Page 10 RAIN April/May 1983 APROVECHO: Approaching a Feminist Vision by Mary Vogel The Aprovecho Institute in Oregon has given me a needed base from which to start connecting my global feminist consciousness with positive practical action to overcome the paralysis of analysis that had beset me. Margaret Thomas, one of Aprovecho’s co-founders, came up with the name Aprovecho, Spanish for "I make the best use of ”, after working in Guatemala. Guatemala is where Margaret, along with a Welsh architect, lanto Evans, another co-founder, first developed the vision for an institute to demonstrate alternatives to consumerism, act as a clearinghouse for information on less exploitive technologies, and do technical research and dissemination. In August 1978, Oregon was chosen as the home for Aprovecho "because it seemed that people were more open to our visions than anywhere else we had been. There seemed to be not only tolerance of but support for innovative social experiments.” Just as the feminist movement helps women take pride in skills and qualities formerly devalued by our culture, so Aprovecho helps Third World people take pride in their indigenous cultures that may have been devalued or cast aside. Aprovecho seeks out indigenous technologies in poor countries for adaptation in rich countries, since people in poor countries have devised better strategies for dealing with the resource shortages we will all increasingly experience. Raising and experimenting with bamboo is one example. Bamboo is used throughout the developing world for everything from buildings to baskets to baubles. It’s easy to propagate, quick to grow, and incredibly sturdy. Aprovecho is growing it at its Rural Center to develop and demonstrate its practical uses in the Pacific Northwest. Aprovecho is best known for developing the Lorena system of fuel-conserving said/clay stoves, now used in a dozen countries. Members see improved stove technology as one element of the comprehensive planning needed to address the deforestation and desertification so rapidly spreading in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I asked Elisabeth Gem, an Aprovecho member with experience working in Africa, how Aprovecho approaches the problem of stove development in poor countries and how this approach might be different than other development agencies in its impact on women. Elisabeth: First of all, we always work in male/female teams so we can reach both women and men. Then we always try to find good allies or counterparts within the culture. And we take the approach that as much as people need to economize on firewood, they also have a need to be respected as intelligent individuals capable of inventively solving their own problems. Whenever possible, we involve the village people in a process of solving the problems they see in their own lives. We can offer technical advice, systems for doing things that we bring from other places, but we see ourselves mainly as mail-carriers, never as overseers. We don’t expect to know more about their problems than they do. We might start by getting together with people informally to ask about firewood. Is it hard to get? How much does it cost? How long does it take to collect? We might talk about why heat radiation is lost on all sides of an open fire, then ask about wind blowing the heat away. How can you stop the heat from escaping? In building stoves we seek their ideas, only helping them to learn the principles rather than giving rigid instructions. Stove technology cannot be successfully introduced without active participation of the village women. This way, not only does it accurately reflect their subtlest needs, but their sense of involvement in the project is essential to its success. This model for stove development and dissemination of ihformation is considerably different from the standard approach. We discovered that much of the guarded nonenthusiasm we were greeted with from officials in the first stages of our Senegal project was a result of attempts to pour in "appropriate technology” imported wholesale from other places. A case in point is that of the solar cookers developed in India for totally different cooking conditions. These solar cookers were introduced to Senegalese villages without adequately involving the local people. They have not been accepted because they lengthen cooking time from around an hour to four or five hours. We encourage local pride in locally-developed stoves and in a distribution mechanism to make innovations of one village available to others through an information exchange. Our model for stove development involves the user in an unending cycle of invention—testing—improvement—dissemination—testing—feedback—invention. I asked Elisabeth what impact Aprovecho’s stove work tends to have on women’s lives. Elisabeth: Women spend less time gathering wood or spend less money on fuel, so they have more time to learn other skills or more money to spend meeting other needs for themselves and their families. They have less smoke in the kitchen, lessening respiratory problems associated with smoke inhalation consequently lessening damage to their eyesight. Safety is improved since there are fewer bums from open flames and less chance of children falling into the fire or boiling pots. Cooking is more convenient since stoves can be made to any height and can have work space on the surface. If fewer trees are chopped down, this improves the climate and hydrology and decreases soil erosion. And stoves allow time for reforestation projects to gain a foothold and help to change the balance toward extending forested areas once again.no —Mary Vogel Aprovecho Institute, 442 Munroe St., Eugene, OR 97402, 503/683-APRO. Mary Vogel is a member ofAprovecho’s Native American Project and Rural Center Management Board where she deals with a broad range of issues in natural resource and land use planning and community development.
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