Vinanchiarachi IAMOT 2006 1/11

Grassroots Innovations Serving as

Rural Growth Impulses
Jebamalai Vinanchiarachi
United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO),
Vienna, Austria

Abstract
Innovation is imperative for growth. Extensive literature bears testimony to R&D- and
innovation-induced products accounting for over 70 percent of global industrial production and
trade. New industrial realities point to the fact that the ability to use modern technology and to
commercialize new knowledge constitutes the key to prosperity and those technological marvels
effecting improvements in processing, design and marketing enable industrial stakeholders to
survive competitive pressures for efficiency gains. But one cannot put a computer chip into the
stomach of a poor man. A redefinition of technology and innovation at the grassroots level calls
for adaptive capabilities to match modern and intermediate technology to local needs in order to
foster better quality of rural life. A country’s endeavour to achieve raid economic transformation
is apt to be won or lost in the countryside where the vast majority of people live, and grassroots
innovations will need to serve as rural growth impulses and create sustainable sources of
livelihoods for the rural communities. The paper draws on a number of case studies of best-
practice that made tangible impact on the quality of rural life through grassroots innovations.
The paper argues the case for considering grassroots innovations as development alternatives
and supports the contention that if those alternatives are ignored, there will be no alternative for
the transformation of isolated villages.

1. Grassroots Innovations as Development Alternatives

The vast majority of global population are bystanders at the global technological feast. Billions
have no access to the most basic services. If technical change lies in the heart of economic
growth, its impact should reach the grassroots in terms of creating sustainable sources of
livelihoods and thereby make a breakthrough in the quality of rural life. Food security and
livelihood sector-related initiatives are based on the economic precept that poverty cannot be
alleviated by charity and that creating sources of sustainable livelihood is the key to social
advancement. Better quality of rural life entails enhancing agricultural productive capacities,
___________________________________________________________________________
The paper has not been formally edited. The views expressed therein, the designations employed as well as the
presentation of material in this paper do not imply the expressions of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the
Secretariat of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization concerning the legal status of any country,
territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Designations
such as “industrialized “, and “developing” countries are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily
express a judgment about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Mention of
firm names or commercial products does not imply endorsement by UNIDO.

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promoting agro-processing for income creation and employment generation, reducing post
harvest losses, and using local sources of renewable energy as potential livelihood growth
impulses. All should be triggered by the basic needs approach and a high degree of local
empowerment, with an accent on economically efficient, ecologically friendly and sociology
desirable pattern of development.

In the light of the above, an attempt is made in this paper to reflect on selected best-practices in
grassroots innovation serving as rural growth impulses.

2. Local Community-Empowered Production of Improved Agricultural Equipments and

Tools

Local blacksmiths of Dilling and Debebat, Nuba Mountains region, Sudan, are making the
traditional Nuba hoe with only a single imported component as part of an on-going UNIDO rural
livelihood recovery project. Rural blacksmiths are central to the agricultural community both in a
domestic context (making and repairing household utensils) and as the producers of hand tools
for farmers. Developing blacksmiths’ skills to make improved versions of tools and equipment
results in enhanced agricultural productivity and improved food security. A mechanical
workshop with a capacity to fabricate around 600 Nub hoes per year has been established at
Dilling, South Kordofan State, Sudan, in collaboration with the Blacksmiths Society of Dilling
and Debebat.

The Blacksmiths Society provided a piece of land (800 sq. m.) situated in the new Industrial
Area of Dilling town. They also provided manual labour for the construction of the workshop.
This is considered an in-kind contribution by the Blacksmiths Society. UNIDO provided the
construction material, design and supervision for the establishment of the workshop. Machines
installed in the workshop are a power hacksaw, welding machines, piller drill, press, compressor,
angle grinders and two diesel generators.

