Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor, 1993

Indigenous Knowledge Resource Centres

Under this heading the international network presents news of
the activities of the various global, regional and national
indigenous knowledge resource centres. At the back of the
Monitor you will find the names, addresses, telephone and fax
numbers of the centres' directors and coordinators. They will
gladly supply additional information.

C I K A R D

The Center for Indigenous Knowledge for Agriculture and Rural
Development at Iowa State University has sponsored a wide
array of activities since the publication of the last (and
final) issue of CIKARD News (vol. 2, no. 4). The CIKARD
director, Dr. D. M. Warren, spent the academic year on
sabbatical at the African Resource Centre for Indigenous
Knowledge, in Ibadan, Nigeria, and visiting the Regional
Programme for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge in Asia,
in Silang, the Philippines. The growing number of regional and
national indigenous knowledge resource centres are undertaking
a variety of exciting symposia, workshops and research
projects. Dr. Warren completed two studies that were published
by ARCIK: A Preliminary Analysis of Indigenous Soil
Classification and Management Systems in Four Ecozones of
Nigeria and Strengthening Indigenous Nigerian Organizations
and Associations for Rural Development. The highlight of the
sabbatical was the memorandum of understanding prepared and
signed in Leiden, the Netherlands, by the directors of CIKARD,
CIRAN, and LEAD. This resulted in the Centre for International
Research and Advisory Networks committing itself to assuming
responsibility for the new Indigenous Knowledge and
Development Monitor and to preforming other important global
network functions.

CIKARD associates have been active. Dr. Kristin Cashman has
left for India to work with Dr. Anil Gupta and his associates.
She and B. Rajasekaran gave presentations on indigenous
knowledge at the International Fertilizer Development Centre
in September l992. Mr. Rajasekaran is completing his
dissertation on indigenous agricultural knowledge systems in
South India. His study is based on data collected while he was
a research associate at the Swaminathan Foundation in Madras.
Global, annotated bibliographies are being prepared on
indigenous soil classification and management systems by Roman
Pawluk; on indigenous animal breeding and management systems
by Tracy Slaybaugh-Mitchell; and on gender issues relating to
indigenous knowledge by Kristine Schwebach. Anthony Willett is
the latest doctoral student to join CIKARD as an associate,
bringing with him a wealth of international development
experience. Through support from the Canadian International
Development Agency, Rebecca Saul has joined CIKARD as a
visiting associate from the University of Alberta.
Dr. Warren had the honour of presenting the keynote address at
the International Symposium on Conservation of Biodiversity in
Africa, held in Nairobi in August l992. His topic was
'Indigenous knowledge, conservation of biodiversity, and
development'. He also represented CIKARD at two events
conducted by the Regional Programme for the Promotion of
Indigenous Knowledge in Asia: a workshop on 'Indigenous
Knowledge for Sustainable Development in the Philippines',
held in June 1992 and sponsored by the Ford Foundation, and an
'International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and
Sustainable Development', held in September 1992 and sponsored
by IDRC/Singapore. Dr. Warren also took part as facilitator
and participant in a seminar on 'Indigenous Knowledge and
Sustainable Development', which was conducted at the
headquarters of the International Development Research Centre
in Ottawa in October l992.

CIKARD News has been absorbed into the new, larger Monitor.
This puts all of the centres on an equal footing. We have
enjoyed working with our partner centres in the Netherlands,
Nigeria, the Philippines, Mexico, Indonesia, Ghana, and Kenya,
and look forward to working with the new centres soon to be
established.

C I R A N

The Centre for International Research and Advisory Networks
(CIRAN) is a new centre. It was established in January 1992
and operates under the auspices of the Netherlands
Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education
(Nuffic). Although a substantial portion of Nuffic activities
are funded by the Netherlands government, Nuffic is not a
government agency; neither is CIRAN. CIRAN gets its annual
budget from Nuffic. According to new Nuffic regulations, all
funds allocated to Nuffic centres and departments are seed
money, intended for starting up activities that will soon
become self-supporting.

CIRAN joined the international IK network in May 1992. In a
memorandum of understanding signed by their directors, CIKARD,
LEAD and CIRAN express the intention to work together to
stimulate the international network. CIRAN's main job is to
manage the information system of the global network, and thus
to foster the network's goals. These goals, at the global
level, are:
(a) to stimulate research on indigenous knowledge;
(b) to disseminate and apply research findings;
(c) to improve world-wide cooperation in IK research;
(d) to establish a platform for discussing research
priorities, research methodology and new research initiatives;
(e) to promote the use of IK systems for national development.

