Small WorldSummer 2015 Issue number 60

Technology challenging poverty: Past, present, future

CONTENTS

Our letter to you

From social exclusion to sanitation businessmen

Renewable energies for isolated communities in Bolivia

Your past is not your future

Coffee, cooking and clean air

A plentiful harvest for people living on the edge

Food for today and tomorrow

Small World 60 The Practical Action magazine

Editor in Chief: Victoria Cholmondeley

Editor: Elizabeth Dunn

Design: Right Click Creative Tel: 01767 262858

The opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of Practical Action.

In some instances, names and photographs have been changed to protect the identity of individuals.

Front cover photo: Andy Heath

Find us on facebook.com/practicalaction twitter.com/practicalaction flickr.com/photos/practicalaction

Practical Action, The Schumacher Centre Bourton on Dunsmore, RugbyWarwickshire CV23 9QZ

T: 01926 634400 W: practicalaction.orgE: practicalaction@practicalaction.org.uk

Practical Action Patron:

HRH The Prince of Wales KG, KT, GCB

Reg Charity No. 247257

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Water and Sanitation - an investment now and for the future

Rebuilding Nepal

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4 - 5

6-7

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14-15 Take Practical Action

Dear Supporter,

For this edition of Small World we asked our teams across the world to share stories of how, through your support, Practical Action has contributed towards the achievements of the

Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) and transformed lives as a result. I hope you’ll feel as proud as we are of progress you’ve enabled and the improvements you’ve made to the lives of people like Rofiq and Melody who you can read about on pages 6 and 12.

As many of you will know, 15 years ago at the Millennium Summit of the United Nations, commitments were made with vigour and belief that huge progress should and could be made towards eradicating global poverty by 2015. At the dawn of the new century, 189 member states and more than 20 international organisations committed to a set of MDG’s including ambitious targets and key milestones within a 15 year horizon. And, whilst much is still to be achieved, progress has indeed been made.

And now we look forward.

In September a new framework will be launched to replace the MDG’s, with a focus on sustainability - something Practical Action has continuously strived for, and which reminds us of the beliefs and developmental thinking of our founder Fritz Schumacher, for whom sustainable living was imperative for a world free of poverty.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) will shape global and national development priorities and will seek to address inequality and poverty in both developed and developing contexts. We expect to see a greater focus on environmental sustainability and helping people who live in disaster prone areas to be better prepared for

and able to respond to disasters. With years of knowledge and experience, Practical Action will be leading on work in the fields of renewable energy and disaster risk reduction.

Our focus will remain on tackling three global technology injustices: inequitable access to existing technology; innovation that ignores the poor; and unsustainable use of technology. Ending poverty and providing a sustainable future for everyone on our planet demands technology justice – innovating and developing technologies that solve the great challenges our world faces today.

And with you by our side we’ll continue to lead the way and ensure that our work continues to transform the lives of people across the world.

I hope you enjoy reading about the lives you have helped change forever and we look forward to all that we will be able to achieve together in the future.

Thank you for your support,

Astrid Walker BourneDirector of Policy and Practice

Welcome to your new edition of Small World.

Small World 3

n Visit our website to find out more about our work practicalaction.org

The Millennium Development Goals

1. To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

2. To achieve universal primary education

3. To promote gender and equality

4. To reduce child mortality

5. To improve maternal health

6. To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other

diseases

7. To ensure environmental sustainability

8. To develop a global partnership for

development

Kate M

ulkern

4 Small World: Renewable energies for isolated communities in Bolivia

Monica Cuba from our team in Bolivia reports on how safe, renewable energy is bringing light to communities who have lived in darkness all their lives, opening up opportunities to learn, work and for better health.

Since I was born I have lived in darkness, just like chullpas (mummies in a tomb). Today this is going to change.

Flores Hilarion

Flores was speaking on the day water brought light to families across Amaguaya, an isolated community located 120 kilometres from La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.

In Bolivia, 400,000 families living in isolated and dispersed rural communities have no access to electricity. Instead they use traditional kerosene lamps, candles or other equally dangerous means for lighting their homes.

