Chapter X

TECHNICAL COOPERATION

Inter-country technical cooperation is one way to keep the cost of assistive devices low, improve the availability of different types of devices, improve the quality of rehabilitation services, and share solutions to common problems. There are three basic types of technical cooperation: technical cooperation among developing countries (TCDC); technical cooperation between developed and developing countries; and technical cooperation within a country.

Technical cooperation includes such diverse activities as:

(a) Sharing information on the availability of various devices in different countries;

(b) Training technical personnel at various levels;

(c) Sharing technical knowledge with or without royalties;

(d) Performing collaborative R&D in areas of common interest;

(e) Field testing devices developed elsewhere;

(f) Exchanging assistive devices, their components, and their raw materials;

(g) Developing common approaches to quality control;

(h) Sharing facilities for testing;

(i) Convening technical seminars and workshops.

A. Training

Training of personnel is a key area of technical cooperation, as many Asian and Pacific developing countries do not have sufficient numbers of trained personnel for developing, making, maintaining or repairing assistive devices. Moreover, many countries lack personnel with the knowledge to prescribe assistive devices or train people with disabilities in their use.

There are many examples of technical cooperation on training. Technicians from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam have been trained in India or by Indian personnel over the past decade. Technicians from the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Viet Nam have been trained in Cambodia in the use of polypropylene for lower limb prostheses. Japanese experts visit China and Thailand on a regular basis to train local technical personnel.

Developing countries need funding for their trainees to participate in such training programmes. Development aid agencies have a role to play in funding inter-country training activities on assistive devices, a hitherto little-recognized area of need in human resources development and TCDC programmes.

B. Collaborative research

Collaborative R&D among different countries is a good way to keep low the cost of organized R&D and thus generate new devices more easily. Collaborative research allows scarce skills to be used more effective- ly.

The cost of research, development, prototyping, field-testing and production of an assistive device is often high. One country alone may have insufficient funds to achieve this. Collaborative programmes reduce the burden on each participating country through a sharing of costs. A successful example of a collaborative programme is the WORTH Trust "Friendship" tricycle. NGOs in India, Netherlands, Sri Lanka and Thailand participated in its design.

To determine the suitability of a device in more than one country, it should be field tested in other countries before finalizing the design. This calls for a joint programme for field testing in the participating countries.

In addition to inter-country collaboration, there is also a need for collaboration and better understanding of the projects taking place within countries. There have been some cases of Governments seeking research conducted in other countries without their being aware that the same research was being carried out locally.

C. Information exchange

Each country must have information related to assistive devices in other countries for technical cooperation to be effective. Currently, few directories of this information are available. There are notable exceptions from Bangladesh(26), India(27) and the Philippines(28). A list of producers of assistive devices in this region, with their addresses, is included as a supplement to this document. It should also be possible to use the Internet for exchange of information. The information needed includes:

(a) Types of assistive devices produced;

(b) Names and addresses of producers;

(c) Sources of imports, if any;

(d) Training facilities available;

(e) Names, addresses and areas of specialization of R&D institutions and agencies;

(f) Relevant legislative and policy provisions.

foot notes

26 Johan Borg, BREATH: Bangladesh' Resources in Assistive Technology (Dhaka, InterLife Bangladesh, 1996).

27 Research Division, National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped, Directory of Indian Assistive Devices: 1995 (New Delhi, National Information Centre on Disability and Rehabilitation, Ministry of Welfare, 1995).

28 National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons, Catalogue of Assistive Devices for Persons with Orthopedic Disabilities in the Philippines (Quezon City, Philippines, National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons, 1996).

Box

Box 18: TCDC Needs and Interests

The following table summarizes the interest expressed in TCDC by the countries that responded to the question (see the country papers in Part II: Proceedings of the Technical Workshop on the Indigenous Production and Distribution of Assistive Devices, Madras, India, 5-14 September 1995)

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ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMISSION FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC
Production and distribution of assistive devices for people with disabilities: Part 1
- Chapter 10 -

Printed in Thailand
November 1997 1,000

United Nations Publication
Sales No. E.98.II.F.7
Copyright © United Nations 1997
ISBN: 92-1-119775-9
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