages that are keen to have a tuininstalled.

Crossing the rivers of Nepal

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/Lu

cy S

teve

ns

During the monsoon season much of the farmland inGaibanda, Bangladesh is covered in water, making itimpossible to grow crops. Practical Action has developed a new cultivation technique, using a raftmade of water hyacinth.

Tara Begum lives with her husband and son in a smallcompound in Shingria, near Gaibanda. She has beendriven from her home seven times by river erosion andnow lives on the flood protection embankment. Herfamily own a small plot of land where Tara can growsome food during the dry season, but in the monsoonthis is covered with water and her family go hungry.

Practical Action provided Tara with training on vegetable production and the technique of making afloating vegetable garden. She collected water hyacinth,a common weed in the river, and used this to build asimple floating raft, which she covered with soil sowedwith vegetable seeds. As it floats on the flooded riverthe hyacinth roots act as a natural fertiliser.

During the last monsoon, Tara was able to grow redonions, okra, sweet pumpkin and gourd seedlings,which she transplanted once the flood had died down.She now has enough food for her family and surplusvegetables to sell in the market. After the end of themonsoon season the raft can be used as compost.Tara’s neighbours are now copying the idea and making their own floating gardens.

Floating gardens in Bangladesh

The village of Massengena in Mozambique had an inefficient earth canal irrigation system, which wasdestroyed in the floods of 2000. The villagers tried toreinstate the system but the water always seeped awaythrough small holes in the earth walls, so farmersbegan to ferry water from the river by hand. Their harvest was restricted by the small amount of waterthey could carry.

Practical Action is working with the people ofMassengena to revive and improve the irrigationscheme by using sand, small stones and cement tocover the canal walls to make them stronger. QuefasseMomad Abdul, a 37-year-old farmer with three children, describes the project:

“Practical Action trained us to construct the canalsand to build houses and other structures. This has hadquite an impact on us because from the time we weretaught to build we’ve been contracted to extend houses and build toilets for people and we’ve beenable to earn money. There has been a serious droughthere so we’ve used the money from building to buyfood.”

More than 400 men and women are working on irrigation schemes in this area and 50 hectares havealready been irrigated.

Irrigation for Mozambique

At over 3,800 metres above sea level in the Andes ofPeru, vegetation is scarce and the native potato provides the staple food for farming communities.Remarkably little research has been done on nativespecies of potato, which commonly produce only 3.5tonnes per hectare. Extreme weather conditions in theregion and the marginal quality of the soil on steeplysloping land make subsistence farming here hazardous.

Practical Action has been working with these communities to improve their crop yields. More than100 varieties of native potato have been collected and

a variety of techniques have been developed, emphasising ecological soil management and controlof pests and diseases. As a result yields increased tofive tonnes per hectare during the first year with scopefor further improvement. Forty farmers have trained asexpert producers of these native potatoes, who now provide technical assistance to farmers in their localarea.

Abrahan Quito Apaza, a farmer from the Pumaorccocommunity, was delighted. “My vision is to become aleading crop producer so that my community can prosper. I am encouraging young people to participatein the training courses and become good farmers.”

Peru, birthplace of the potato

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/E

mm

a Ju

dge

Getting agricultural information to farmers in remoteareas of Peru is challenging. Practical Action is testing podcasting as a means of disseminating technical and market information to farmers in the rural region of Cajamarca in northern Peru. Regularupdates are podcast to a network of information centres around Cajamarca, where they are downloaded, listened to on CD and broadcast on localradio, which is the most popular information mediumamongst a rural population with low levels of literacy.The podcasting format was chosen because it is cheapto produce, can be distributed fast over the internetand uses local voices.

Programme content was targeted to local needs in thedifferent areas of Cajamarca. In Chanta Alta, information was given about cattle and dairy production, while in Chiliete, a wine producing area,they concentrated on information about grapes andbeans.

The language was kept simple, to make the podcastsmore accessible than technical leaflets. Farmers whoheard the podcasts were better able to make decisionsabout when to take their produce to market and learntnew ways of dealing with pests and diseases, leadingto increased yields.

Practical Action plans to undertake further trials of podcasting in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Podcasting in Peru

Maximising the impact of our work is very important.Though our projects are often small in the face of thescale of world poverty, by sharing experience andencouraging others to copy and learn from our work,we can reach many more people. This multiplier effecthas been at work in Sri Lanka, where larger agencieshave studied our technologies and methods of community involvement and used them as a model forlarger projects.

