The Critical Villager considers the difficulties of providing effective development aid to the Third World. The high rate of failure in aid projects is often ascribed to inadequate consideration of local culture and conditions. Eric Dudley considers how community-based technical aid can be made more effective and sustainable.

Dudley argues that community-based participatory research and "transfer of technology" are not rival models of development but complementary components of effective aid. Calling for development workers, policy makers, and researchers to put themselves in the place of the intended beneficiaries of aid, Dudley suggests concrete principles for action and research. He shows that despite the wide range of cultures and circumstances, a set of concrete principles that inform the selection of new technologies and practices will be important in guiding the design of aid interventions.