Sustainable Development by Technology Seeding - A Methodology Supported by a Case Study in Tanzania

Summary form only given. Science and technology are critical to development. Many devices and systems that could relieve the suffering of the global poor have been understood for centuries, but a major challenge of our generation is to adapt and disseminate them for sustainable and socially just development. Technology Seeding (TS) is here proposed as a design and dissemination methodology to answer that challenge. It is defined as: development by the transfer and participatory adaptation of appropriate proven conceptual designs. Key characteristics include the building of technology from first principles, local adaptation, and self-propagation, and it draws upon appropriate design, technology transfer, and development scholarship. By way of analogy, scientific principles are like the genetic material of a seed, and engineering principles the seed itself. Simple devices and systems are like seedlings, and increasingly completed technologies like increasingly complex and mature plants. Technology Seeding, in contrast to most current methods, promotes the transfer of technology at an appropriately basic level - seeds rather than mature plants - and enables end users to cultivate them to their own social ends. It will be shown that in comparison with competing models, has the potential to fill a gap in sustainable long-term development. A technology-for-development project led by the authors, Lathes For Africa (LFA), was important source material for developing the formalized TS methodology. Despite excellent wood craft skills, the daily income for fundi is limited to daily net income of $2 - $5, often insufficient for them and their families to live comfortably or to save. Through participatory design with 30 fundi, a human-powered design costing less than 5% of commercial cost was implemented. Without further intervention, some of the actors in Tanzania have built an improved lathe for income and education.