Following the tsunami in December 2004, hundredsof international organisations descended on Sri Lankato help in the relief and rebuilding work. To managethis influx, the government established the Task Forcefor Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN), charged with the

task of completing the reconstruction process by theend of 2005. As a result the views of people mostaffected by the tsunami were often ignored. Using ourexperience in Sri Lanka, Practical Action suggestedguidelines to make the rebuilding process work infavour of poor people. Many of these were adopted bygovernment, donors and UN agencies.

Our demonstration development of 40 houses have features such as a brick-laying pattern with a cavitybetween two rows to keep the house cool and a flatroof using rubble from the tsunami. Bricklayers trainedin the new construction methods can now build moreof these houses and agencies such as the Red Crossare using the designs for their own projects.

A small organisation with a big impact

Another year of drought has hit East Africa hard.Kenya’s earth dams ran dry and 4 million people wereat risk of starvation. Pastoral communities in NorthernKenya lost most of their precious livestock. PracticalAction has been helping by supplying feed and healthcare for nucleus herds. These animals will providebreeding stock to enable these communities to returnto their way of life when the drought ends.

Cattle rustling has always been a problem, but is nowmade more dangerous by the ubiquity of automaticweapons. Herders who still had livestock converged onplaces with grazing available, leading to conflict

between pastoralist and agricultural communities.Practical Action is helping to set up local peacecommittees to manage this conflict.

In the Turkana district of northern Kenya nomadicherders have less and more erratic rainfall in recentyears. Practical Action is supporting thesecommunities by restoring and improving traditionalshallow wells.

A shallow well in Kalokol village, used by 40 families,was covered, had a hand pump installed and wasstrengthened with concrete culverts. It now has a volume of 6,000 litres of water per day. Followingtraining, the community are able to maintain theirwells and the pumps themselves.

Drought in East Africa

Persistent conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan hasdriven many people out of their villages into camps onthe edge of towns. Recurrent drought is making landmore difficult to cultivate each year. Practical Actionis working with communities to find ways of mitigatingthe effects of drought. Water harvesting technologiessuch as earth dams and crescent terraces have beenadapted to local conditions and drought-resistant varieties of local food crops help to improve harvests.

Practical Action is also providing donkeys for transport. Tayba Zibeir Bateil Kursi, who lives in UmShijeira with her four children, describes the benefits:“I have been working in pottery-making to secure anincome for my family. I used to carry the materials,like mud, dung and water on my head to the production centre. The project has increased my

income from pottery-making by 50% because thematerials transport alone was about half the cost.Really the project has done much for me by bringingthis donkey which I was badly in need of.”

More than 500 donkeys have been supplied to poorhouseholds in the area, ensuring that, like Tayba, theycan live a better life.

Working donkeys in DarfurTending a floating garden in Bangladesh

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/A

nnie

Bun

gero

th

Tuin linking Kumpar to the highway to Kathmandu

Concreting the irrigation channel

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n B

angl

ades

h

Collecting water in Sudan with the help of a donkey

foldfold Moisten and seal here

Moisten and seal here

Moisten and seal hereJust complete and return this form to us by folding and sticking the edges together.

Yes, I’ll help find practical answers to povertyI’d like to make a donationPlease accept my gift of:

£10 £25 £50 Or my own amount £

Ienclose my cheque/postal order/charity voucher made payable toPractical Action

I wish to pay by Mastercard / Visa / Maestro / Charity card

Card Number

Good News! Your gift could now be worth 28% extra throughreclaimed tax. Tick here and we will send you a simple form.

Valid from: /Expiry Date: /

Issue no: Signature:

or call our donation hotline on: 0800 389 16 24

(Please delete as applicable)

(Maestro Only)

(Maestro Only)

Please send me more informationAbout Practical Action’s work

On how to make a regular gift On leaving a legacy to Practical Action

Title:

First name:

Surname:

Address:

Postcode:

Telephone No:

Email:If you are happy to be contacted by telephone and/or email with updates on projects, campaigning and fundraising, please provide your contact details; you can unsubscribe at any time.

