The pioneers of the appropriate technology movement have, since its first development in the 1960s, brought the concept of AT into broad acceptance and to the forefront of development thinking. A considerable amount of research and development work has been undertaken in specific technologies, and it has become widely accepted that many technologies appropriate to the means and needs of the masses of the rural and urban poor in developing countries exist or could be developed
Marilyn Carr is Chief of the Economic Empowerment Section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women. She is a development economist with over 20 years experience in Asia and Africa and specializes in the fields of small enterprise development and technology choice and diffusion.