Effectiveness is More Important than Price

 

A common approach that is taken by those designing technologies for third-world aid is to concentrate on keeping costs as low as possible. The resulting products have a crude ugly appearance and often suffer from poor quality materials that degrade over time. Today, an inexpensive porcelain toilet from China can be purchased in Guatemala for the equivalent of $35 US. Even the most basic toilet seat mounted over a five-gallon bucket (with a few extra buckets) can cost nearly that much to build. It is just not realistic to think that an innovative, attractive, ecological solution can compete in the free market against a Chinese imported porcelain toilet. In the words of highly successful environmental aid engineer, Dr. Ashok Gadgil, "Optics count." Part of what is necessary for a solution to be effective is that it needs to be attractive. There is no shortage of grant money from corporations, governments, and non-profits for an environmental and public health solution that is demonstrated to solve an important problem. On the other hand, a “solution” doomed to fail will not find funding from anywhere, no matter how inexpensive it is. We believe that it would be foolhardy to try to make a product that would be affordable to all of those in this region of Guatemala who should adopt it. This is why our primary goal is to find the best possible solution without cutting corners to make it “affordable”. If it is shown to be effective, it will be seen as worth the price. The only approach that is viable is one that is demonstrated to be so effective that people will want to fund its distribution throughout the globe.

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