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Training Module on Environmental Technology Assessment(EnTA)

A. Module Objectives (Slide No. 1)

By the end of this module, participants shall:

• show familiarity with EnTA as an analytical tool for technology decision-making
• illustrate EnTA's relationships with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Social Impact Assessment (SIA), Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment (SEA)
• recognize the ten steps for doing an EnTA
• show appreciation for its benefits

B. Module Topics (Slide No. 2)

1. Key Definitions
2. Technology and Development
3. Technology Decision Hierarchy
4. EnTA Concept, Definition, Objectives
5. Stages in EnTA
6. Benefits from EnTA

C. Module Implementation Plan

D. Suggested Introductory Activity: The Right Machine for the Job (30 minutes)

The Right Machine for the Job*

In the beginning, before the white people came, the women in the village worked in the fields with hoes and spades. The men would help sometimes but usually only supervised and sold what produce was left at the end of the season. The work was hard and broke their backs. But everybody grew enough to eat.

Then came the first expert. He talked of progress and modernisation, a world where work would be easy and money plentiful. His organization donated a tractor to the village. It roared and spluttered impressively and got the men so interested that they decided to take over the preparation of the land. But after three weeks the tractor broke down. The government officer in the town said he'd send a mechanic but it would take two months. When the mechanic came after four months he said it would need spare parts from Canada. Meanwhile the women had gone back to preparing the ground and the men to supervising. The tractor is still rusting over there by the trees _ children come from miles around to play on it, and girls now get to sit in the driving seat as their mothers had not been allowed to do while the machine was working.

The second expert came ten years later. He told the villagers how Eastern technology was no good for African people, how it put them into debt. They told him about the tractor and he nodded his head, saying `you see?' They did. He promised to bring them a simple machine made with local materials that they could use to grind their own flour instead of paying to have it done ten miles away. When the mill arrived it looked very impressive but it was powered by someone riding a bicycle. And in the village only women grind flour and only men ride bicycles _ bicycles aren't as good as tractors at persuading men to work. Now the mill is rusting over there by the trees, too.

Then a third expert came to the village. She stayed for three weeks, not just a morning. And instead of describing her wonder machine she simply asked `What do you want?' She asked the women as well as the men and sat with them talking about their life and how it could be improved. Eventually the village decided that what it wanted most was hoes and spades that didn't break. They discussed how to get them with the outsider _ could the village smith be trained to make better tools or should they buy them from the town? It seemed best in the end to do both. The village forge wasn't sophisticated enough to produce the stronger tools necessary, so the expert's organization agreed to pay for a batch to be made in the town. But the village smith went to the larger forge and helped them to make the right kind of tools _ so his own skills were improved for the future.

Now the women prepare the fields with tougher hoes and spades. The men still supervise. The work is still hard. And it still break backs _ but not spades.

Question 1: What is a technology?

Question 2: Based on the story, what are some common problems encountered with respect to the selection and use of technology?

Question 3: What, therefore, are important things to consider in making technology decisions?

Solicit answers to each question from the groups, and write these on the board.

* Source: New Internationalist Calendar, March 1986, Nick Hutchinson, Pittwater High School, Sydney

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