13 Feb: Exploring the economics of toilets: a lecture on the role of innovation in development
On Wednesday, February 13, Indian economist Dr. Shyama Ramani will discuss the potential of technology and innovation for development at the 2008 Charles Cooper Memorial Public Lecture and Debate at Maastricht University.
Dr. Ramani is a Senior Fellow in the Department of Economics at the National Institute of Agricultural Research in France; she will dedicate much of her lecture to her experiences and lessons as the coordinator of the Friend-in-Need Trust, a nonprofit organization that she founded in 2005. In its initial manifestation as the Franco-Indian Reconstruction project, the organization was established to address the suffering of those in India affected by the 2004 tsunami.
Indeed, as she anticipates her upcoming lecture, Dr. Ramani cannot help but reflect upon the mission and obstacles of her initiative, recalling at times the frustration of facing the devastating challenge of abject poverty and at others an optimism derived from witnessing the positive accomplishments of human compassion and collaboration; in each of these moments, she consistently conveys a genuine and seemingly indefatigable passion.
Originally from New Delhi, Dr. Ramani rapturously recalls her introduction to Kameshwaram, the small fishing village in the southeastern province of Tamil Nadu, to which she has dedicated the focus of her efforts: “First of all, it was quite a shock for me because I had never set even a little toe in a real Indian village. We urbanites tend to stick to cities and maybe venture so far as the suburbs because there’s poverty all around. It was all so different from what I learned in development theory. And I am supposed to be a game theorist. I make nice little simple mathematical models of how firms compete to get value from their innovation, and this was like another world for me! And yet, I got drawn in because it seemed to be so very inefficient. There is so much money that is pouring in which is so badly used.”
The mission statement of the Friend-in-Need Trust is to “motivate, support, facilitate, monitor and evaluate the introduction of innovations in the form of new structures, new technology, new management routines and new social norms [and] to attain environmental and socio-economic security in the marginalised zones of India.”
One of its initial primary objectives has been to improve basic sanitation and health standards in Kameshwaram. Dr. Ramani, with her engaging narrative style that will no doubt color her lecture, provides an anecdote describing the establishment and initial development of this objective: “My husband had suggested: ‘Why don’t you show them [the villagers] around the world?’… and they went for three discovery tours… especially the ladies came because it was going to be the only opportunity for them to go. They said they would never forget it. When they came from the discovery tours, they had to talk about what they wanted. The men wanted all sorts of things. But, the ladies…. They wanted toilets. They had seen, for the first time, clean toilets in these research centers because we had taken them to a girls college, where the ladies really saw what girls in the city could do.”
“Now the village has gotten recognition from the government of India as having the maximum number of ecological toilets in India,” Dr. Ramani proudly recalls. “And it’s changed the faces of the women.”
This success, Dr. Ramani explains, is part of the reason why she will be lecturing in Maastricht, “When Luc [Soete, Director of UNU-MERIT] said, ‘Shyama, why don’t you talk about the lessons for the economics of innovation from your Franco-Indian Reconstruction Project,’ I said, ‘Luc, do you really want to know about the economics of toilets?’ He said, ‘Why not?’”
In addition to discussing her experiences improving sanitation in Kameshwaram, Dr. Ramani will talk about some of the issues that development activists face generally and some of the problems that plague India more specifically. She complains that “India has the most extensive positive discrimination in the whole world” when referring to the policies of allocating seats in public universities and jobs in public agencies based on caste. She illustrates with a short anecdote: “One of the students told me, ‘Madam, I am from a backward caste, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t get a seat because I am not from a very backward caste.”
Dr. Ramani also contemplates the differences between westerners and Indians when it comes to aid and assistance. She muses that Indian culture is very hospitable and its people are remarkably friendly, but they often do not feel the need to give back. “Most of the westerners I know… they may not invite the neighbor over for a cup of tea… but the thing is, everybody gives some time for some civic work.”
Currently living and working in France, Dr. Ramani relates her experiences of living abroad to her development missions in her native India. “You see, when I was outside of Paris, very regularly in Grenoble, I would be stopped in the streets and asked ‘Do you have a couple of hours to come and iron some clothes at home?’” She goes on to explain, “They’re not at all racist, but, you see, because most of the colored women are janitors or cooks or babysitter, most people cannot believe that a colored woman can be in the French research service…. You see, I know what it is like to be marginalized. This is what many people in India are suffering.”
The title of Dr. Ramani’s lecture is: Playing in invisible markets: Innovating to harness the economic power of the poor. It is organized by the United Nations University – Maastricht Economic and social Research and training Centre on Innovation and Technology, or UNU-MERIT, and co-sponsored by Maastricht Debates. Students have been involved, through Concordantia, in publicizing the event.
UNU-MERIT Communications Coordinator Wangu Mwangi explains that the target audience for the event is “basically everybody.” “By having a public lecture series,” she continues, “the idea is to reach out beyond the academic community. Of course, we are still very much a part of the university, so that is where most of our audience will come from.”
Asked why Dr. Ramani was selected as the lecturer this year, Mwangi responds that one of the many reasons was her involvement with the International Catch-Up Project, an initiative that seeks to bridge the scientific and technological divide between the developing and developed nations. UNU-MERIT has partnered with Columbia University’s Earth Institute for the project. Mwangi states, “We try to see whether we can link the lecture to a project or a workshop or a conference or our research.”
The event will begin at 19:30 and will be held in the Aula of the Faculty of Economics & Business Administration (Tongersestraat 53). Dr. Ramani’s lecture will be followed by an open debate with contributions from a panel consisting of: Prof. Richard Nelson from the Earth Institute; Dr. Shulin Gu from Beijing’s Tsinghua University; Dr. Suma Athreye from London’s Brunel Business School; and Prof. Ana Castro from Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University. Mwangi acknowledges proudly, “We made a deliberative effort to have a diverse panel.”
The panel will be moderated by Professor Luc Soete, Director of UNU-MERIT and followed by a reception. This is the second annual Charles Cooper Memorial Public Lecture. Charles Cooper was the founder of UNU-INTECH, the precursor to UNU-MERIT.
By Amrit Dhir
Amrit Dhir is pursuing a masters in Media Culture at Maastricht University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Originally from Los Angeles, he received his bachelors degree in International Studies from Emory University in Atlanta.
More information:
UNU-MERIT
Maastricht Debates
Friend-in-Need
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