Practical Action implemented a two year project to improve access to safe and affordable energy sources for these communities. In these two

years, communities like that of Flore’s went from spending an average of US$10 each month on candles, oil lighters or flash lights to US$4 for an energy service which is also better for the health of the communities. We have used our years of experience across the world to help the community build a low-cost 60-kW micro hydroelectric power plant which now provides families with electricity 24 hours a day.

Powered by water from the Amaguaya River, the generator operates with diesel fuel which prevents the release of 342 tons of carbon dioxide per year and saves thousands of dollars in fuel.

In addition to the energy provided to households, this vital technology also serves 110 students and teachers at local schools and a local health centre, widening the benefit beyond the Amaguaya people to neighbouring communities.

Renewable energies for isolated communities in Bolivia

BOLIVIA

Monica C

uba

Monica C

uba

Renewable energies for isolated communities in Bolivia: Small World 5

César Alarcón, the community doctor, explained,

addressing a child’s birth with a flashlight is very risky. Now, all that will change.

Monica Macias, a local primary school teacher added,

energy will help to open the eyes of this community, we are now confident that children are going to return to school.

Furthermore, the electricity is being used to serve productive activities - giving community members the chance to create products for sale as they are now able to power machinery to make products, such as textiles.

Renewable energies for isolated communities in Bolivia

Elsa Huanca, is 30 years old. She explains how women like her can now spin fibre with machines powered by electricity.

Before we used to spin with our hands to do the weaving. It took us one or two days to make a ball. Now, with the machines in less than one day we have made more than one. Today is a joy day for me because I have light and so I’m spinning.

Practical Action believes everyone should have access to safe and sustainable energy options. We are drawing on our many years of experience and with your support, we are reaching communities who will, for many years remain isolated from grid electrification.

n To help more people access clean energy, make a donation today practicalaction.org/sw60

intake weir andsettling basin

channel

forebay tank

penstock

power housecontaining turbine

and generator

Monica C

uba

Monica C

uba

Monica C

uba

6 Small World: From social exclusion to sanitation business men

Poor sanitation in urban areas was recognised as a critical factor in urban poverty when the MDG’s were set in 2000. The ambition? To halve the proportion of people living without access to improved sanitation.

In Bangladesh, where urban slum living is a fast growing phenomena, Practical Action have been working directly with socially excluded, yet vitally needed pit cleaners to find innovate solutions to the urban sanitation crisis. Rafiul Islam, Practical Action’s Technology Promotion Coordinator reports on some of Practical Action’s most innovative and desperately needed work in Faridpur, Bangladesh.

I, Rofiq Sheikh and my colleagues from the Muslim Sweepers Group are pit emptiers. We belong to this occupation from our ancestors. I have been doing the same cleaning and pit emptying job in a traditional way since my inception. But now, we are looking for an improved and healthy life and occupation.

Practical Action first started working on the problem of Faecal Sludge Management in Faridpur in 2008. It was a huge problem then and with ever increasing urban migration, it remains a critical priority. In urban slum environments, where houses are packed densely together, and settlements rise up out of nowhere, piped sanitation services are all but impossible. Here, innovative solutions are the only hope for the families who share one pit latrine with very many others.

The Muslim Sweepers Group were emptying pits with their bare hands, at grave risk to their own health. People like Rofiq are often socially excluded because of the work that they do but they have no other choice as it is the only work that they can find.

From

social exclusion sanitation businessmen to

BANGLADESHM

att Wenham

From social exclusion to sanitation business men: Small World 7

sanitation businessmen

But the answer was not to find an entirely alternative solution - the service the Muslim Sweepers Group provided was clearly vital for both the slum residents and for their own income. With your support, we were able to work with people like Rofiq to help them find a more hygienic, safe and organised approach to the sanitation services they provided - one in which they and the local municipality could work together in partnership to address a growing problem.

Since 2014, Practical Action have worked with Faridpur Municipality and organisations, including the Muslim Sweepers Group to initiate a city-wide project to turn urban sanitation pit emptying services into safe, formal businesses. Sweepers like Rofiq now have protective clothing and access to manually-operated pumps which means they no longer have to climb into the latrines to empty them.

