ABSTRACT

This chapter begins with the observation that small-scale, labour-intensive technologies in Africa are only very rarely scaled up to the regional or national level. But it is also true that there are some exceptions to this general pattern, that is, cases in the region where individual technology projects are successfully scaled up to higher levels of aggregation. The chapter explains these unusual cases, in the light of the then-prevailing institutional framework. Apart from a few notable exceptions, few efforts were made to consider what would have been involved in scaling up what were often pilot projects to other regions and sub-regions. International non-governmental organisations are sometimes mandated to promote appropriate technology in developing countries. Unfortunately, however, new case studies of Indian or Chinese technology choice or upscaling are practically non-existent. In both Kenya and Botswana there was long-run political support for labour-intensive methods of road construction.