Overview

DTW is a UK registered charity and an international NGO affiliated with the Engineering Department of the University of Warwick in the UK. With more than 5 years experience in the designer and transfer technology to developing countries, DTW aims to facilitate: 1.Local development and production of practical, cost-effective products 2.Creation of sustainable jobs through technology transfer 3.Improvement of technical skills through high quality training 4.inclusion of less physically abled people in the country workforce 5.Development of Cambodian small-scale industry One DTW priority is the inclusion of physically impaired people in the workforce, a continuation of our long standing policy, as 13 of 34 DTW’s national staff are disabled.

Background

In Cambodia, DTW has helped establish the Cambodian Demining Workshop (CDW), a small Khmer-run business which employs about 20 physically impaired staff to make a range of demining equipment. The body armour and related Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) produced by CDW compares favourable in quality and functionality to the best in the world, but at the fraction of the cost. Also for demining but not on a larger scale, DTW manufactures and exports the Tempest, a 59 KW remote controlled, vegetation and trip wire clearance vehicle weighing 2.7 tons, but costing 1/3rd of similar commercially available machines. Over the last year, training courses have been conducted in several subjects including: electrical, hydraulic, diesel engine and fabrication skills. Eight mine victims participated in a 6 months training programme and six of them are now independent. DTW is also developing a low cost Braille writing machine for the visually impaired. The aim is for this simple device to be produced in developing countries worldwide, at about 1/5th of the cost of currently available machines. Alongside this development, we are also establishing local production of simple aids such as walking guides, slates and styluses. Some other projects have included: · Outfitting mobile technical workshops using ISO 2001 certified 20 foot containers · Various applications of hydraulic equipment · a 1.6m excavator bucket, a small guillotine for clean cutting razor blades, etc. In the further, DTW would like to also develop for local manufacture and in partnership with other NGOs and business, more equipment related to health, agriculture, watsan, renewable energy, transport and infrastructure.

Value

N/A

Mission

In our mission to achieve technology transfer, DTW selects projects not only on the basis of their design, development and production inputs but also on the basis of whether such projects can result in cost-effective products yielding a greater social benefit. We began operations in Cambodia in 1998. At that time we had a singular mission: design and manufacture a machine to remove vegetation and trip-wire initiated anti-personnel mines. That machine is our TEMPEST. Since those early days the Tempest has been considerably up-graded. It is now an all-terrain remote controlled, multi-tooled, mechanical assistance system deployed in many countries for humanitarian demining activities. The Tempest continues to constitute an important part of our operations. In choosing projects, we give due consideration to the employment opportunities they create for the disabled. One-third (1/3) of our current staff have disabilities. To their credit, all have proven themselves most capable at performing complicated machining skills. Our policy is not to sit in an office and devise projects/products based on what we feel people should have or want, but to work in a reactive not a proactive way. This method means that all projects emanate from the end user, or someone working with the end user, and are based on real needs. For virtually 90% of our projects/products, we have been directly approached by a party to help or render assistance. We engage in little or no advertising. Another DTW goal is to create small, sustainable enterprises once a developed product has been designed and produced and once it has reached a stage of maturity. We do so by lending management and logistical support to local personnel until such point as they are able to manage the enterprise on their own. DTW has exported projects, products and programmes from its manufacturing base in Cambodia to numerous countries, including locations in North and South America, Europe, throughout Africa, the Middle East and most of South East Asia.

Vision

N/A

Goal

N/A