A total of 16 blacksmiths were trained on fabrication of Nuba hoe. Already familiar with shaping
metal through heating and hammering, the group has now learned to accurately cut, bend, weld
and drill holes in steel; all skills needed for the fabrication of 600 Nuba hoes per year to be
distributed to farmers before the cropping season. The blacksmiths have learned the safe
operation and maintenance of a range of workshop equipment including a power hacksaw, a 15
tonne press, a pillar drill, angle grinders and a spray painting system. In addition six blacksmiths
have learned welding to a standard that is equal to that an imported machines. Suitable zigs and
fixtures has also been designed and fabricated for facilitating easy and uniform production of
different components.

Four to five Nuba hoes are produced in each 4-hour shift by a team of six blacksmiths working
on a sub-contract basis with their rewards related to production numbers. At the end of the
project, participating blacksmiths will become the legal owners of the workshop facility with
every incentive to continue to fabricate animal drawn implements.

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Figure 1. The Nuba Hoe

Over a period of three months nearly 350 Nuba hoe have already been fabricated. At the
moment, blacksmiths are mainly producing main frame, handle assembly and wheel assembly.
The only imported component is the spring tyne. Attempts to produce the spring locally
complying with international standards and precisions were not successful in the wake of
prohibitively expensive cost of production. As it was more than 60 per cent cheaper to import,
including freight charges, with 100 percent guarantee on the quality of the spring, UNIDO
decided to import the spring from Europe. The project turned out to be a big success, making a
breakthrough in breaking hard soil and thereby significantly enhancing agricultural productivity.

3. Transfer of Technology for the Local Resource-Based Production of Low-Cost Building

Materials

UNIDO has undertaken two major studies on composite materials based on local resources and
published them in its Emerging Technology Series (formerly – the Advances in Materials
Technology Monitor). These studies were oriented on researchers, design professionals,
entrepreneurs and government officials in developing countries and reflected the state-of-the-art
new technologies and products available in this area of building materials. UNIDO has further

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organized, through its International Technology Centres, international workshops, training and
exhibitions to promote such technologies in collaboration with the Ministry of Urban
Development and Poverty Alleviation, Government of India.

In 1999, UNIDO completed the implementation of a large-scale integrated programme, namely,

“Action Programme to Support the Dynamic Development of the Building Materials Industry
(with particular reference to cement industry) in the COMESA countries”. The programme laid
down the basis for further strengthening the construction industry through the development of a
new project to build up local investment and technology promotion and transfer capacity for
production of composite materials based on local resources for low cost housing in Africa.

Yet another programme, which is currently being considered by the Japan’s Human Security
Fund for financial support, will set up an environment friendly, energy efficient, low cost
building materials sector in Afghanistan. Its immediate focus will be on the creation of 10 self-
sustaining enterprises and constructing 100 demonstration dwelling units in Kabul. UNIDO is
working with counterpart agencies from India and China for this project.

At present, UNIDO, the Building Materials and Technology Promotion Council (BMTPC) and
the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) – two intuitions under the Ministry
of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation of the Government of India – are successfully
completing the implementation of the Pilot Phase project on investment promotion and
technology transfer for production of materials based on local resources for low cost housing in
Africa. Taking into account its results, they are going to replicate the experience in other
countries and take up an Inter-regional Programme on capacity building in this sector in Africa,
Asia and Latin America.

The expertise that UNIDO will apply to the proposed projects in Sudan has been built up over
the last ten years through UNIDO International Centre for Science and High Technology (ICS-
Trieste, Italy) and International Centre for Advancement of Manufacturing Technology (ICAMT
– Bangalore, India) in partnership with counterpart agencies from the Government of India.

Low-cost building materials have also been successfully commercialized in a number of other
countries, e.g. the People’s Republic of China, Tanzania, Ghana, Brazil. All such technologies
will be available through the proposed programme of South-South cooperation. In view of large
natural deposits of lime and volcanic ash in Sudan and high cost of imported ordinary Portland
cement, for example, it will be a suitable case for promoting mini-cement plant technology
developed by the China Building Materials Academy (CBMA).

In Sudan, several research studies were undertaken by the Building and Road Research Institute
(BRRI – under the University of Khartoum), the Geological Research Authority of Sudan
(GRAS), the Sudanese Organisation of Economic Alternatives (SOEA) and a few private sector
organizations (the Tong Trading and Engineering Co. Ltd., Building Material Development Co.,
Sukhar Plant for Building Materials and the Intermediate Technology Group). The main aim of
such work is to develop alternative building materials, to improve methods of firing of clay
bricks and other cement/lime and biomass based resources. But most of these efforts remained
confined to laboratory and experimentation stages.

