About Practical Action

This website has been produced by Practical Action (formerly known as Intermediate Technology Development Group - ITDG).

Practical Action's strapline - Technology Challenging Poverty - sums up what we do. We want to make a practical difference to help reduce poverty in developing countries. It was founded in 1966 by the radical economist Dr EF Schumacher to prove that his philosophy of 'Small is Beautiful' could bring real and sustainable improvements to people's lives.

As an organisation. we recognise the importance of technology and hands-on work. We share knowledge and work with communities in four regions of the developing world - Latin America, East Africa, Southern Africa and South Asia. We work particularly closely with Peru, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. Together we develop appropriate technologies in food production, agroprocessing, energy, transport, small enterprise development, shelter, small-scale mining and disaster mitigation.

To learn more about the work of Practical Action, please visit our website www.practicalaction.org