The story of Shambob
Practical Action
produce their own products for selling in the local market, and in a reversal of past roles, they
now have the status to own their own water carriers, which they employ men from the village
to operate, and to sell the water on their behalf. Both activities are contributing to female
empowerment.
Conclusions
Building on skills
Technology-focused project interventions have built on existing skills and livelihood
strategies, deploying staff and financial resources to develop new technological and
commercial capacity. Staff and
partners in the community, the
public and NGO sectors, have
facilitated a process of sharing
information, developing knowledge,
improving products, and creating
organisations and linkages.
Skilled workers can become the
managers of their own enterprise,
and see their income grow
substantially, provided:
• business development services
are made available;
• there are no major changes in
product or production
processes;
• the market climate remains
Figure 5: Bricks being used in the construction. Photo:
Practical Action / Mohammed Majzoub
positive.
Having the right support is important, and in this particular case Practical Action’s previous
local experience of providing support to other economic sectors, including food processing
and transport was significant.
Income generation through co-operation
Single focus interventions have been intertwined with the range of technology expertise held
by the Practical Action Sudan Kassala office. Bridging with local manufacturer and market
institutions, the brick makers of Shambob have developed the necessary capacity to assess
and meet market demand in order to generate incomes.
Increased personal and community assets
Individual households and Shambob village have witnessed an increase in their asset base
and created linkages that are valuable tools in their armoury against the environmental threats
and persistent pressure of widespread poverty.
Involving producers
It is important for producers to be involved in research that aims to improve their production
methods. Local skills and resources are important assets that need to be nurtured and built
upon rather than displaced in favour of technologies from elsewhere. That is not to say that
there is no scope to consider additional options in the context of participatory technology
development, but they need to be inserted in, and adapted to, the local context. Previous
experience by Practical Action shows that it is much more difficult to launch new enterprises
with innovative materials or to introduce new enterprises where the production technology has
to be changed drastically.
Cause for celebration
The action research and development efforts of the people of Shambob, local partners and
Practical Action Sudan were given significant recognition by the United Nations
Commission on Human Settlements. A Best Practice award gave the people of Shambob a
reason to celebrate and the opportunity to share their experience with others through the
UNCHS Best Practice website http://www.bestpractices.org/
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