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Achievements as of September 2005

The following achievements were made possible with the support of the IK Program

Integrating IK in Bank projects

Mainstreaming IK in development

Building Capacity to Facilitate IK exchanges

Collection and dissemination of IK

Building partnerships


Integrating IK in Bank Supported Projects

Advising task teams in integrating IK Systems in the design of the following Bank supported operations:

  • 8 Natural Resource Management Projects in Africa plan to build on local knowledge including tangible knowledge (e.g traditional medicinal plants and extractive resources) and intangible knowledge (e.g. mediation and consensus building strategies for NRM and shared use of environmental resources).
  • Karnataka Watershed Development Project ( KWDP) initiated community exchanges within India and Sri Lanka to learn about local watershed development practices. The project has incorporated organic farming, medicinal plants cultivation and income generation activities.
  • Sri Lanka Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project has documented ancient medicinal knowledge in a community owned database; promoted the in situ conservation and cultivation of medicinal plants in local home gardens; mainstreamed IK through putting in place effective marketing techniques for herbal remedies derived from medicinal plants; transcribed ancient palm leaf manuscripts that contain information on diseases and their diagnosis, as well as prescriptions into Sinhalese; established a program to enable the bearers of traditional knowledge, community elders, to transfer their skills to selected acolytes; and created a legal and institutional framework for the protection of traditional knowledge, through the development of a National Biodiversity Strategy.
  • Kerala Forestry Project in India seeks to improve the quality of life and self reliance of local communities through adopting a holistic approach that links local biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, Ayurveda, modern science and technology. Project activities focus on documentation through surveys and inventories to build databases on health profiles, socio-economic status, ethno-medico-botanical aspects, plant based biodiversity register and indigenous technical knowledge (ITKs).
  • UP Sodic Lands Reclamation Project in India was a farmer driven project that established local site implementation committees and self help groups and reclaimed over 68,000 hectares belonging to 247,000 families. Farmers built on traditional knowledge and agricultural practices to raise agricultural productivity and incomes by 60% over 5 years. These practices were institutionalized and widely disseminated through a local farmers school. Today, the state has begun to hand over training and extension services to local farmers' schools, which reach more than 7,200 farmers in 65 villages beyond the project area.
  • Ethiopia Women's Development Initiatives Project (WDIP) has incorporated income generation strategies derived from micro-credit schemes based on the success of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India.
  • Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Malawi local country offices are beginning to explore new ways of incorporating IK into Bank supported projects.
  • Ethiopia Information Communications Technology for Development (ICTAD)
    At this stage it is planned to have IK related activities in the Health and Agricultural Sectors. Local content development will be another focus. ICTAD will assist the government of Ethiopia to develop standards for computer based scripts for some major Ethiopian languages. This will help to disseminate and share local knowledge.
  • Guinea Multi-Country AIDS Program (MAP)
    The project seeks to organize and train traditional healers on HIV/AIDS practices, while supporting the treatment of opportunistic infections using traditional medicine. The IK program sponsored a consultant to help integrate IK into the MAP. During a supervision mission the consultant identified the activities related to traditional medicine undertaken to-date by the National AIDS committee and assessed their impact on the ground. The consultant also ensured that IK was included into the project's monitoring and evaluation system.
  • Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) III
    Indigenous knowledge will play a greater role in the implementation of MASAF III. Utilizing IK can help MASAF to empower communities through valuation of their knowledge, assist MASAF in the Information, Education and Communication by building on traditional means of communication, or to better target activities. For example, customary law and practices could be instrumental to target land allocation activities. Activities related to food security and nutrition can build on the development of underutilized, indigenous crops and their processing, to better prepare for food emergencies. MASAF plans to produce a resource kit to guide development workers on how to integrate IK into MASAF.
  • Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF)
    The Community Reconciliation and Conflict Management Component (CRCM) of NUSAF component aims to integrate indigenous knowledge into its operations. While most IK integration efforts concentrate on herbal medicine, nutrition, agriculture or natural resource management, NUSAF aims to utilize the skills and knowledge of communities, elders or traditional leaders to prevent or manage conflict, to reconcile during post-conflicts and heal disrupted societies. NUSAF plans to produce a resource kit to guide development workers on how to integrate IK into NUSAF.
  • Agricultural Research and Training Project (ARTP) II, Uganda
    The project builds on IK practices in agriculture to make them part of the outreach program. The IK related activities of the project support the transfer of relevant technologies and improved cultural practices to farmers' field to promote their adoption. The use of small farm implements designed for the smaller cattle of Uganda is an example of these practices.
  • Multi-Sectoral AIDS Project, Burundi
    The project will encourage access to and use of appropriate indigenous knowledge and practices that have been shown to work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The IK component will expand the capacity of extended families and local communities to cope with HIV/AIDS and to provide support for people infected or affected with HIV/AIDS.
  • Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project, Ethiopia
    The Project seeks to initiate support for the conservation, management and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants for human and livestock healthcare. The IK component will support the development of methods to collect, analyze and interpret quantitative data on the socio-economic benefits derived from medicinal plants. Ethno-medical surveys will explore the utilization of medicinal plants and traditional healthcare practices for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and the mitigation of the adverse impact of the disease.
  • Northern Savanna Biodiversity Conservation (NSBC) Project, Ghana
    The Project seeks to improve the environment, livelihood and health of communities through the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, including medicinal plants and agro-biodiversity. The global objective is to assist in the maintenance of the medicinal plants supply through conservation and cultivation and to preserve knowledge of their use in the home by women, healers and pastoralists. In addition funds will be provided to strengthen and upgrade the Ministry of Health's Traditional Medicine Directorate.
  • Lake Malawi Ecosystems Project
    The objectives of the project is to contribute to Malawi's efforts to improve the economic livelihood of stakeholder communities living on the shore and catchment of the lake. A pilot study to garner baseline data and identify strategic contribution of local communities' indigenous knowledge, experiences and practices in managing the lakes ecosystem for the preparation of the first phase of this environmental project is underway.
  • Integrated Early Childhood Development Project, Eritrea
    The project seeks to improve child health, child and maternal nutrition, early childhood education and care. The project includes a framework for the identification, validation, collection, storage and dissemination of IK related to early childhood development and the design of the database of such practices to facilitate their exchange among local communities and across the region. Linkages with a core IK group located in the Ministry of Local Government have been established and we are working to help them analyze and publish IK material gathered over the last 20 years by this group. Helped set up a “Generative Curriculum” for IK in Eritrea in a virtual university setting under the ECDVU initiative in collaboration with the University of British Columbia, Victoria. Conducted a community exchange between different ethnic groups in different regions. The results of the C2C were reported at the International ECD Conference held in Asmara in October 2002 – where a separate session was arranged for IK which was well attended and received.

