Transferring new technology to village communities: A non-government organisation experience in Indonesia
Colin Barlow, Mes Beeh · ANU Open Research (Australian National University) · 1995
Non-governmen t organisations often play key roles in transferring technologies to poor rural communities.This paper analyses the case of a non-government organisation introducing water closets to households on a remote Indonesian island and explores the economic benefits and costs, and aspects of social structure influencing adoption.The prevalence of market failure due to absent information is discussed, along with the consequent need for outside help until profitable innovations are seen as such by participants.The case study illustrates advantages of non-government organisation interventions, including those flowing from close local community contacts and large voluntary labour and material contributions from targeted groups.It also denotes the crucial importance and difficulty of associated social engineering.Comparing non-government organisation initiatives with government projects suggests they can be cheaper and more effective for village-level ventures, however, it also appears that the new and more community-orien ted official Indonesian approach adopted in 1994 shows promise.Grassroots non-government organisation interventions are broadly viewed as complementing government actions in rural development.Southeast Asia 95/ 5• iii •