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Technology Assessment in der Weltgesellschaft
22. - 24. November 2006, Berlin, Neue Mälzerei des Umweltforums
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Melanie Jaeger / Ulrike Beisel
Powerless Networks? The Implementation of Decentralised Technologies in Madagascar
Abstract zum Vortrag
Freitag, 24. November 2006,
Sektion 3 „TA in der Globalen Welt“, 11:30 Uhr
The paper will address the implementation processes of decentralised Renewable Energies in Madagascar. The empirical data, on which our considerations are based, were gathered in March / April 2006 in two villages in Madagascar. Both villages received Renewable Energy devices recently - one village runs a hydro-electric power station and the second has a solar water pump and several solar panels. In comparison to large scale developments at the European market for Renewable Energies these implementations can be considered as very basic, even marginal technological arrangements. Therefore one could assume that the mini-devices, which have not even the ability to fulfil the energy needs of the whole village, are powerless. Powerless in a global sense: They are marginal and could be considered as of no international interest. But still, they are part of international networks, incorporated into a local, national and international development discourse - from a European perspective one has to say a 'sustainable development discourse'. Using empirical examples from the case studies in Madagascar we will show how participatory approaches on a local level are embedded in and entangled with international development aims and discourses.
This can lead to conflicting aims, hidden paradoxes and sometimes constructs unrealisable expectations on several levels. Beneficiaries, local leaders, (international) NGOs, governments and funding bodies built complex alliances - both on 'personal' and 'professional' levels, and herewith influence the enactment of the implementation. (Global) Power flows through the heterogeneous actor-networks and multiple realities are created by the multiple actors. Sometimes the different realities are easily compatible; sometimes contradictions are created but remain mostly invisible; sometimes these contradictions are actively balanced by the actors; and sometimes realities collide and conflicts emerge.
We point out why it is important to make the interests of different actors explicit in the implementation process. In our opinion this needs to receive more attention in the design of participation processes. Moreover, we will show why it is fundamental to include 'soft factors' such as cultural habits and imaginaries, expectations and dreams about the future of the several actors involved in the TA-toolboxes, in order to make technologies sustainable - both on a local and international level. On a local level the technologies need to be accepted, actively supported and last but not least used to be considered 'successfully implemented'. On an international level the implementation has to be in accord with broader sustainable development aims, e.g. play a part in the reduction of local deforestation.
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