Mainstreaming IK in development

  • The World Bank and Global Research Alliance jointly organized a workshop in South Africa during February 2005. The workshop brought together leading scientists and reputed traditional healers from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The participants developed a road map to jointly approach the scientific validation of IK, with a special focus on traditional medicine.
  • Tanzania's President Mkapa endorsed a new action plan to mainstream IK in Africa which will help raise the profile of IK and secure additional co-fianancing from donors.
  • The Swiss for instance, agreed to pledge $500, 000 to help build the capacity of IK practitioners to document, validate and mainstream best practices into development planning and policies.
  • Farmers in Burkina Faso adopt traditional soil and water conservation practices known as "Zai" by communities practicing this technique in the Sahel.
  • The 2nd Knowledge and Learning Exchange brought project teams and Bank staff from Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Malawi to India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to learn from local communities about the use of indigenous knowledge, micro-credit, medicinal plants and imformatics.
  • The Government of Uganda integrates IK into its Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
  • The SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) incorporates IK into its science and technology priorities.
  • The Government of Kerala incorporated IK into the state's 10th Five Year Plan (2002-2007) and allocated resources to fund IK activies in health, agriculture and MRM.
  • Sri Lanka's ministry of science and technology established a special task force to mainstream IK in development.
  • Learning tour brought policy makers, project leaders and Bank staff from East Africa to sites in India and Sri Lanka to learn together from local communities about the successful integration of IK practices in early childhood and medicinal plants development programs.
  • Ugandan stakeholders formulate a national IK strategy (Kampala Declaration) with an Institutional Development Fund Grant (IDF).
  • Facilitated cooperation between US National Institutes of Health, George Washington University Hospital and Bank staff to cooperate on the validation of herbal treatments of HIV/AIDS related opportunistic infections.
  • Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) launched a program to incorporate IK within the context of World Bank supported Agriculture Research and Training Project (Phase II).
  • Published guidelines for integrating IK in project planning and implementation in partnership with ILO, CIDA, and KIVU Nature Inc.

