Rural life in the Eastern Highlands Province is characterised by the dependence on goods and services supplied from outside of the rural environment. Rural people in the Province therefore have a choice between the following:

• Living without such goods and services
• Using income generated from cash cropping to purchase them
• Become involved in projects that use "appropriate technologies" to supply some of these goods and services

Appropriate technology is a way of thinking about change, recognising that technologies can evolve along different paths toward different ends. It includes the belief that rural communities can have a hand in deciding what their future will be like, and that the choice of technologies is an important part of this.

It also includes the recognition that technologies can embody cultural biases and sometimes have political and distributional effects that go far beyond a strictly economic evaluation.

"AT" therefore involves the use for technologies that have for example, beneficial effects on income distribution, human development and environmental quality.

In the context of the Eastern Highlands Province, ATprojects sees "AT" as:
- Projects that require only small amounts of capital.
- Emphasising the use of local materials.
- Relatively labor-intensive, but more productive than traditional technologies.
- Small enough in scale to be affordable to individual families or small groups.
- Can be understood, controlled and maintained by villagers, with out a high level of special training.
- Produced in villages or small working shops.
- Promoting people working together to bring improvements to communities.
- Offering opportunities for people to become involved in the development process.
- Useful in productive ways without doing harm to the environment.

Part of ATprojects appropriate technology strategy is to start with and build on locally available skills and materials, based on the initiative and full participation of local people. This should mean that local needs will be met more effectively, that mistakes will be on a scale that is understandable and correctable, and that technological and social changes that follow are more likely to harmonise with evolving local traditions and culture.