With the support of the municipality, organisations like the Muslim Sweepers Group have also formed into associations and are now providing formal pit emptying services through the municipality.

The next stage of this project is the construction of a sludge treatment plant so that the waste can be recycled into compost for local farmers.

Our dream of transforming from socially excluded pit emptiers into private businessmen is beginning to come true.

n To help us help more people living in slum communities in Bangladesh, send a gift today by calling 0800 389 1624

Practical A

ction Bangladesh

8 Small World: Rebuilding Nepal

NEPAL

It has been over three months since the earthquake in Nepal devastated the lives of thousands of people. The damage and destruction that it caused will be felt for years to come.

Thankfully our team are all safe and well. Many suffered severe damage to their homes and were forced to sleep outside in the open for the weeks following, due to the constant aftershocks that continued to shake the land. Sadly however, many did lose their friends and family.

We’ve been working in Nepal for many years and have worked with communities to work their way out of poverty. It’s these people that have been the worst affected. Their poorly constructed homes have been destroyed and many have lost their livelihoods.

At Practical Action, we work with communities across the world to make sure that they are better prepared for disasters and we’re working hard to help communities to ‘build back better’ across Nepal.

In the initial aftermath, with your support, we have been building shelters and enabling access to energy. Work is now beginning to help people get their lives back and together we will be able to ‘build back better’ and help communities be more resilient for inevitable future disasters.

Rebuilding Nepal

n If you would like to help rebuild Nepal, make a donation today practicalaction.org/sw60

Sw

arnima S

hrestha

Sw

arnima S

hrestha

A plentiful harvest for people living on the edge: Small World 9

Much of Practical Action’s work is focused on agriculture and working with farmers whose lives rely

on being able to feed themselves. Our work with farmers like Shazaly Humid in Kassala, Sudan, aims to ensure that people no longer go hungry. Project Manager, Musa Ibrahim Musa shares Shazaly’s story.

Shazaly lives in Jebel Haboba village, Kassala in an area populated by the Hadandawa tribe and refugees. It’s an area characterised by poverty and vulnerability, where most people survive through farming and animal herding.

Shazaly has lived as a nomad in straw homes with little or no access to any services or infrastructure for 40 years. For as long as he can remember, his, and the families of his fellow community members have lived hand to mouth.

War and drought has plagued Shazaly all his life. Today his biggest enemy is climate change. Here annual rainfall ranges from just 100-500 mm - it is not even enough to keep the ground producing or the river beds moist. Until recently, families who depended on rain-fed cultivation and traditional farming activities went hungry for months at a time. When rains were good,

families would enjoy small harvests of sesame, sorghum, millet, okra and some vegetables. Shazaly’s life was transformed with your help, when Practical Action started working in his village. Recognising the great need in this community, Practical Action initiated the Girgir dam project - a water harvesting technique used to irrigate 630 hectares, serving many villages.

Shazaly and his family now live in an improved hut, with a solar powered water pump in his village and a school which he sends his children to.

With the support of people like you, Practical Action provided the materials, equipment and technical know-how to deliver the dam. Community members including Shazaly participated in all aspects of the project from decision making to the provision of labour and participation in the dam committee.

The first flood in the dam cultivated 714 hectares and cultivation has improved each year since. Last year, Shazaly harvested his greatest yield and it has given him and his family an entirely new life and great hope for the future.

A plentiful harvest for people living on the edge

SUDANM

usa Ibrahim M

usa

Musa Ibrahim

Musa

Musa Ibrahim

Musa

10 Small World: Your past is not your future

Judith Akeyo’s story is a story of entrepreneurialism and achievement despite adversity.

Like many girls who grew up in the Kisumu area of Kenya, Judith never finished school. Despite this she found work and for many years was employed and earning a small salary. Sadly, the day came that her employer was no longer able to pay her wages. For Judith, this was a disaster as she relied upon this income. But this misfortune was to turn her life around.

Having been extremely poor, losing my income and having to start over working as a briquette producer, I encourage every entrepreneur to realise that your past and current circumstances don’t determine your ability to be successful in the future. Only you and your willingness to work hard, work smart and keep trying can do this.