Building Capacity to Facilitate IK exchange

  • The IK Program organized the first cross regional distance learning course on Using Indigenous Knowledge for the Millennium Development Goals. The course was conducted in partnership with the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN), with 102 participants from Uganda, Tanzania, India and Sri Lanka. The course comprised presentations on IK success stories from Bank projects in East Africa/South Asia and experts from the US-NIH and WIPO. The five-day course facilitated a cross regional sharing of experiences among IK practitioners (including traditional healers), NGOs, academics, project officials, policy makers and national IK experts. The participants developed concrete action plans outlining how they intend to incorporate the lessons learned during the course into their own work programs.
  • The CDD Knowledge Fair in Burkina Faso highlighted the use of traditional medicine in addressing local health problems and the impact of the Zai farmers practices on improving crop yields and preserving the environment.
  • NGOs and national agencies working on IK in Africa shared their experiences with 200 African leaders, policy makers and civil society representatives at the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA) conference in Accra.
  • The Environmental Management Group (EMG) in South Africa organized five regional community exchanges on natural resource management practices, sponsored by the IK program. The results were used to develop a community exchange toolkit for IK practitioners.
  • The IK program brought together traditional and modern health practitioners from Africa to share experiences and learn from each other at the SADC Summit on HIV/AIDS in Maseru.
  • The first community knowledge fair in Africa was held in a village in Malawi as part of the launch of the Third Social Action Fund (SAF) project. This was followed by a community exchange among seven different communities that had benefited from the first two SAF projects in Malawi.
  • IK seminar on using indigenous knowledge to help achieve the MDGs, namely reducing maternal mortality, HIV-AIDS and conserving biodiversity. Participants included David Scheinman, Tanga AIDS Working Group (TAWG), Dr. Medhin Zewdu, Ethiopia Medicinal Plants Project and Dr. Nyiira, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.
  • Learning tour resulted in exchange of IK Best Practices from South Asia to East Africa.
  • IK centers in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia) research IK practices and prepare syntheses for IK database.
  • IK centers (Uganda, Cameroon, Ghana, Tanzania and Burkina Faso) with improved connectivity and networking capacity.
  • IK Market Place to connects proposal seekers with funding agencies.
  • IK seminar on "Learning from local healers and farmers", bringing together development practitioners from East Africa, US scientists and Bank staff to discuss traditional treatments of HIV/AIDS.
  • Pilot "Community-to-Community Exchange" leads to $15,000 export contract for communities producing Rooibos Tea and the creation of their own website; in partnership with Global Mechanism of the Convention to Combat Desertification, and NGOs.
  • In Kenya, Masaai pastoralists and women farmers exchange knowledge in medicinal plants and traditional food crops.
  • In Tanzania, the TANGA AIDS Working Group shared their experiences working with local healers to treat the opportunistic infections related to HIV/AIDS with other communities across the country
  • Community exchanges are planned for South Asia and Africa.
  • Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) launched an IK Resource Development Newsletter supported by the IDF.
  • National stakeholder workshop on IK in agricultural research and development with (NARO) in Uganda.
  • Facilitated Regional IK Networking in East - West Africa.
  • National Workshop on integrating IK in development programs in Burkina Faso and Mali.

Collection and dissemination of IK

  • Launched a new publication - Indigenous Knowledge: Local Pathways to Global Development in Tanzania, Burkina Faso and USA. H.E. President Mkapa launched the publication in Dar es Salaam on October 20th, 2004. Parallel events were held in Washington, D.C., led by Frannie Leautier, WBI Vice President and Gerard Byam, AFTQK Director, and in Ougadougou, led by Minister Ouedraogo for Arts, Culture and Tourism.
  • 10, 000 copies of community exchange guidelines/toolkits printed and distributed to policy makers, NGOs and donors.
  • 5, 000 copies of multimedia CD ROMs on achieving the MDGs using IK (e.g. HIV/AIDS, Maternal Mortality, and Food Security) disseminated to development practitioners.
  • Built database and collected/synthesized over 300 cases.
  • Launched "IK Notes" and published over 75 issues of IK Notes ( in English, French, Swahili, Portuguese and Wolof on the web and in print, reaching 20,000 readers)
  • Published report: "IK for Development: a Framework for Action".
  • Prepared brochures in English, French and Portuguese.
  • IK presentations in the World Bank and to external audiences (NORAD, AVSP, UNDP, GTZ, SDC, APQC, SID, FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD, Red Cross, Chemonics, NTCA, GKII, FEI,WIPO, Club du Sahel).
  • Awarded Best Practice for Knowledge Retention Award for Excellence by APQC (American Products and Quality Center).
  • Responded to approximately 600 enquiries for information.
  • Sponsored community representatives from Senegal and Uganda to present IK cases at the Global Knowledge II Conference in Malaysia.
  • Incorporated IK into the Global Development Gateway (GDG).

Building partnerships

  • Sponsored Prolinnova's International Workshop in Ethiopia where farmers from African and Asia agreed to develop community driven public/private partnershiops in support of national agricultural research and development projects that build on IK and local innovations.
  • IK Practitioners presented their work at major international conferences which led to the emergence of networks of traditional IK practitioners.
  • Regional workshop on medicnial plants in Burkina Faso helped formulate policy issues for regional knowledge exchanges and networking among traditional healers.
  • Contributed to UNCTAD's Conference on the preservation, protection and promotion of traditional knowledge systems.
  • Learning Tour established partnerships for South-South cooperation between East Africa and South Asia on IK practices.
  • Established partnerships with a dozen organizations (such as FAO LinKS Project in Southern Africa).
  • Addressing intellectual property rights issue of IK with WIPO, and UNCTAD.
  • Contributed IK Database to WIPO's special portal on IK Databases
  • Sponsored a joint national IK workshop with the FAO LinKS project, convened by the Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center (TFNC) on behalf of the Vice-President's Office.
  • Community exchanges conducted in partnership with trust funds form Switzerland and the Netherlands.
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