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VIS
Village Industry Service

Address: VIS Nsefu House, 2nd Floor Dar-es-Salaam Place P. O. Box 35500 Lusaka, Zambia Telephone: 21522 1

The Village Industry Service is an independent Trust which is working in close liaison with Government departments, party organisations and voluntary bodies as well as with foreign governments and aid organisations. It is mainly concerned with rural development to promote labour intensive agro-based cottage and village enterprises, whether individuals or co-operatives which will promote income generation on village level to curb the curse of unemployment. It encourages industries based on simple machinery and equipments and ensures that the cost of creating jobs is as low as possible. It encourages entrepreneurs to start industries to utilise local resources. It also ensures that the cost of creating jobs is as low as possible.

Village Industry Service is charged with the duty of promoting research into the kind of products which are best suited to production at village level and instituting the necessary training through church, service clubs and other organisations. It is involved in mounting an education programme to help win general acceptance of village products, co-ordinating, upgrading and encouraging numerous efforts already in existence in the sphere, maintaining a comprehensive advisory and information service promoting common high level standards of workmanship, acting as procurement agent for supplying of raw materials and the sale of village products.

Awareness

Village Industry Service will be ready to co-ordinate and make use of the efforts in the informal sector and in the labour intensive industrial field. It is not the intention of the Village Industry Service to try to replace the existing efforts in the field many of which have many years of experience behind them which has been of inestimatable benefit to the nation. It is hoped that by arousing public opinion to a new awareness of the importance of expanding village industries development that all existing agencies will benefit from an added interest in their work and find greater scope for expansion. Village Industry Service exists to serve the people in villages and pert-urban areas to increase the standard of living by rendering technical and other allied services in the establishment of suitable village and cottage industries.

How it works

Under the direct patronage of His Excellency the President Dr. K. D. Kaunda and the Chairmanship of Mrs. J. Mapoma, a Council has been appointed to look after the operations and services of Village Industry Service.

Village Industry Service receives annual grants from the Party and its Government for its operation. The grants are channelled through the Ministry of Commerce and Industry which is its mother body.

Other notable foreign missions and agencies and firms in the country provide it with financial assistance in form of donations and scholarships every year.

Village Industries suitable for development in Zambia: Agro-based, animal husbandry based, forest based, mineral based and miscellaneous.

Various Village Industry Service inputs
(a) Techno-Economic Advice for setting up a unit.
(b) Project design and development.
(c) Training of managerial cadre and skilled workers.
(d) Marketing aids.
(e) Supply of raw materials and equipment.
(f) Financing and credit.

Address:
Appropriate Technology Development Institute (ATDI)
Papua New Guinea University of Technology
Box 793
Lae
Papua New Guinea

The Appropriate Technology Development Institute (ATDI) is a joint venture of the South Pacific Appropriate Technology Foundation (SPATF), the Papua New Guinea University of Technology (Unitech) and the Melanesian Council of Churches (MCC). It is dedicated to assisting the people of Papua New Guinea and the Pacific region to develop technologies which utilize local skills, materials and finance, serve to improve health and well-being, create employment, and maintain a cultural sense of self-sufficiency and identity. With ready access to Unitech technical expertise, SPATF's socio-economic development programs, and the information resources of the Lik Lik Buk Information Centre, ATDI is able to conduct projects which not only deal with the research of tools, devices, or techniques but also examine the social and economic processes which are the most important consideration in technological development. Among the success achieved by ATDI in recent years, the following are particularly worthy to mention:

The Community and Village Industry Program in Morobe Province advanced much more rapidly than expected with the establishment of a full scale iron foundry. 30-40 individuals were employed directly by the various industries that have been created.

ATDI research into designs for Charcoal production and charcoal stoves has served as an important technical backup for the charcoal industries beginning in several provinces.
-Six rural communities in four provinces received direct assistance from ATDI staff in solving difficult water supply problems.
-Six low cost houses using mostly local materials were completed under ATDI supervision.
-The first village level commercial food enterprise is attempting to keep up with the demand for "Mr. Banana Sip".
-Save na Mekim, the updated and revised edition of the Lik Lik Buk in Melanesian Pidgin was published and 10,000 copies were printed.
-The SPATF/ATDI Community Development Program conducted 20 skills training workshops and presented 20 demonstrations throughout the country to communities, women's groups, youth, government officers, and the general public.

Major new projects include:
-The development of a prototype sago mill for intermediate scan processing of sago starch.
-Sago food product development
-The publishing of the Traditional Technology Series on Fishing Techniques, Settlement Patterns Architecture and Sago Processing