With your support, Practical Action works to increase access to affordable and appropriate cooking energy – for environmental sustainability and improved health of women and children. This also provided new forms of income and opportunity for entrepreneurs across four major towns in Kenya – Mombasa, Nairobi, Nakuru and Kisumu. Judith explains how her life has been transformed.

Thanks to Practical Action I learnt the various components of cooking briquettes and their functions. I also learnt to package and sell my products. Then I took out a loan to start my own small business.

I bought charcoal dust, transport, polythene bags and molasses. Practical Action provided a machine and a sieve for all the entrepreneurs,

which I use on a rotational basis. My first product was sold and I made an income of kshs 700 (approximately £4.68).

I ploughed back the proceeds into the business and bought two sacks of charcoal dust. As demand for my product increased, I could increase the price. Soon the business enabled me to pay my rent and I once again have become self-reliant. I realised quickly that the machine Practical Action provided produced quality briquettes. The briquettes are compact enough that when they are placed in a sack, they do not crumble to dust like those made by hand. And now I am looking to invest in my own machine - it will be costly but it will pay back.

It is true that creation is greater than accumulation. My biggest lesson came from learning to focus on creation, letting my drive and passion guide my decisions instead of money. Your past is not your future. My future will be good thanks to Practical Action, I don’t know what would have become of me had I not had this opportunity.

Judith was able to learn new skills through the training provided by the project. She now knows that she will have these skills for life and continue to earn a reliable income. Thank you for making this possible.

Your past is not your future

KENYA

n To help more people like Judith, make a donation today 0800 389 1624

Practical A

ction Kenya

Coffee, cooking and clean air: Small World 11

Coffee, cooking and clean airPERU

Energy poverty affects around three billion people worldwide - it kills and it keeps families locked in poverty.

For over 10 years Practical Action has been developing alternative sources of energy that protect and enhance lives. In particular, we are incredibly proud of the work we have carried out to offer safe, affordable cooking stove options to families - reducing dependence on biomass and contributing to a better environment too.

In the cloud forests of Peru, where families rely on coffee farming to make a living, women like Vilma Toces Burga, are now breathing cleaner air when they cook for their families thanks to the support Practical Action has received from supporters like you.

A business woman, and mother to four children, Vilma has spent her whole life cooking on dirty fuel, giving rise to ill health

and poor vision. She remembers her life as a child when her own mother cooked the family meal:

At home in Bagua Grande my mother used a kitchen stove made of stones and firewood. The whole house was filled with smoke. Today I have discomfort in the eye.

Vilma is dedicated to the coffee harvesting cooperative she belongs to, and she is grateful for the income she earns as a result. It has afforded her the ability to purchase a clean stove for her home - a stove that Practical Action has promoted specifically in its attempt to reduce energy poverty and save lives from the deadly effects of indoor air pollution.

My first kitchen I had was just mud and corrugated iron. Then I managed to finance the kitchen I have now. We consume less wood and suffer less smoke.

Francis Salas

12 Small World: Food for today and tomorrow

Practical Action works with communities to understand their needs to help and improve their livelihoods. This work has not only helped mothers feed their families but also given them innovative ways to earn an income.

Martha Munyoro from the Zimbabwe team tells the story of Melody Chuma, a widowed farmer who has invested for her family’s future.

Melody is 40 years old. She has five children and lives in Zimbabwe’s Nyanga District. She is a member of the Tazvida group, a voluntary saving and lending club which exists to make finance available to smallholder farmers.

Formed with Practical Action’s help, the initiative focuses on voluntary savings and lending as a way to support subsistence

farmers to improve their farming - both to increase and improve their crops for their family needs but also to give them the means to earn a basic income.

When Melody’s husband passed away in 2003, she struggled to feed and care for her family as her husband helped greatly with the farming. It was down to Melody to make sure that they didn’t go hungry and every day became a struggle.

But Melody never gave up. Melody recognised

she needed to invest in her family’s future. Through small regular contributions, Melody began saving with a small group of her fellow community members. Her savings and those of her fellow savers are used as investments in members’ farms on a case by case basis. The group decide where and when investments can be made, with investments being repaid at agreed interest rates. The savings, money loaned and repaid and dividends from the interest charged on loans, are then paid out amongst the members of the group.

