Voice 1 Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Marina Santee. Voice 2 And I'm Nick Page. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand - no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1 Imagine you have a small piece of land. You are not rich. You need your land to produce food for your family. But every year your land gets covered by flood water - and your crops are destroyed. What could you do? This is a problem for many people in the country of Bangladesh. But some of these people have found an unusual answer to the problem - they grow their crops on top of the water!
Voice 2 Every year about eighteen percent of Bangladesh is flooded during the monsoon season. But some years the floods are especially bad. In 1998, two thirds of the country was under water. There are 230 rivers in Bangladesh - and most of the country is less than ten metres above sea level.
Voice 1 Tara Begum is a woman who lives in a bad area for floods. Year after year Tara found that she could not grow food. She and her family went hungry... until they discovered how to make a floating garden.
Voice 2 The method is simple. First collect water hyacinth plants. These plants are very common in the wet lands of Bangladesh. Tie the plants together to form the base of the garden. Then put sticks from the bamboo plant on top of the water hyacinths. Then put another layer of water hyacinths. Finally cover it all with soil for the crops to grow in.
The garden floats on top of the flood waters. The water hyacinths provide natural food for the seeds and young plants. The crops grow well. If a family has to move from their house because of the flood, they can pull their floating garden along with them.
Voice 1 Tara Begum grows onions, okra and green leafy vegetables. She also plants gourd seeds. When the flood water has gone, she moves the small gourd plants into her normal garden.
Tara said, Voice 3 'This has made a great difference to my life. Before, I had no way to feed my children. Now I have enough food during the floods and I can give some to help my relations as well'. Voice 2 The idea of floating gardens was developed by an organisation called 'Practical Action'. Practical Action believes that using the right ideas in the right ways can change people's lives. It aims to help poor communities develop technology that fits their needs and their environment.
The workers at Practical Action say, 'We do not start with technology. We start with people'. They believe the most important thing is to help people choose the right technology for their particular situations. Practical Action is working in this way in more than sixty countries.
Voice 1 Doctor Fritz Schumacher began the organisation in 1966. He wanted to help poor people to use technology to improve their lives. However, he believed that technology often cost too much money for local people - and it often needed skills that they did not have.
Doctor Schumacher wanted to develop technology that small groups of people could use by themselves. He said, 'Find out what the people are doing and help them do it better.' He believed local people should design, improve, manage and control their own technology.
This idea has been a success in many countries of the world.
Voice 2 Nepal is one such country. In Nepal, Practical Action has helped to develop a new way to get goods to market more quickly and easily.
Nepal is a very mountainous country. Many people live in faraway villages. Getting goods to market is always difficult and tiring. And during the rainy season, the mountain paths become wet and dangerous. There are many accidents.
Voice 1 Practical Action set up a 'gravity ropeway'. In a ropeway, a set of long steel ropes connects the villages at the top of the mountain with the markets at the bottom. Two metal baskets hang from the ropes – one at the top and one at the bottom. The farmers put their produce into the top basket. The weight of the full basket going down the ropeway pulls the empty basket up. Simple!
The ropeway means that the people can get more produce to market. It also means the produce gets there more quickly so it is fresher. And that means it sells for more money.
Dharma is a vegetable grower. He says, Voice 4 'Now we have the gravity ropeway I can earn three times as much from selling vegetables. I can use the extra money to farm animals too. I am not only happy for me. The whole village is richer thanks to the ropeway'. Voice 2 This is exactly the kind of result that Doctor Schumacher was hoping for when he began the organisation. He worked hard to influence other people and organisations with his ideas. He was always looking forward - towards what could be done. He said, 'To talk about the future is only useful if it leads to action now'. Voice 1 Another project in Nepal provides simple and safe ways to cross rivers. There are more than six thousand rivers in Nepal. In some places it is not possible to build normal bridges because of the steep mountains - so wire bridges are the most common structures for crossing rivers. The Nepalese call them 'tuins'. A tuin usually has a single wire rope, a pulley wheel and a wooden platform for the people to stand on. Tuins are dangerous, and there are many accidents.
Voice 2 Practical Action wanted to improve the existing technology. Its engineers listened to the local people's problems and ideas about the tuins. One problem was the risk of people trapping their fingers in the wheels of the tuins. The tuins were also not well-balanced. And it needed a lot of effort to pull the tuin across the river.
The engineers tested different ways of solving these problems. Finally, they developed a new kind of tuin. It is easier and quicker to use. It is safely balanced which means it can also carry heavy loads. It even has seats for people to sit on and bars on the sides to stop them falling out.
Voice 1 Practical Action does not provide aid in the form of money. The organisation believes that it is better to supply people with ideas, knowledge and information. That way local people are in control of their own lives and can work their own way out of poverty.
Nearly forty years ago Doctor Schumacher wrote a book called 'Small is Beautiful'. This book explained his ideas. It influenced many people. As a result, thousands of other organisations now work with Practical Action to bring the most help to the poorest people.
Voice 2 Doctor Schumacher died in 1997 while travelling in Switzerland to tell people about Practical Action. But his ideas live on. They continue to change the lives of poor people all over the world.
Voice 1 The writer of today's programme was Joy Smith. The producer was Nick Mangeolles. The voices you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted and voiced by Spotlight.
This programme and many more are on our website -http://www.radio.english.net. This programme is called 'Practical Action'