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4. Solar Energy-Induced Conversion of Muddy and Salty Water into Drinkable Water

The solar desalination system consists of a solar still 1.5 meter x 1 meter x 0 .2 meter basin made
out of fiberglass or hard plastic, covered by a 0.3mm glass to cover the top of the basin and
exposed to sun, which causes evaporation. The steam condenses on the inside of the glass cover
(cooler than the temperature of the water in the basin) which is tilted at a certain angle to allow
the condensed water to drain out of the basin into another receptacle. The distilled water is then
rendered safe for drinking and cooking, with absolutely no contaminants or salinity. In other
words, the solar stills are similar to making rain, where the sun shines and heats the air and
water, causing water to evaporate and then it cools down and condenses.

Water that is made in these stills is of a better quality than bottled water because it is purified
using the distillation process. And because the water is slowly evaporated instead of rapidly
boiled, the water tastes sweeter due to the natural process. Contaminants such as salts, chlorine
taste and odor, heavy metals, bacteria (coliform/Cholera), micro-organizms, sediments, sand,
rust, fluoride etc. are completely removed in the distillation process.

Figure 2. The Solar-Induced Conversion Panel

An average 1.5x1.0 x 0.2 sized still can produce up to 10 litres of water at 30 degrees during an 8
hour period. In areas that are challenged with water problems, several such stills can be
permanently placed for producing drinkable water. The stills are appropriate technology because
they are site specific, uses no electricity to run, require no running water to work , gets rid of
contaminants, have a life expectancy of 20+ years and are easy to use and maintain.

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4.1 Environmental benefits

This project does not use fossil fuels which are otherwise used in isolated off grid communities
to provide safe drinking water, resulting in no carbon-dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions. If
scaled up, this technology could offer an option for-non fossil fuel dependent water access.

4.2 Livelihood benefits

4.2.1 Health
This project improves access to clean drinking water for isolated off grid communities that are
not connected to piped drinking water or have no access to electricity to purify or desalinate
water.

4.2.2 Reduced drudgery

By making a micro water distribution system, women of the community need not spend several
hours of their daily time trying to walk long distances to fetch water.

4.2.3 Adaptation to possible impacts of climate change

By enabling communities to convert seawater into drinking water, this concept increases a
community’s capacity to cope with long periods without rain.

4.2.4 Capacity development

Local capacity can be built up after the pilot demonstration system is put in place in order to
allow the manufacturing of the stills locally. Technology transfer and necessary handholding and
guidance can be provided by UNIDO to ensure large-scale replication in Port Sudan and in other
parts of rural Sudan challenged with fresh water accessibility.

4.2.5 Environmental Management

This concept outlines an option for rural communities in Sudan to consider developing better
access to drinking water. If this methodology is accepted and implemented in a few pilot
locations, it may prove to be a viable option for other states of Sudan to improve the diversity of
water sources and thereby reduce the vulnerabilities of communities to water shortage.

5. Mini-Hydro Technology Converting Water into Power and Power into Prosperity

5.1 Dawn of a new era of light and prosperity in Mankulam, India

The Idukki district of Kerala, India, which prides in having the country’s tallest arch dam in its
largest Hydro Electric Power project, till recently had a blemish that it had a village called
Mankulam with no road worth its name, no electricity and no phones. Because this district is also
home to a wildlife sanctuary with many protected species of animals and plants therein, during
the past quarter century, environmental concerns decelerated the development ethos of this
newly formed village panchayat of 15,000 population.

In keeping with its mission to catalyse all round development and progress, especially in rural
areas, UNIDO joined hands with the Mankulam Village Community in implementing a Micro

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Hydro Power Project in this village through the UNIDO Regional Centre for Small Hydro Power
established in Trivandrum, Kerala. In order to ensure that power generation also results in
employment and income generation as well as offers entertainment and leisure activities,
UNIDO established a Community Development Centre (CDC) which includes a computer centre
which has trained dozens of youth already, a community TV, a flour mill, community wet
grinding station. Moreover, through a VSAT connection, the village has established Internet
connectivity for enabling the people to keep themselves well informed. The long held dream of
electrifying the village became a reality on 28 October 2004.

