Last week, I wrote about an organization called Mayapedal, and how they are creating “bicycle machines” for families in Guatemala. Today I’d like to point your attention to an organization that has taken a slightly different approach: Technology for the Poor.

Don’t be fooled by their website. It is very crude and simple, as are their designs. Technology for the Poor has taken serious issues and designed very simple solutions for them. More importantly, the designs are such that they can be easily understood and replicated. There are no special parts needed to implement any of their technologies. In fact, most can be made with a few scrap pieces of material (or bikes) and a hack saw. From an engineering standpoint, these designs are extremely amazing. Their elegance (which is in part due to the fact that they are crude) is truly something other designs should aspire towards.

One of the devices that Technology for the Poor has developed is pedal powered attachment for a bicycle. Essentially, by taking some scrap parts from an old bicycle and a pulley, someone can easily turn a bicycle into something that can produce mechanical energy, useful for driving many machines. More impressive is the fact that the bicycle can then be picked up and ridden away.

I was fortunate enough to meet Job Ebenezer, founder of Technology for the Poor, a few weeks ago. He brought his bicycle and a few tools into the room, and three minutes later he told me to start pedaling. He proceeded to cut a piece of wood with a table saw that I was powering. We then removed the kernels from an ear of corn, and then drilled a hole in another piece of wood.

Job is truly an amazing individual. When distributing his technology, he does not hand it out, but shows it to individuals in these developing countries, explains how it works, and then lets these individuals build it themselves. He intentionally does not hand out instructions. When I asked him why, he explained that these individuals know their community better, so they could build a solution that was better suited to them. In addition, this means that there will never be any issues with repairing these machines.

Too often we see development groups going into a community with the belief that they know more than the locals about their problems. Job, in his work, does something different: he admits that he knows less than the local community members.

All in all, Technology for the Poor’s amazing technologies, combined with its culturally sensitive distribution methods makes it a top-notch organization.

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About the Author

Ben Salinas is a member of the fourth graduating class of Olin College of Engineering where he is focusing on Design. He is specifically passionate about how engineering, design, and entrepreneurship can be used to leverage a positive impact on the world. Ben is very interested in Appropriate Technology, International Development, and efforts to make them more culturally sensitive.