Books published by Practical Action Publishing

Value Chains in Development charts the rise of value chain analysis from the sub-sector approach and takes the long view of a discipline that has recently become an essential tool for economic progress in developing countries. It is essential background for students and practitioners of the market-based approaches to development.

Based on extensive field research and in-depth interviews, Achieving Water Security draws conclusions for policy and practice of relevance not just for Ethiopia, but for sub-Saharan Africa more widely, linking findings with current international debates on service delivery in rural areas. Published in association with ODI.

The relationship between scientific and technological change and development has altered with the changing character of developing countries and with advances in technology. High tech, appropriate technology, technology transfer and diffusion all serve to complicate further the already complex task of guiding socioeconomic development in the Third World. The technological fix is no longer seen as a viable solution to the problems of under-development. The authors of this interdisciplinary book stress that a full understanding of the many aspects of the introduction of new technology is the only way to achieve a workable compromise regarding science, technology and development.

Describes the origins and development of the appropriate technology movement, and analyses both its changing concerns at the different stages of development, and also its abiding emphasis on scale and human values.

Maximum transparency, a profitable structure for saving, access to small loans and an annual lump sum of capital are the hallmarks of the Savings Group methodology. The outcome: empowered groups, made up mostly of women, who manage themselves as tiny financial institutions.Today there are Savings Groups in 60 countries with over 6 million members

Strong financial management skills are essential to promote high standards in international development organizations. Many non-finance people find numbers and financial techniques difficult, however, NGO managers and staff are responsible for sound financial management and without full understanding their programmes will be at best less effective, and at worst vulnerable to going unfunded. Poor communication about financial information, by both finance and non-finance people, often seems to cause a block. This book helps people speak and write financial information better, avoiding jargon, and preventing listeners from ΓÇÿswitching offΓÇÖ. It explains why messages about finance may not be received as they were intended when working cross-culturally and outlines how information can be tailored to different audiences and how to improve understanding and collaboration between finance and non-finance people. It shoud be read by non-finance and finance managers and staff within non-profit organizations internationally, as well as other organizations.

Bridging the Finance Gap in Housing and Infrastructure concentrates on how groups of poor people - coalitions of the poor around the world have been able and been enabled to lead the process of transforming slums into vibrant and stable neighbourhoods. It showcases the strategies and the dedication, commitment and achievement of one northern NGO - Homeless International - as it has pioneered new approaches to analyzing and helping to arrange finance for community-led slum upgrading. This is a very encouraging story. It confirms that the homeless poor in the world''s slums should never be dismissed as the helpless victims of urbanization.Technically, this book is valuable for the explanation of how innovative financing packages can be arranged for slum upgrading programmes. But primarily, it is about human rights and how institutions and organizations respect and help people to realize their rights.

This collection of articles includes case studies of attempts to improve small-scale food processing, remembering that ''small is beautiful, but difficult''. Case studies cover grain and fruit processing, baking, beekeeping, and small-scale oil production.Marilyn Carr is Chief of the Economic Empowerment Section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women. She is a development economist with over 20 years experience in Asia and Africa and specializes in the fields of small enterprise development and technology choice and diffusion.

A state of the art review of rice husk ash cement technology in the Indian subcontinent, highlighting its effectiveness as an alternative low-cost binding material. Includes case studies of field-testing in local institutions.CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION 12. SITE VISITS 22.1 INDIA 22.2 NEPAL 132.3 PAKISTAN 153. COMPARISON OF PRODUCTION METHODSAND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USE 284. TESTING OF SAMPLES IN UK 295. RESULTS OF UK LABORATORY TESTS 296. COMPARISON OF PRODUCERS '' DATAWITH UK RESULTS 317. COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL DATAWITH STANDARDS REQUIREMENTS 31ECONOMICSCONCLUSIONSRECOMMENDATIONSTABLES

A handbook of simple methods for rural areas in developing countries. This corrected and revised impression includes an appendix on planning in developing towns.

The international development agenda remains dominated by economic and institutional priorities of the North. Research used to determine and justify development priorities should be both Southern-driven and Southern-based. This book fully reflects southern-driven networking principles for policymakers and development practitioners.

This practical manual is a major new addition to the resources available for micro-hydro power project and programme managers worldwide and represents excellent value for such a detailed technical reference handbook.

Part one describes the necessary preparations for a fundraising campaign: the role of the leader, the board, volunteers and strategic alliances, and ways to fight fear of fundraising. Part two outlines the practical essentials of an effective communications program, from personal contacts to obtaining good media coverage and making the Internet work for you.This book describes preparations for a fundraising campaign: the role of the leader, the board, volunteers and strategic alliances, and ways to fight fear of fundraising, the practical essentials of an effective communications programme, from personal contacts to obtaining good media coverage, and making the Internet work for you.

The publication includes selected case studies from four different countries in Latin America. These address key issues regarding crop cover integration in LEIA systems. A wide range of agroecosystems are covered by the case studies, so that the information can be adapted for use in other regions.

Modern Irrigation Technologies reviews the experience of smallholders with irrigation technologies in a range of diverse conditions in many different countries. Some people argue that modern irrigation technologies are the key to increased food production. However, projects introducing modern irrigation technologies in the developing world have often failed because the irrigation hardware, which has been developed for high-technology commercial agriculture, cannot be easily adapted for the use of the smallholder. The author identifies the pre-conditions relating to water availability, institutional support and economic opportunity that must be satisfied before smallholders in developing countries can adopt irrigation methods and benefit from them. The circumstances in which modern technologies were introduced are identified, and the relative success or otherwise of the initiatives are summarized. The book also contains a practical review of the range of irrigation hardware that is available and indicates the types of equipment that are more likely to meet the requirements of the smallholder sector. G.A.Cornish is an irrigation engineer with wide experience of technology transfer and staff training on irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa and south and southeast Asia. He currently works at the Overseas Development Unit of HR Wallingford, UK. Modern Irrigation Technologies will be an invaluable guide to project workers, planners and smallholders involved in planning and designing irrigation projects.

Millions of slum residents across the world suffer the hazards and misery of frequent flooding of their streets and homes, which may result in savings of a lifetime being washed away in a few hours, damaged property, loss of work and time, and higher risks of diarrhoea, worm infection and other health problems. This manual is written to help engineers, aid and agency workers understand drainage problems more clearly in the developing world, so that they can work towards finding practical solutions. It focuses on three questions of particular relevance to low-income urban areas in developing countries: what is drainage performance? how can we evaluate a drainage system, to access how best to improve its performance? what are the effects of solids in drains upon performance? This manual is the outcome of two-and-a-half years of fieldwork in the city of Indore, in Madhya Pradesh, India and can be used as a practical aid by municipal engineers, consulting engineers and engineering instructors and students, as well as development and aid workers involved in drainage systems.

Miombo forest occurs in a swathe across central and southern Africa. Traditionally shifting cultivators have farmed in miombo, and allowed it to regenerate, but increasingly the demands for land and for fuelwood have resulted in deforestation. This book provides comprehensive details of the climate, environment, ecology and species characteristic of Miombo, and describes methods for assessing the timber and other resources, through inventories, in order to use the forest sustainably.