Orissa Development Technocrats’ Forum (ODTF) is an organization registered under the Societies’ Act of 1860 working towards Promotion of Appropriate Technologies and creating Opportunities for Sustainable Livelihoods in Orissa.

The primary objective of ODTF is to promote matters relating to housing, habitat, watershed development, infrastructure, renewable energy and environment with thrust on use of local resources and adoption of appropriate technologies.

ODTF is a team of about 30 young Development Technocrats (DTs), who are as the name suggests, social engineers - architects, civil engineers and planners with considerable experience in the development sector committed to integrating technical and social development issues while transferring appropriate technologies in the rural areas of Orissa. The core area of expertise of ODTF lies in the empowerment of the community to have access to information pertaining to appropriate technologies and the capacity to mobilize the community and include their active participation during the implementation of programmes that are directed towards technology transfer.

The ODTF has the specialisation right from the post super cyclone period. Capacity building of new entrants as construction workers as well as construction workers already engaged in the job has been systematically undertaken by the members through training. By now more than 2500 masons including male & female has been trained in various parts of Orissa as well as outside states of Orissa. To the credit of ODTF it has trained nearly 500 women construction labourer.

UNDP and SDC embarked on a long-term Rural Housing Project in Orissa in July 2002. The relevancy of the project is large scale housing deprivation prevailing in rural areas of Orissa. This is primarily due to acute poverty, lack of scientific knowledge on house construction among the households/ construction workers and recurring disasters in the form of cyclones, floods, droughts, tidal surges, etc.