Background of the Indigenous Knowledge Initiative

The vision of a truly global knowledge partnership can only be realized if the poor participate not only as users of but also as contributors to knowledge. The Global Knowledge Conference 97 (Toronto, June 97) emphasized the urgent need to learn, to preserve and to exchange knowledge embodied in successful local practices so that they could be replicated elsewhere and applied in the development process. Academic research has documented the role of IK systems in sub-Saharan Africa and especially in the lives of the poor.

There are, however, few known effective instruments and methods for the capture and dissemination of IK and local practices. The present initiative has, therefore, been launched to rapidly identify, assess and develop pilot instruments and methods for that purpose.

Objectives

Approach