Data Protection Act 1998In accordance with the 1998 Data Protection Act, Practical Action holds any detailsyou give us for marketing purposes. If you do not wish to receive any future information or updates from us at Practical Action write to the Data Controller atthe address shown. From time to time, we allow other like-minded organisations towrite to our supporters. If you would rather your name was not included, please tickthis box

Nepal is one of the most mountainous countries in theworld and many villages are completely inaccessibleby road. Hom Bahadur Upreti is a farmer and a member of the village management committee inKumpur in the Dhading district of Nepal. PracticalAction helped this village of 150 households to installa river crossing – a tuin in Nepalese – to connectKumpur with the other side of the Trishuli river.

Practical Action provided technical support for the project and the villagers contributed labour, gravel,sand and stones. The tuin saves valuable time as children going to school no longer have to wade acrossthe river, taking their lives in their hands. As a resultthe number of children enrolled at school hasincreased.

There have been economic benefits as well – transportation costs have reduced and the value oflocal land has doubled. The tuin is also both environmentally friendly and cheap to maintain.

“This has helped me identify new opportunities for marketing my goods,” declared Mr Upreti. “Our farmers’ group has become so encouraged after thetuin installation that excitement about communitywork has increased visibly.”

Altogether nine improved river crossings were installedthis year, in five districts of Nepal. To ensure that thesystems are kept in good working order local peoplehave been trained in their operation and maintenance.Not surprisingly Practical Action is receiving requestsfrom many more villages that are keen to have a tuininstalled.

Crossing the rivers of Nepal

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During the monsoon season much of the farmland inGaibanda, Bangladesh is covered in water, making itimpossible to grow crops. Practical Action has developed a new cultivation technique, using a raftmade of water hyacinth.

Tara Begum lives with her husband and son in a smallcompound in Shingria, near Gaibanda. She has beendriven from her home seven times by river erosion andnow lives on the flood protection embankment. Herfamily own a small plot of land where Tara can growsome food during the dry season, but in the monsoonthis is covered with water and her family go hungry.

Practical Action provided Tara with training on vegetable production and the technique of making afloating vegetable garden. She collected water hyacinth,a common weed in the river, and used this to build asimple floating raft, which she covered with soil sowedwith vegetable seeds. As it floats on the flooded riverthe hyacinth roots act as a natural fertiliser.

During the last monsoon, Tara was able to grow redonions, okra, sweet pumpkin and gourd seedlings,which she transplanted once the flood had died down.She now has enough food for her family and surplusvegetables to sell in the market. After the end of themonsoon season the raft can be used as compost.Tara’s neighbours are now copying the idea and making their own floating gardens.

Floating gardens in Bangladesh

The village of Massengena in Mozambique had an inefficient earth canal irrigation system, which wasdestroyed in the floods of 2000. The villagers tried toreinstate the system but the water always seeped awaythrough small holes in the earth walls, so farmersbegan to ferry water from the river by hand. Their harvest was restricted by the small amount of waterthey could carry.

Practical Action is working with the people ofMassengena to revive and improve the irrigationscheme by using sand, small stones and cement tocover the canal walls to make them stronger. QuefasseMomad Abdul, a 37-year-old farmer with three children, describes the project:

“Practical Action trained us to construct the canalsand to build houses and other structures. This has hadquite an impact on us because from the time we weretaught to build we’ve been contracted to extend houses and build toilets for people and we’ve beenable to earn money. There has been a serious droughthere so we’ve used the money from building to buyfood.”

More than 400 men and women are working on irrigation schemes in this area and 50 hectares havealready been irrigated.

Irrigation for Mozambique

At over 3,800 metres above sea level in the Andes ofPeru, vegetation is scarce and the native potato provides the staple food for farming communities.Remarkably little research has been done on nativespecies of potato, which commonly produce only 3.5tonnes per hectare. Extreme weather conditions in theregion and the marginal quality of the soil on steeplysloping land make subsistence farming here hazardous.

Practical Action has been working with these communities to improve their crop yields. More than100 varieties of native potato have been collected and

a variety of techniques have been developed, emphasising ecological soil management and controlof pests and diseases. As a result yields increased tofive tonnes per hectare during the first year with scopefor further improvement. Forty farmers have trained asexpert producers of these native potatoes, who now provide technical assistance to farmers in their localarea.

Abrahan Quito Apaza, a farmer from the Pumaorccocommunity, was delighted. “My vision is to become aleading crop producer so that my community can prosper. I am encouraging young people to participatein the training courses and become good farmers.”