This voluntary money lending club is a good stepping stone for us women, especially widows. With the savings I made through the club, I have been able to pay school fees for my son. I now proudly own utensils like pots, cups and water glasses which I have bought with my savings. I am now respected in the community, as are the other women in the club for the bold decision we took to join the voluntary money lending savings club.

Through your support, Practical Action has helped the women of Tazvida establish and set up the processes and systems necessary for a self-sustaining, well managed savings and loan group. Through the provision of training in fund development, income generating activities and record keeping, you have given women like Melody the opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty and provide for their families today and for the future – a lasting gift that will keep on giving.

Food for today and tomorrow

ZIMBABWE

n To help people like Melody, give a gift today, visit practicalaction.org/sw60

Martha M

unyoro

Water & Sanitation - an investment now and for the future: Small World 13

With your support, Practical Action works towards ensuring environmental sustainability and enabling people across the world to access safe water and sanitation. Martha Munyoro from the Zimbabwe team tells how innovative technology ensures that communities have access to vital sanitation that also helps to put food on the plates of families across Malawi.

In a semi-rural ramshackle of townships close to Blantyre city in Malawi, where land is limited, makeshift homes are built in a haphazard and unplanned way and basic infrastructure is largely non-existent. Here waterborne disease is accepted as part of life, especially when the rains fall heavy and hard. Rains destroy the basic pit latrines families use as toilets spreading human waste into the open water sources they rely on. Adults spend time and money on continuous treatment of diarrhoeal diseases and children die frequently, often before their fifth birthday.

With your help, Violet Gwedeza is championing another way.

A mother to two children, living in the informal settlement that dominates Ntopwa township, Violet sees adversity as a reason to innovate. Her mantra? ‘Human waste is gold.’

Having rebuilt her family’s basic pit latrine twice already in recent years, each time rendering vital space in her family’s small compound useless, Violet decided there had to be another way and that the investment required was one she was prepared to make.

With Practical Action’s help Violet built her family’s ecosan latrine - a permanent structure with an odourless toilet.

I decided to construct the ecosan toilet because it is permanent, I will save land space and remove the burden of building a new toilet regularly.

And she got more than she ever imagined. By investing for the future, not only did Violet get a permanent, safe toilet for her family, she also created the means to feed her children nutritious vegetables from her very own garden thanks to the fertiliser created from the human waste deposited in her toilet.

As a bonus, these toilets bring manure, which means that I forgo artificial fertilisers as well as living a dignified life. My children now eat nutritious food because I now grow vegetables in my garden. If my crops grow well I will also end up selling to others.

Today she looks to the future beaming with confidence. Violet turned a crisis into a conquest and with your help gave her family a gift for the future.

ZIMBABWE

Water and Sanitation - an investment now and for the future

MALAWI

n To find out more about our work on water and sanitation, visit our website: practicalaction.org/waterandsanitation

Martha M

unyoro

Martha M

unyoro

14 Small World: Take Practical Action

Thinking about the future is only useful if it leads to action now.

Schumacher’s words might not have been intended to relate to planning for a future beyond your life, but they have never been more relevant.

With so many Practical Action supporters kindly choosing to remember the work of Practical Action in their Will, we wanted to take this opportunity to offer some helpful advice about making or changing your Will.

Whether you have already made your Will, or you are considering making one, take time to consider what assets you have, both physical and digital, and ask yourself whether your Will sufficiently sets out your wishes in respect of each asset. If your Will does not, update it.

Gifts made to Practical Action in Wills give supporters the opportunity to remember and support work they have been inspired by in life into the future. It’s a wonderful way to leave your mark on the world.

Bringing the world to life for UK school children

I love these resources! They are educational, fun, scientific and above all informative. Children and teachers alike enjoy these resources.

Primary Science Coordinator

Simple things that change people’s lives for good, are what Practical Action is all about. And children across the UK are enjoying learning about the global issues that

Practical Action’s simple solutions are tackling

We believe that education is key to tackling poverty; education both here and in the countries we work in. That’s why we offer free resources that teachers across the UK can use in their classrooms.

