Intermediate Technology – Basic tools, machines and engineering systems that people in poorer countries can afford to buy or construct from local resources

Wind turns sails, which spin the bicycle wheel supplying power to a battery operated pump drawing water from the river to irrigate crops.

To remember the meaning of the term Intermediate Technology, use the following mnemonic:

We are into immediately finding techniques and knowledge (intermediate technology) we can use to construct and solve our practical problems.

This is intermediate technology that can help: Instead of carrying smaller amounts of water from a well two miles away, much larger amounts of water can be moved using a plastic barrel than can be rolled along.

Intermediate technology is the use of equipment and techniques that are suitable for their country of use.

Some poorer countries lack the skills needed to maintain complex equipment. With this in mind, small-scale, basic solutions are often more appropriate.

Much of the intermediate technology supplied to developing nations reflects the idea behind the old proverb: "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for life."