Modelled after the very successful Chinese Micro Hydro Projects, UNIDO’s Mankulam Power
Project is one of the first to be completed by a Village Panchayat (community) and to be owned,
operated and maintained by them. Thus, the 110 kW station with 2 machines of the same
capacity, is truly in the hands of the people. UNIDO’s model, which is looked upon by many
other developing countries as the right one, will ensure that the power centre will result not only
in long-term economic benefits, but also in the overall development of the community within a
short period through electricity catalysing small enterprises, which productively use the rich,
unpolluted local agricultural products like cocoa, milk and other forest produces in to high value
products that can access markets directly.

UNIDO is to also install a Biomass Gasifier in the village, to utilise the local agricultural wastes
for production of additional electricity and also to develop the abundant water power resources
of the area through an additional 1 MW small hydro capacity and connect all these power into a
rural grid.

5.2 Irrigation canal-based small hydro power systems for rural development and food
security in Sudan

Unlocking the rural development potential of Sudan as part of the post-conflict recovery and
development initiatives calls for rekindling potential sources of rural energy as rural growth
impulses that are capable of facilitating rapid economic transformation of the country.

Following the principal findings and recommendations of a recent UNIDO mission to assess,
evaluate and propose renewable energy development with special thrust on small hydropower in
Sudan, substantive consultations were held between UNIDO and its counterparts in Sudan with a
view to developing a programme for exploiting irrigation canal-based small hydro power
potential, using imported technology. The principal objective is to map all possible irrigation
canal-based small hydro power potential sites in Sudan, specially covering both southern and
northern parts, and to demonstrate their quick impact on rural communities and food security.

Sudan is endowed with perennial supply of both the Blue and White Nile River water cutting
across the country throughout the year, offering vast scope for converting water into power and
power into prosperity. As the country enters a new era of durable peace, UNIDO endeavours to
unveil viable avenues of exploiting hydro power generation of different scales with a view to
alleviating rural energy poverty in the country.

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Like other African countries, Sudan also suffers a great deal from the lack of access to and
availability of commercial energy services despite the availability of sources of rural energy
generation for productive use, particularly to the rural population, which depends on biomass in
the form of firewood and charcoal. With more than 70% of the population living in rural isolated
communities, lack of energy services has exacerbated the cycle of extreme poverty, resulting in
poor social and economic conditions. Uncontrolled use of biomass has also resulted in
deforestation, land degradation, increased emission of green house gases directly impacting
climate change.

Lack of access to energy services has also had an adversarial impact on basic issues such as food
security, water supply, health care, education, communication, and overall development. The
anomaly in energy consumption patterns (77% household, 10% transportation, 5% industries and
2.5% agriculture) have to drastically change in order for the country to improve its living
standards, particularly in reference to the rural poor.

Electricity generation from various sources (hydro – 24.3%, oil/steam – 36.7%, natural gas –
17.46, diesel – 6.3%, isolated diesel generation – 15.2%) is 1265 MW with Khartoum, Central
and Eastern states consuming almost 85% of the installed capacity. Although the policies and
objectives of the Government of Sudan addresses the current weaknesses in both generation,
transmission and distribution, very little has been done to alleviate the energy poverty of the
country. Grid extensions to connect rural off grid communities are prohibitively expensive and
hence decentralized hybrid renewable energy solutions have to be implemented.

Fig. 3 An Irrigation Canal-Based Low-Head Water Fall

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Distributed power generation through canal based low head pico, micro, mini and small hydro
power is a viable alternative for fulfilling the demands of rural energy needs. To demonstrate the
impact and viability of these systems, it is imperative to plan, design, develop and implement
pilot projects, not only for generating power but also for using it productively in the rural setting
through the establishment of community development centres with common facilities such as
agro processing, ICT/Internet/Satellite TV communications, Cold storage and refrigeration for
food and medicines etc.