Peru, birthplace of the potato

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Getting agricultural information to farmers in remoteareas of Peru is challenging. Practical Action is testing podcasting as a means of disseminating technical and market information to farmers in the rural region of Cajamarca in northern Peru. Regularupdates are podcast to a network of information centres around Cajamarca, where they are downloaded, listened to on CD and broadcast on localradio, which is the most popular information mediumamongst a rural population with low levels of literacy.The podcasting format was chosen because it is cheapto produce, can be distributed fast over the internetand uses local voices.

Programme content was targeted to local needs in thedifferent areas of Cajamarca. In Chanta Alta, information was given about cattle and dairy production, while in Chiliete, a wine producing area,they concentrated on information about grapes andbeans.

The language was kept simple, to make the podcastsmore accessible than technical leaflets. Farmers whoheard the podcasts were better able to make decisionsabout when to take their produce to market and learntnew ways of dealing with pests and diseases, leadingto increased yields.

Practical Action plans to undertake further trials of podcasting in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Podcasting in Peru

Maximising the impact of our work is very important.Though our projects are often small in the face of thescale of world poverty, by sharing experience andencouraging others to copy and learn from our work,we can reach many more people. This multiplier effecthas been at work in Sri Lanka, where larger agencieshave studied our technologies and methods of community involvement and used them as a model forlarger projects.

Following the tsunami in December 2004, hundredsof international organisations descended on Sri Lankato help in the relief and rebuilding work. To managethis influx, the government established the Task Forcefor Rebuilding the Nation (TAFREN), charged with the

task of completing the reconstruction process by theend of 2005. As a result the views of people mostaffected by the tsunami were often ignored. Using ourexperience in Sri Lanka, Practical Action suggestedguidelines to make the rebuilding process work infavour of poor people. Many of these were adopted bygovernment, donors and UN agencies.

Our demonstration development of 40 houses have features such as a brick-laying pattern with a cavitybetween two rows to keep the house cool and a flatroof using rubble from the tsunami. Bricklayers trainedin the new construction methods can now build moreof these houses and agencies such as the Red Crossare using the designs for their own projects.

A small organisation with a big impact

Another year of drought has hit East Africa hard.Kenya’s earth dams ran dry and 4 million people wereat risk of starvation. Pastoral communities in NorthernKenya lost most of their precious livestock. PracticalAction has been helping by supplying feed and healthcare for nucleus herds. These animals will providebreeding stock to enable these communities to returnto their way of life when the drought ends.

Cattle rustling has always been a problem, but is nowmade more dangerous by the ubiquity of automaticweapons. Herders who still had livestock converged onplaces with grazing available, leading to conflict

between pastoralist and agricultural communities.Practical Action is helping to set up local peacecommittees to manage this conflict.

In the Turkana district of northern Kenya nomadicherders have less and more erratic rainfall in recentyears. Practical Action is supporting thesecommunities by restoring and improving traditionalshallow wells.

A shallow well in Kalokol village, used by 40 families,was covered, had a hand pump installed and wasstrengthened with concrete culverts. It now has a volume of 6,000 litres of water per day. Followingtraining, the community are able to maintain theirwells and the pumps themselves.

Drought in East Africa

Persistent conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan hasdriven many people out of their villages into camps onthe edge of towns. Recurrent drought is making landmore difficult to cultivate each year. Practical Actionis working with communities to find ways of mitigatingthe effects of drought. Water harvesting technologiessuch as earth dams and crescent terraces have beenadapted to local conditions and drought-resistant varieties of local food crops help to improve harvests.

Practical Action is also providing donkeys for transport. Tayba Zibeir Bateil Kursi, who lives in UmShijeira with her four children, describes the benefits:“I have been working in pottery-making to secure anincome for my family. I used to carry the materials,like mud, dung and water on my head to the production centre. The project has increased my

income from pottery-making by 50% because thematerials transport alone was about half the cost.Really the project has done much for me by bringingthis donkey which I was badly in need of.”

More than 500 donkeys have been supplied to poorhouseholds in the area, ensuring that, like Tayba, theycan live a better life.

