Self-Reliance in Small Communities examines the choice of technologies with which to help villages achieve self-reliance. The author argues for a revival of indigenous technology through a community-nurtured approach. He conducted action research on the possibility of using "appropriate technology" for earth roofing in two small communities, spaced apart by geography and stages of economic development; Maryborough, Australia and Gorbung in Deurali Village Development Committee, Nepal. He concludes that appropriate technology per se will not work, and forwards what he calls the PARFITS model (Participatory Action Research in the Facilitation of an Indigenous Technological System) as a strategy for community development.
The book is divided into 13 chapters and comes with an extensive bibliography running into 27 pages and 26 appendixed units. The first chapter sets up the rationale for action research: the Nepali villagers' traditional reliance on timber roofing juxtaposed with the dwindling timber resources. Manandhar therefore decides to borrow the indigenous technology of Egypt as appropriate technology for Nepal. The seed of failure for this experiment is sown early—by choosing indigenous mud-dome architecture of a dry and arid Egypt for possible appropriation in a wet and moisturous Nepal. By the author´s own definition of technology appropriation (page 8), the experiments at both Maryborough and Deurali are failures and he bravely comes around to the finding that the "appropriateness of an appropriate technology is place and culture specific" (p. 241).
In the second and third chapters, the inappropriateness of industrial technology and the economic growth model for development is argued with the help of a profuse literature survey. Pitfalls such as technological determinism, depiction of natural resources, unbalanced distribution of wealth, waste and pollution, are all tackled Whereas one would agree that one of the causes of hunger is "increasing inequality in the control over productive resources" and inequitable distribution, the author´s argument that overpopulation is not an important aspect of underdevelopment is unrealistic.
Local self-reliance movements, such as the Chinese communes, the Ujamaa of Tanzania, and the Kibbutz of Israel, among others, are discussed and variously termed "failures" or "perfect failures". Eyen though the author is not explicit, Mahatma Gandhi´s path seems to be his preference, and the Gandian model reinforced with Freire´s approach finds place further down in the suggested PARFITS model (Chapter 12).