The Government of Sudan along with other multilateral agencies need to follow a two pronged
approach to realize this vision:

• support and endorse an implementation plan and embark upon an aggressive work
programme that can facilitate the feasibility studies of the pilot sites identified and
schedule activities that will complete the necessary civil works and commissioning of
hydro power systems without further delays; and
• prepare a National Master Plan for irrigation canal- and other run of the river-based
Small Hydro Power system implementation.

In unlocking the potential for irrigation canal-based small hydro power, UNIDO endeavours to
ensure a high degree of local empowerment. The critical issue of local empowerment relates to
the activity being treated as part of the national grid. If the envisaged projects can be
independent of the national grid with local billing by the local communities a high degree of
local empowerment can be assured in. The envisaged Rural Energy Master Plan is expected to
unveil viable avenues of local community-empowered mini hydro power projects across the
country, with electricity generating capacity ranging from 30 kw to 1.5 mw. According to rough
estimates 120 locations are suitable for such projects across the country.

6. Local Production of Low-Cost Mobility Appliances for the Physically Handicapped: an

NGO’s Best Practice in Khartoum, Sudan

The establishment of an orthopedic workshop a decade ago by the Khartoum Cheshire Home,
international NGO, was intended for producing mobility appliances for limited purposes. The
activities of the workshop expanded over the years, with the use of locally available resources for
the production of mobility appliances making new inroads into grassroots innovation.

Khartoum Cheshire home ventured into innovative ideas to provide multidisciplinary services to
physically handicapped children. The technical assistance by Christoffer Blind Mission
International (CBMI) contributed to the successful outcome of providing low-cost orthopedic
aids from locally available materials.

This workshop primarily comprises the following units:

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6.1 Caliper and brace

A caliper or a brace is applied or prescribed to children who present with a dysfunction in their
lower limbs, for example, polio and children with Cerebral palsy. Such children present with the
inability to be ambulant on their own, hence requiring the assistance of a caliper or brace.

Major components to make these appliances include metal, padded support with leather (stuffed
with sponge), rubber and adhesive substances.

Metal parts: Steel bars are purchased from the local market. The steel is similar to that used on
window panes and forming or construction purposes. The choice of this metal is made from
several loyally available materials to ideally suit the given requirements-lightness and durability.
Part of the metal is also gathered from scrap yards. These scarp components are most commonly
used for binding large metal sheets, which can be transported to markets.

Metal for other orthopedic aids is similarly sourced.

Fig. 4 Brace-Making and Caliper

Brace in the making Bace Caliper

Leather: Sudan is endowed with a huge number of livestock, and leather is available in
abundance. However, it is also expensive as most of this high quality material is sold to potential
business enterprise who export it to neighboring African countries. All leather is bought directly
from the tanneries.

Adhesive: Strong adhesive glue is an easy accessory that is available in local markets.

Rubber: Rubber is another material which is easily available.

These materials needed to fabricate a caliper or brace aid physically challenged children to be
mobile and ambulant.

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6.2 Splint

Splint is applied in most cases to one part of a limb that remains dysfunctional and requires
support or is likely to become dysfunctional due to imbalance in the child’s muscle tone. In order
to minimize further occurrence of a disability, a splint is prescribed accordingly.

Commonly in the developed world splints are generally made up of plastic material, with a high
molecular density. Due to the unavailability of high-grade flexible plastic, efforts have been
made to try using plastic from various means- cups, plates, buckets, sewage pipes, agricultural
pipes. The most suitable material to fabricate a splint is from PVC pipes that are used for
agricultural purposes. The molecular density is almost ideal to the high quality plastic, hence
giving this plastic adequate (if not ideal) amount of flexibility and malleability.

The use of a few added Velcro straps of PVC pipe (easily available in the local markets for
clothing) facilitates the production of much needed functional splints.

Fig. 5 Upper limb splint

7. To Sump Up

If the above and similar development alternatives are ignored, there would be no alternative for
rural economic transformation, especially in the isolated villages of developing countries.

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