Working donkeys in DarfurTending a floating garden in Bangladesh

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Tuin linking Kumpar to the highway to Kathmandu

Concreting the irrigation channel

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Collecting water in Sudan with the help of a donkey

NO STAMP ISREQUIRED

but using one will save us

money

Supporter Services Unit

Practical Action

The Schumacher Centre for Technology

and Development

FREEPOST CV1753

Rugby

Warwickshire

CV23 9BR

The Schumacher Centre For Technology and Development, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UKT +44 (0)1926 634400 I F +44 (0)1926 634401 I E practicalaction@practicalaction.org.uk I W www.practicalaction.org

Practical Action is the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd.

Company Reg. No 871954, England I Reg. Charity No. 247257 I VAT No. 880 9924 76 I Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB

The first year of trading under our new name has been significant for Practical Action, with the celebration ofthe charity’s 40th anniversary. Practical Action waschosen as one of the beneficiaries of The Independentnewspaper’s Christmas Appeal. A total of twelve stories were featured about our work, including two onthe front page.

A 40th birthday is a time for making plans for thefuture, as well as reflecting on the past. PracticalAction has come many miles since Dr E F Schumacher,author of ‘Small is Beautiful’, set up an organisationto promote intermediate technology as a means ofimproving the lives of poor people in developing countries.

Over the years, there have been many successes tocelebrate – fuel efficient stoves reaching hundreds ofthousands of poor people; new farming techniquesincreasing yields dramatically; renewable energyreaching communities remote from any national grid;smoke hoods protecting families from dangerousindoor air pollution – the list could go on and on.Practical Action has grown into an international organisation working in 14 countries.

Entering our fifth decade we can truly say that ourideas and approach have inspired and influencedmany others. In spite of this our world is still divided.Huge technological advances have largely only been ofbenefit to the wealthy, while poverty still afflicts millions worldwide. Now climate change is making ourtask even more difficult and threatens to plunge morepeople even more deeply into poverty. This is a terribleinjustice because the world’s poorest people have contributed least to our changing climate yet they arehardest hit by the devastating effects.

We still have much more work to do in order toachieve our vision of a world free from poverty inwhich technology is used for the benefit of all. But weremain committed to working together with communities, developing solutions to bring about lasting change. Our work is made possible by thegenerosity of our supporters. We are extremely gratefulfor this support, which enables our work to grow andto change more lives for the better.

Simon Trace, Chief Executive, Practical Action

Summary of Income and Expenditure 2005/6

Total Yearly Income £m Income £m

Expenditure £m

Financial Review

Financial Review

Donations £7.9 (46%)

Trusts & Companies£1.5 (9%)

Governments, Institutions & NGOs £6.4 (37%)

Consultancy & Publishing£1.3 (7%)

Other £0.2 (1%)

Operational Programmes£12.3 (75%)

Fundraising£2.6 (16%)

Statutory Management &Administration £0.2 (1%)

Consultancy & Publishing£1.3 (8%)

16

12

8

4

0

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

12

.50

3

14

.07

2

13

.82

5

13

.67

5

15

.09

1

17

.38

2

Financial ReviewIt has been a very successful year for Practical Action with income increasing by 15% to £17.4m. Spending on operational charity programmes has increased by 32% to £12.3m.

Annual Highlights 2006

Practical Action Publishing

Practical Action Consulting

Practical Action joined forces with other leading development and environment groups for the StopClimate Chaos ‘Carbon Dating’ Lobby of Parliament.Supporters from Practical Action joined hundreds ofothers to lobby 80 MPs who moved from table to tablein a ‘speed dating’ format. Practical Action supporterswere able to raise issues directly with the politiciansthey met. Margaret Beckett and David Cameron wereamong the MPs who were lobbied about the need forurgent action on climate change.

Nazmul Chowdhury, Practical Action’s Project Managerfrom Bangladesh, was a keynote speaker at the event.In an inspirational address he gave first-hand testimony of the impact of climate change on thepoorest people of Bangladesh, who are forced to copewith increasingly severe flooding that washes awayhomes and crops year upon year. Nazmul called forUK politicians to take urgent action to cut UK carbonemissions and to guarantee help for the world’s poorest countries as they adapt to the impact of climate change.

One highlight of the year was the publication of ‘The State They’re In: An Agenda for InternationalAction on Poverty in Africa’ by Matthew Lockwood. Itexamines the roots of poverty in Africa and explainshow a better understanding of African politics cancontribute to the formulation of improved policies onaid, trade and debt.