In keeping with its task of managing the international
network's information systems, CIRAN is planning the following
activities for the years to come:
(1) to publish the Indigenous Knowledge & Development Monitor;
(2) to establish a database for the field of IK and
development which includes a worldwide directory of persons
and institutions working in the field;
(3) to explore the possibility of improving communication and
information exchange within the IK community through the use
of electronic mail.

The first issue of Indigenous Knowledge & Development Monitor
is now a fact. As explained elsewhere in the journal, the
Monitor is an instrument that enables the international IK
community to exchange information that goes beyond reporting
facts. The Monitor offers a platform for debate on what the
concept and the content of IK mean for development.
Representatives of various disciplines are invited to share
their IK-related experience with others. This is why you can
expect subsequent issues of the Monitor also to contain
articles that deal with the content of IK. CIRAN will also
publish special issues of the Monitor.

CIRAN could start its public activities only after August
1992. The IDRC-funded international conference on 'Indigenous
Knowledge and Development', held in Silang, the Philippines,
in September 1992, could not have been better timed. It
offered CIRAN the opportunity to present itself to the
international IK community. CIRAN was represented in Silang by
Guus von Liebenstein and Gerard van Westrienen, who told the
conference participants about the role of CIRAN as facilitator
for the international IK network and about the activities
planned for the years to come. From the 5th to the 7th of
October Guus von Liebenstein was present as a resource person
at the brainstorming session organised by IDRC at its
headquarters in Ottawa. The session in Ottawa was one in a
series of gatherings either organised or funded by IDRC and
dealing with the role of IK in development. IDRC is still in
the process of deciding how best to incorporate IK into the
Centre's development programmes now that it has become an
Agenda 21 Organization.

If you would like more information on CIRAN and its
activities, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are eager
to hear any suggestions you may have regarding the Monitor,
the database or electronic-mail communication.

L E A D

In 1986, the Leiden Ethnosystems And Development Programme
(LEAD) was established at the Institute of Cultural and Social
Studies of Leiden University in the Netherlands. The
programme receives strong support both from the institute and
from Leiden University's Office for International Cooperation.
Its purpose is to help develop a new field: Indigenous
Knowledge Systems Theory and Practice, in which students and
staff will study, document and analyze systems of knowledge
and technology specific to particular ethnic communities, and
seek to incorporate these systems into a fundamentally new
paradigm of sustainable development.
Research projects have begun in several sectors. The projects
include 'Ethnomedicine and Primary Health Care in Ethiopia',
'Indigenous herbal medicine (Jamu) in Indonesia', 'Farming
systems and innovation in Ivory Coast', 'Low-cost housing in
Senegal', 'Indigenous artisans', 'Technology development in
India', 'Ethno-ecology in Indonesia', 'Local administration in
Java', 'Market systems in Cameroon'; 'Demographic development
in Sri Lanka', 'Indigenous agricultural knowledge systems in
Kenya', 'Primary health care in Ghana', and 'Local credit
unions in Ghana'.

The LEAD Programme, which is chaired by Dr. L. Jan
Slikkerveer, officially joined the CIKARD Global Network on
Indigenous Knowledge and Development in 1987. Since then, LEAD
has worked closely with the group in Ames, Iowa, to help
produce CIKARD NEWS and a variety of monographs dealing with
indigenous knowledge. The Programme has similarly contributed
to development activities based on indigenous knowledge in
Kenya and Indonesia. These include the establishment, in
collaboration with Dr. Richard E. Leakey, of the Kenyan
Resource Center for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK) at the
National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi. The Programme is also
supporting the efforts of the new Indonesian Resource Center
for Indigenous Knowledge (INRIK) at the Universitas
Padjadjaran in Bandung, Indonesia. This work is in
collaboration with Dr. Kusnaka Adimihardja. Recently, LEAD was
approached by Dr. Jane Goodall to collaborate in a research
project entitled 'Roots and Shoots', which is focussed on
indigenous knowledge and wildlife conservation, mainly of
chimpanzee communities, in Gombe, Tanzania.

LEAD has been engaged since 1987 in formal cooperation with
the University of Crete (Greece) and the University of
Edinburgh (Scotland). The joint programme is funded from the
ERASMUS Programme of the European Commission in Brussels. It
involves education and fieldwork training for exploring
indigenous knowledge systems theory and practice, particularly
in rural Crete and in Sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, the
LEAD Programme has recently received funds and electronic
equipment from Philips Medical Systems (The Netherlands) and
from UNESCO (Paris) for a multi-disciplinary project on
indigenous agricultural knowledge systems in Kenya, East
Africa. The project has been officially acknowledged as a
World Decade for Cultural Development (WDCD) Project.

