The Aid Hand-Operated Water Pump: A Classic Example of Technology Transfer

摘要

A.I.D.'s technology transfer efforts have enabled various developing nations to produce their own hand-operated water pumps, thereby providing them with improved rural health, a source of pride and employment, and an alternative to costlier imported pumps. This report describes A.I.D.'s project to assess the applicability, initiate the manufacture and installation, and evaluate the performance of locally-produced water pumps in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Ecuador. A.I.D. and the Georgia Institute of Technology (GIT), the project implementing agent, surveyed various nations' ability to manufacture the pump, their enthusiasm for the endeavor, the pumps' applicability to rural water supply programs (particularly those already involving A.I.D.), and local pump manufacturing costs versus import costs. An initial production run gauged local manufacturers' capabilities.