Above all, it is technology that will work for the people and area it’s being used in. It is regenerative machinery, tools, energy supplies, etc. What makes it regenerative? There are several key criteria that make a technology appropriate.
It uses existing resources. Many well-meaning individuals and organizations who are attempt to help less fortunate people are famous for funding solutions for an area that people can’t fix or make themselves. Thus, when those things break, that’s it. The “solution” no longer exists but the problem is still there.
Example: Bill Gates wants people in Africa to use compost toilets. What a great idea! Except he has partnered to create a high tech version which will break, people probably won’t use, and they can’t build themselves. It’s also harder to understand. What is likely to happen is that the people won’t use it for a toilet at all but will take it apart and use the parts for other things, or will use it as a container. Even when training is provided along with this type of technology, if it breaks, it cannot be repaired locally or practically speaking, so use falls out. This is not regenerative or even sustainable.
Whereas in Haiti, we used only what we could readily acquire from the local area to build our toilets, and thus, anybody in Haiti could learn to build one too and would have the means to do that.
Is suitable to the social and economic conditions of the region. Again, going back to compost toilets. Many Haitians are accustomed to using “squat” toilets. It’s actually healthier to relieve oneself this way. In fact, there’s a booming industry of step stools people can add to their thrones to get the benefits of squatting without squatting. So rather than try to give people two new and unfamiliar things to learn and accept, why not design the compost toilet as a squatting toilet, which they’re much more likely to use?
Again, using imported materials for many people means people are less likely to replicate and use the technology and it's less resilient.
LIkewise, in the US, if we want compost toilets to be used, being able to flush, or something similar, is likely to make it easier. If it looks like the type of toilet we’re used to, we’re more likely to use it.
Is environmentally sound. Does it care for the earth? Does it pollute or extract resources in a way that pollutes? Does it work with nature instead of against her? Instead of mining plastics in the US through fracking, then making plastic toilets in China and sending them to Africa, what if we just used a local bamboo or other material that grows there naturally to construct them?
Promotes self-sufficiency on the part of those using it. Using local materials and other local resources make the tech available, and could be an economic boon if someone can start making them from local materials and selling them - which makes it more likely they’ll use the product, and gives them another yield from it.