The book has attracted enthusiastic endorsementsfrom the Department for International Development,international development NGOs, and many others,even Bob Geldof. It is already in its second edition. Intotal Practical Action Publishing published 19 newbooks in the course of the year.

STEP – the Sustainable Technology Education Project– aims to raise young people’s awareness of the economic and environmental impacts of the technology we choose. Its new-look websitewww.stepin.org is easier to use and offers increasedsupport for teachers of the 11–16 age group.

Thirty-five colourful case studies from around theworld focus on practical, sustainable solutions to realproblems, ranging from Smart cars and solar lanternsto organic baby food. Each case study is supported by

activities appropriate for the age group. For example,one of the case studies is based on a Practical Actionproject on organic cotton in Peru, exploring the connection between organic cotton and fair trade fashion in the western world.

There are links to relevant background information,including fascinating ‘did you know’ facts and inspirational websites, resources and activity ideas.The STEP site has become a popular resource withboth teachers and students, helping them incorporatesustainability into their designs.

Practical Action Consulting has undertaken a WorldBank study to find quicker ways of assessing ruraltransport services. The study covered both passengerand freight transport in a typical rural region ofBurkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania and Zambia.

Transport users, operators and authorities at theregional capital and in three market towns were questioned about the quality and cost of services toand from urban centres. Interviews conducted in fivevillages provided further insights into the transportneeds of users, including farmers, traders, school children and marginalised people. In addition trafficcounts, which included bicycles and pedestrians, werecarried out in a variety of locations.

This study will make it easier for agencies to carry outrapid, low-cost assessments of rural transport servicesin other countries, which will help them to adoptappropriate policies for the provision of affordablerural transport services.

A New for Education

Pushing for change

Forty Years of Challenging Poverty

A M

aasai brings his animals to w

ater at the drying river`/ Practical A

ction/Karen R

obinson

Fron

t co

ver

phot

o: P

otat

o fa

rmer

fro

m C

anch

is p

rovi

nce,

Per

u

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/S

uzan

ne P

orte

r

Ox transport in Burkina Faso

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/P

aul

Sta

rkey

NO STAMP ISREQUIRED

but using one will save us

money

Supporter Services Unit

Practical Action

The Schumacher Centre for Technology

and Development

FREEPOST CV1753

Rugby

Warwickshire

CV23 9BR

The Schumacher Centre For Technology and Development, Bourton on Dunsmore, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UKT +44 (0)1926 634400 I F +44 (0)1926 634401 I E practicalaction@practicalaction.org.uk I W www.practicalaction.org

Practical Action is the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd.

Company Reg. No 871954, England I Reg. Charity No. 247257 I VAT No. 880 9924 76 I Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB

The first year of trading under our new name has been significant for Practical Action, with the celebration ofthe charity’s 40th anniversary. Practical Action waschosen as one of the beneficiaries of The Independentnewspaper’s Christmas Appeal. A total of twelve stories were featured about our work, including two onthe front page.

A 40th birthday is a time for making plans for thefuture, as well as reflecting on the past. PracticalAction has come many miles since Dr E F Schumacher,author of ‘Small is Beautiful’, set up an organisationto promote intermediate technology as a means ofimproving the lives of poor people in developing countries.

Over the years, there have been many successes tocelebrate – fuel efficient stoves reaching hundreds ofthousands of poor people; new farming techniquesincreasing yields dramatically; renewable energyreaching communities remote from any national grid;smoke hoods protecting families from dangerousindoor air pollution – the list could go on and on.Practical Action has grown into an international organisation working in 14 countries.

Entering our fifth decade we can truly say that ourideas and approach have inspired and influencedmany others. In spite of this our world is still divided.Huge technological advances have largely only been ofbenefit to the wealthy, while poverty still afflicts millions worldwide. Now climate change is making ourtask even more difficult and threatens to plunge morepeople even more deeply into poverty. This is a terribleinjustice because the world’s poorest people have contributed least to our changing climate yet they arehardest hit by the devastating effects.

We still have much more work to do in order toachieve our vision of a world free from poverty inwhich technology is used for the benefit of all. But weremain committed to working together with communities, developing solutions to bring about lasting change. Our work is made possible by thegenerosity of our supporters. We are extremely gratefulfor this support, which enables our work to grow andto change more lives for the better.

