Participatory Technology Development

Participatory technology development (PTD) is an approach to development that involves collaboration between experts and local citizens and practitioners to analyze problems and find solutions that are appropriate for the specific community in question. PTD was developed in response to low rates of adoption of new agricultural technologies in developing countries and has been applied most often to agricultural development, but there is no reason the same approach cannot be applied to other questions that involve the use of outside technology to solve local problems. In fact, PTD has already been applied to other issues including natural resource management and the development of rural livelihoods. The key point with PTD is that local practitioners and citizens, for instance, farmers and other village members, participate actively ...