More recently, as LEAD has come to occupy a more central
position -nationally and internationally- in the study and
analysis of indigenous knowledge systems in the context of
sustainable development in various sectors, social scientists
have been joined in the Programme by biologists, ecologists,
soil scientists, veterinarians, physicians, and other natural
scientists. The way is thus being paved for a future
interdisciplinary programme to be known as Indigenous
Knowledge and Sustainable Development in the Tropics. Since
May 1992, the collaboration between LEAD and CIKARD on a
global level has been substantially strengthened by the
cooperation with CIRAN which focusses on the support of the
International IK Network.

LEAD is currently involved in the preparation of the
Pithecanthropus Centennial. This will include an exhibition
and international conference in Leiden from 23 to 28 June
1993, followed later by similar events in Indonesia. The theme
of Pithecanthropus Centennial 1893-1993 will be 'Human
evolution in its ecological context'. (See section
Comunications, Conferences.)

R E P P I K A

The Regional Program for the Promotion of Indigenous Knowledge
in Asia (REPPIKA) was established in 1990 at the International
Institute of Rural Reconstruction in Silang, Cavite, the
Philippines. The programme was designed to support the efforts
of national IK centres in Asia to record, document and utilize
indigenous knowledge. The programme also links these centres
with the global network by:
- providing logistic support;
- facilitating the exchange of information and materials;
- fostering collaboration between projects for recording,
documenting and disseminating IK.

For the last two years, REPPIKA has focused on facilitating
the establishment of the Philippines national resource centre.
It has also conducted training sessions on IK and hosted two
meetings: a workshop on 'Indigenous Knowledge for Sustainable
Development in the Philippines', in June 1992; and an
'International Symposium on Indigenous Knowledge and
Sustainable Development', in September 1992.

In January 1993, Dr. Evelyn Mathias-Mundy will become the new
coordinator of REPPIKA. Up to now the budget of REPPIKA has
been limited. Upon her arrival, the coordinator will meet with
representatives of the Philippines network to set research
priorities (e.g., which inventories should be conducted
first), and to discuss the production of public relations
materials on I.K. and plans for a national workshop.

In March, REPPIKA and the participants in a SEASAN workshop,
to be held at IIRR, will collaborate to produce a resource
book on indigenous agro-forestry in the uplands.

Activities planned for the future include the following:
- extending the network of IK centres in Asia;
- collecting information on projects in the region that have
included IK components, and developing evaluation methods;
- producing information kits on ethnoveterinary medicine and
other topics;
- designing the curriculum for an international course on IK.

A R C I K

In the second half of 1991, the Nigerian Institute of Social
and Economic Research (NISER) formally opened a new unit known
as the African Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge
(ARCIK). ARCIK is engaged in searching, retrieving, storing
and disseminating information on IK systems in the social,
economic, political, cultural and technological life of
African societies. The centre will also give bibliographic
support to people conducting research on Indigenous Knowledge.
In addition, it will actively encourage all NISER staff
members as well as other scholars in Nigeria and elsewhere in
Africa to conduct IK research. The centre will organize
conferences, seminars, workshops and symposia on various
aspects of Nigerian and African IK systems.

ARCIK intends in late 1992 and early 1993 to conduct a series
of workshops for policy-makers, development workers and
researchers on methods for recording indigenous knowledge. The
aim will be to establish the basis for using such knowledge
for participatory approaches to development. The workshops
will be co-sponsored by the Ford Foundation in Nigeria, and by
IDRC in Dakar.

P H I R C S D I K

The Philippine Resource Centre for Sustainable Development and
Indigenous Knowledge (PHIRCSDIK) was established in 1992. For
information on activities and organization, see section
Articles, PHIRSCDIK: Establishing a national IK Resource
centre.

R I D S C A

The Research, Teaching and Service Network for Indigenous
Knowledge (RIDSCA) in Mexico is made up of individuals and
institutions that gather and catalogue data, and document and
disseminate the knowledge, experience and technologies of
peasant farmers. The network's project staff promotes research
and offers training and service for the benefit of projects in
its areas of interest. These include traditional agriculture,
family livestock, local technologies, women's participation,
peasant families' participation, farmers' organizations,
traditional decision-making, and education and extension.

