• Description: Development charity - consultancy
  • What is good: Problem solving, knowledge sharing and expertise to empower change
  • HQ Location and Country: Rugby, CV21 2SD
  • Operation locations: Projects worldwide - see case studies

A charity using small scale interventions that have potential to grow. It does this by bringing in expertise and resources with the aim of working with the communities to develop solutions, learn lessons and gradually scale up. Concentrates on fours areas;

  • Farming - using agro-ecology and supporting smallholders
  • Energy - using solar, water, and micro grids
  • Cities - concentrating on safe sewerage, sanitation, waste management and clean water supply 
  • Resilience - disaster prediction and minimisation, low carbon solutions 

How it shows

  • Getting organised - interventions are designed to facilitate communities and be controlled local
  • Using technology - looks to use technology but on a human scale with local people in control
  • Help and resources -  maintains history of interventions and shares knowledge

Characteristics

  • Good process - working. with people not doing it to/for them
  • Learning system - as well as the knowledge centre each intervention begins small so that it can learn and adapt before scaling up

Notes

Founded by E. F. Schumaker in 1966 and until 2005 known as the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG) , Schumaker is perhaps most well know for the best-seller Small is Beautiful published in 1973.