Using Science & Technology
to Help the Poor: Research and the
Christian College
Calvin College
November 18, 2008
An ECHO presentation by Martin Price
www.echonet.org
ECHO’s Vision
“ to bring glory to God and a
blessing to mankind by using
science and technology to help
the poor.”
Talk Outline
• How ECHO has implemented this vision
• What kind of research will help the
extremely poor?
• How can I identify suitable research
ideas?
• Some examples
The Poor Have Few
Options
What about that Chinese
proverb?
Is it just a matter of education?
What about that Chinese
proverb?
• “If you give a man a
fish you’ve fed him for
a day.
• “If you teach a man to
fish you’ve fed him for
a lifetime.
Echo’s Version
• “If you give a man a fish
you’ve fed him for a day.
• “If you teach a man to fish
you would have fed him
for a lifetime…except the
lake’s fished out.
• ECHO works to stock the
“idea pool” with options to
help the poor.
ECHO’s specialty is providing
development workers with options
for helping the poor.
Tropical “Textbook” Farm
50 Acre Farm with the largest collection of
tropical fruits and vegetables in the USA
10 Acres set up as a Global Farm representing
6 different Agro Zones
Hot Humid Lowlands
Mountain
Monsoon
Semi-Arid
RainForest
Urban Gardens
Innovative Options
Technical Support:
ECHO’s technical team
answers questions and
provides advice for its
global network.
Innovative Options
Technical Support:
ECHO’s technical team answers
questions and provides advice for
its global network.
Mini barrage to reduce erosion
Moringa growing in Cambodia
Innovative Options
Seeds:
ECHO sends out trial
packets of seed to
members of our network.
ECHO’s seedbank contains
over 370 varieties of
hard-to-find vegetables,
multi-purpose trees, fruits
and other tropical crops.
Innovative Options
Bud-Wood & Tree shipments
Innovative Options
Website:
ECHO’s website provides
a link to our publications
and connects us to our
network.
Over 1 million documents
downloaded since 2005
www.echonet.org
Innovative Options
Consulting:
ECHO offers off-site as
well as on-site consulting.
Innovative Options
Publications:
ECHO Development Notes
&
Technical Notes
Innovative Options
Appropriate Technologies
Innovative Options
Farming Systems
Roof Top and Urban
Gardening
Conservation Gardens
Education and Training
ECHO provides education & training in
the following ways:
• Internship Program
• Formal (i.e. college credit)
Education
• Non-formal Education
• Workshops
Education and Training
ECHO provides education & training in
the following ways:
Internship Program:
This is a one year work
experience program
designed to provide
training for potential
development workers.
Education and Training
ECHO provides education & training in
the following ways:
Formal Education:
ECHO partners with
AuSable to offer forcredit courses on the
ECHO campus to
university students.
Education and Training
ECHO provides education & training in
the following ways:
Non-Formal
Education:
A guided self-study
program designed to
let international
workers focus on
specific topics.
Education and Training
ECHO provides education & training in
the following ways:
Workshops:
Various workshops are
offered throughout the
year at the ECHO
campus.
Education and Training
Campus Resources:
•Reference Library
•Global Farm
•International Staff
The Bottom Line
If Results of Science & Technology
Are To Reach the Poor . . .
• It must cost the poor nothing or almost nothing
Exceptions:
• If the goal is to develop something you hope
generous benefactors will pay to make available,
e.g. HIV/AIDS drugs.
• New technology becomes basis for local microenterprises that generate employment, e.g.
simple equipment to thresh grain amaranth
heads.
• It is of help to organizations that will use it in
ministry, e.g. test strip for malaria testing.
Groups to Know About
•
•
•
•
•
Tillers International
Engineering Ministries International
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers for a Sustainable World
American Scientific Affiliation
Where Does One Begin?
• Several Ideas to Consider Are Available in
an ECHO Publication
Using Science to Help the Poor:
low-budget research ideas
Go to www.echonet.org.
Click on “agricultural support”
Search for “using science” or go to
http://echotech.org/mambo/images/DocMan/UsingSci.pdf
Two Other Places to Look for Ideas
• Trees for Life Journal
www.TFLJournal.org
• International Journal for Service Learning
in Engineering
www.engr.psu.edu/IJSLE/home.htm
– “ . . .purpose of the Journal is to foster inquiry
into rigorous engineering design and research
and to direct those efforts to service-related
projects.”
Five Categories
• Does this really work?
– E.g. papaya leaf tea to prevent malaria
• Further development needed (the “D” in R&D)
– E.g. rat poison from the gliricidia tree
– Many medicinal plants need more precise dosing info
• Seek solutions to identified problems
– E.g. rotating bean bags to control Bruchid beetles
• Develop something suitable for a village industry
– E.g. biological insecticide incubated in coconuts
• Analytical work to assist Third World scientists
– Test kit to measure cyanide in foods/feeds
– E.g. analysis of L-dopa in velvet bean
Velvet Beans
Even at Private Colleges?
Advantages/Disadvantages vs. Universities
• Limited time (both professor and student)
• University can only work on problem if can
get grant to cover salary, overhead etc.
• You can do it just because it needs to be
done.
• Solution may be multi-disciplinary
• Less pressure to do “elegant” research
Possible Solutions to Limitations at
Private Colleges
• Do your own fundraising.
• Be sure Development Dept. can brag on
what you are doing.
• Summer research
• Hire a “post-bach”
• Collaborate with colleagues at other
colleges or departments at Calvin College.
Most real-life problems can’t be solved
ONLY within one discipline.
A Few Other Suggestions
• Our academic needs may differ from needs of
the poor. Begin with both ends in mind.
– Academic community rewards elegance of research
or design; development community rewards impact
on the poor.
• Providing perspective on existing designs may
be more important than one more design.
• ALWAYS look to see what has already been
designed or researched.
• A new design has minimal value unless it can be
manufactured in-country.
Some Other Research Ideas
• Control of leaf-cutter ants
• Moringa leaves to prevent damping off of
seedlings
Moringa Tree
Antibiotic ointment from moringa
seeds.
ECHO Contact Information
Web at www.echonet.org
Email echo@echonet.org
The document with specific research ideas:
Http:\\echotech.org\mambo\docman\usingsci
.pdf
Phone 239/543-3246
ECHO
Networking Global Hunger
Solutions
www.echonet.org
October 2008