The mills that were wanted but not required - and another story.

The paper presents two brief case studies to illustrate the potential problems that exist for 'outside' experts who attempt to change a society's values and reality without, in advance, understanding what already exists, or what the community wants, or is prepared to accept. Both case studies are based in Tanzania. The first examines a situation in which an NGO agent attempted to change the gender relations of a village by introducing new styles of mills for the women to grind millet and sorghum. The second case study is of a foreign-NGO implemented water provision project. The project failed to carry out a cultural feasibility study prior to implementation, with the result that many of the (male) newly-trained water attendants immediately left the village to obtain jobs in the town, resulting in more training having to be provided to women, who were willing to stay in the village. Abstract supplied by kind permission of CABI.