With a focus on a range of global issues including energy, climate change and food security, our FREE educational resources are ideal for science, geography and D&T sessions.

Through our Plastics Challenge and Business Enterprise Challenge pupils are encouraged to create sellable items out of recyclable and reusable materials. Pupils then have to market and sell their products to generate an income. By donating any profits made to Practical Action, children can help to lift people out of poverty.

If you are a teacher, or know a teacher, consider checking out our fantastic resources, and encourage your local school to support Practical Action to bring the real world into the classroom.

n For further information please see: www.practicalaction.org/schools Email: fundraising@practicalaction.org.uk Call: 01926 634537

A Will to reflect modern life

n Should you like any further information on making a Will, and the difference you could make by leaving a gift in your Will to Practical Action, please contact our legacy officer Matthew Simmonds on 01926 634484 or matthew.simmonds@practicalaction.org.uk

Take Practical Action

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y Kilpatrick

Drew

Corbyn

As we come to celebrate 50 years of practical solutions to poverty we’re also celebrating, with the support of Nicola Schumacher, daughter of founder and pioneer Fritz Schumacher, the community of support that has made Practical Action what it is today.

To demonstrate the rich heritage and history of Practical Action we would like to invite supporters to make their mark, in support of our 50th year, by contributing a small square of quilt. As a fitting tribute to each and every supporter, each square will be sewn into a beautiful patchwork, together with squares from

across the globe, creating something truly representative of Practical Action - a commemorative quilt.

All we ask is that each supporter who contributes a square, also raise £25 from family and friends, as a donation towards the vital work the quilt represents.

Our supporters go to great lengths to support people living in poverty. ‘Practical Action Man’ is one of them, who on 26th April 2015 set himself the task of becoming a new Guinness World Record holder in aid of Practical Action.

Practical Action Man set his challenge, to become the fastest charity mascot - donned head to toe in orange lycra, to run the Virgin Money London Marathon.

With an existing time of 2 hours 48 minutes to beat, the training started. And who better to train with than running greats such as Mo Farah and Haile Gebresellasie!

On the morning of 26th April Practical Action Man lined up with 37,999 other excited runners, keen to hit the streets for the Marathon.

At 13.1 miles he was well on target - 1hr 24 minutes. At 18 miles he hit the wall. After 26.2 miles, he cartwheeled down the Mall at 3hrs and 17 minutes.

It might not have been a record breaking time, but it broke all our records for dedication, commitment and steadfast determination. Thank you Practical Action Man!

If you are keen to challenge yourself and support Practical Action, get in touch. We promise not to make you wear a skin-tight orange suit – unless you want to of course!

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Take Practical Action: Small World 15

n If you would like to take part in this celebration, please email anniversaryquilt@practicalaction.org.uk

Small really can be beautiful: Commemorating 50 years of Practical Action

n See our website for further details practicalaction.org/challenge-events.

All im

ages: Ed S

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Practical A

ction Peru

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To make a lasting difference, please make a donation today, visit practicalaction.org/sw60

15/SA/01

Tribute to John Mead 14th April 1924 – 28th October 2014

Practical Action, like many organisations, is the organisation it is, thanks to the people who have informed it.

John Mead, a friend and colleague of Practical Action founder, Fritz Schumacher and very early team member George McRobbie, offered unwavering commitment and dedication to Practical Action over his lifetime.

In keeping with Schumacher’s thinking, John became a staunch campaigner against environmental degradation and recognised very early, the dangers of climate change and the implications for future generations.

A member of Practical Action (then ITDG) since the late 1990’s John was a key proponent of programmes to mitigate the effects of climate change - urging his colleagues and friends to take the climate agenda seriously despite ongoing global arguments that sought to downplay the impact and risks of our increasingly perilous approach to our environment. He was uncompromising, relentless and of course, right to be so.

We thank John, and his wife Catherine Budgett-Meakin for all they have contributed to Practical Action’s work. John will be missed and remembered with great affection.

A dear friend and passionate campaigner lost