RIDSCA is an activity of CEICADAR (Centro de Ensen~anza,
Investigacio'n, y Capacitacio'n para el Dessarrollo Agri'cola
Regional). CEICADAR recently held a seminar with 31
participants. Sixteen papers were presented on topics that
included local technologies for agricultural production,
technology generation with the participation of farmers, local
technologies for animal production, the role of women in
preserving the farming culture, and agricultural education and
extension. One of the seminar's results was to extend the work
of the Puebla Project to other Mexican states. This involves,
among other things, exhibiting local varieties of corn and
beans at regional level in the states of Oaxaca, Chiapas,
Michoacan and Puebla, and conducting seminars at regional
level where farmers share their knowledge and technologies
with other farmers and with technicians and officials.
Regional corn and bean shows have been an activity of CEICADAR
since 1967. Their continuing popularity confirms the
assumption made in the early days of the Puebla Project: that
peasant farmers are always looking to improve their corn
production. It also confirms research findings concerning the
persistence, strength and validity of the Mesoamerican culture
that supports Mexican peasant agriculture. The annual show in
Puebla brings together some 500 farmers, 150 technicians and
100 officials.

I N R I K

The Indonesian Resource Centre for Indigenous Knowledge
(INRIK) was founded in November 1991. The Centre evolved from
collaboration since 1987 between the Department of
Anthropology, Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD), in Bandung,
Indonesia, and the Leiden Ethnosystems and Development
Programme (LEAD), Leiden University, in the Netherlands. A
memorandum of understanding was signed by representatives of
the two institutions. INRIK operates under the auspices of the
Department of Anthropology of UNPAD.

At the moment INRIK is in the process of establishing a
national IK network in Indonesia, which will incorporate
representatives from various disciplines dealing with IK in
relation to development. For this purpose INRIK is preparing a
meeting with several universities.

Research activities of INRIK itself are at the moment mainly
focused on collecting indigenous knowledge in West Javanese
communities. A bibliography on the subject is being prepared
for publication in early 1993. INRIK was also involved in
research on small family size among local people in West Java;
this research was sponsored by the National Coordinating
Committee for Family Planning (BKKBN). Funds are being sought
for joint INRIK-LEAD research (the Halimun project).

K E N R I K

A memorandum of understanding to establish the Kenya Resource
Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (KENRIK) was signed on the
28th of August 1992 by the National Museums of Kenya (NMK),
Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and the Leiden Ethnosystems and
Development Program (LEAD). This event was preceded by a
number of joint activities. A joint NMK/LEAD pilot study
entitled 'Paleo-ethno-botanical perspectives on indigenous
agricultural knowledge systems in Kenya' was conducted in 1989
with support from Philips Medical Systems. The following year,
an international symposium on 'Indigenous Agricultural
Knowledge Systems in East Africa' was held in Leiden, the
Netherlands. The symposium resulted in a recommendation that
ground be prepared for an NMK centre for the multi-
disciplinary study and documentation of indigenous
agricultural knowledge systems in Kenya. A joint NMK/KWS/LEAD
proposal for such a centre was submitted to donor agencies.
Meanwhile, Philips Medical Systems has kindly donated a
tomographic scanner to facilitate the comparison of plant
remains recovered from archeological sites with present-day
fruits and seeds.

KENRIK will incorporate the Indigenous Food Plants Programme
in its activities. This programme aims to collect indigenous
knowledge on indigenous food plants, to document the
information, and to use the data to contribute to effective
utilization of these plants. It is an example of using
indigenous knowledge for development while at the same time
preserving cultural practices and conserving biodiversity.

The presence of KENRIK at the National Museums of Kenya, where
there is already a Centre for Biodiversity, means that the two
centres will play complementary roles in the study and
utilization of natural resources for sustainable development.
The linkage between indigenous knowledge and biodiversity
conservation was stressed at the 'International Conference on
Conservation of Biodiversity in Africa', which was held at NMK
from 31 August to 3 September, 1992.

G H A R C I K

The Memorandum of Intent establishing the Ghana Resource
Centre for Indigenous Knowledge (GHARCIK) was signed by the
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor
S.K. Adjepong, on November 13, 1991. GHARCIK is placed in the
office of the Dean, School of Agriculture, University of Cape
Coast. The centre aims to collect information on IK for
planning the socio-economic development of Ghana's rural
sector. If funds permit, studies on the following subjects
will be undertaken: traditional medicine and indigenous
diseases; the role of rural women in agriculture and
environment; and indigenous knowledge and the pre-school
education of rural children.

S L A R C I K

In October 1992 a memorandum drawn up by Professor M.
Palihawadana, acting vice-chancellor of the Sri
Jayewardenepura University in Sri Lanka, expressed the
intention to establish the Sri Lanka Resource Centre for
Indigenous Knowledge (SLARCIK). The centre will be housed in
the Department of Geography. An interdisciplinary team of
academics will be appointed as the executive committee of
SLARCIK.

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