Simon Trace, Chief Executive, Practical Action

Summary of Income and Expenditure 2005/6

Total Yearly Income £m Income £m

Expenditure £m

Financial Review

Financial Review

Donations £7.9 (46%)

Trusts & Companies£1.5 (9%)

Governments, Institutions & NGOs £6.4 (37%)

Consultancy & Publishing£1.3 (7%)

Other £0.2 (1%)

Operational Programmes£12.3 (75%)

Fundraising£2.6 (16%)

Statutory Management &Administration £0.2 (1%)

Consultancy & Publishing£1.3 (8%)

16

12

8

4

0

20

01

20

02

20

03

20

04

20

05

20

06

12

.50

3

14

.07

2

13

.82

5

13

.67

5

15

.09

1

17

.38

2

Financial ReviewIt has been a very successful year for Practical Action with income increasing by 15% to £17.4m. Spending on operational charity programmes has increased by 32% to £12.3m.

Annual Highlights 2006

Practical Action Publishing

Practical Action Consulting

Practical Action joined forces with other leading development and environment groups for the StopClimate Chaos ‘Carbon Dating’ Lobby of Parliament.Supporters from Practical Action joined hundreds ofothers to lobby 80 MPs who moved from table to tablein a ‘speed dating’ format. Practical Action supporterswere able to raise issues directly with the politiciansthey met. Margaret Beckett and David Cameron wereamong the MPs who were lobbied about the need forurgent action on climate change.

Nazmul Chowdhury, Practical Action’s Project Managerfrom Bangladesh, was a keynote speaker at the event.In an inspirational address he gave first-hand testimony of the impact of climate change on thepoorest people of Bangladesh, who are forced to copewith increasingly severe flooding that washes awayhomes and crops year upon year. Nazmul called forUK politicians to take urgent action to cut UK carbonemissions and to guarantee help for the world’s poorest countries as they adapt to the impact of climate change.

One highlight of the year was the publication of ‘The State They’re In: An Agenda for InternationalAction on Poverty in Africa’ by Matthew Lockwood. Itexamines the roots of poverty in Africa and explainshow a better understanding of African politics cancontribute to the formulation of improved policies onaid, trade and debt.

The book has attracted enthusiastic endorsementsfrom the Department for International Development,international development NGOs, and many others,even Bob Geldof. It is already in its second edition. Intotal Practical Action Publishing published 19 newbooks in the course of the year.

STEP – the Sustainable Technology Education Project– aims to raise young people’s awareness of the economic and environmental impacts of the technology we choose. Its new-look websitewww.stepin.org is easier to use and offers increasedsupport for teachers of the 11–16 age group.

Thirty-five colourful case studies from around theworld focus on practical, sustainable solutions to realproblems, ranging from Smart cars and solar lanternsto organic baby food. Each case study is supported by

activities appropriate for the age group. For example,one of the case studies is based on a Practical Actionproject on organic cotton in Peru, exploring the connection between organic cotton and fair trade fashion in the western world.

There are links to relevant background information,including fascinating ‘did you know’ facts and inspirational websites, resources and activity ideas.The STEP site has become a popular resource withboth teachers and students, helping them incorporatesustainability into their designs.

Practical Action Consulting has undertaken a WorldBank study to find quicker ways of assessing ruraltransport services. The study covered both passengerand freight transport in a typical rural region ofBurkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania and Zambia.

Transport users, operators and authorities at theregional capital and in three market towns were questioned about the quality and cost of services toand from urban centres. Interviews conducted in fivevillages provided further insights into the transportneeds of users, including farmers, traders, school children and marginalised people. In addition trafficcounts, which included bicycles and pedestrians, werecarried out in a variety of locations.

This study will make it easier for agencies to carry outrapid, low-cost assessments of rural transport servicesin other countries, which will help them to adoptappropriate policies for the provision of affordablerural transport services.

A New for Education

Pushing for change

Forty Years of Challenging Poverty

A M

aasai brings his animals to w

ater at the drying river`/ Practical A

ction/Karen R

obinson

Fron

t co

ver

phot

o: P

otat

o fa

rmer

fro

m C

anch

is p

rovi

nce,

Per

u

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/S

uzan

ne P

orte

r

Ox transport in Burkina Faso

Pra

ctic

al A

ctio

n/P

aul

Sta

rkey