Resource Centres


ARCIK ARCIK is currently working on proposals in two subjects. The activities being considered include research, workshops, and conferences or seminars. The subjects are:

• achieving sustainable development and reducing rural poverty through community-based resource management;
• the role of communities in the management and conservation of resources in Nigeria.

CIKARD Joining Dr Siaka Kroma as visiting scholars at CIKARD this spring semester are Professor Balanle Wahab and Dr Christine Keneally. Professor Wahab is director of the IK Study Group at the Polytechnic in Ibadan, Nigeria, and is guest lecturer at Iowa State University's Department of Community and Regional Planning. Dr. Keneally is an Australian who has just completed a PhD in Linguistics at Cambridge University. Ms Blythe Burkhardt, President of the Student Society for IK and Development at Iowa State University, has just received an International Rotary Fellowship to spend the next academic year as a graduate student at the University of Ibadan, where she will work with Dr Layi Egunjobi, director of the university's IK Study Group, on projects involving IK and education policy. CIKARD has just received a grant from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH Minority International Research Training Program) which will enable Dr D.M. Warren and a group of students (Willie Bass, Andrea Flores, Tyra Hendershot, Aranthan Jones II, Marilynda Lewis, and Solskin Gomezz-Krogh) to spend three months at the University of Ibadan. The group will conduct research on indigenous Yoruba therapeutic systems, with Dr Egunjobi and Dr Wahab serving as local co-coordinators. The proposed research will build on that conducted last summer on the same subject and published in monograph form. (See the Monitor of December 1996.) Results of last summer's research will be presented at the annual meeting of the Iowa Academy of Science in April. CIKARD research associates are continuing their efforts to develop teaching modules based on indigenous knowledge case studies that reflect indigenous approaches to science and technology. Dr Warren and Dr Wahab will give a presentation at Illinois State University on April 18 under the title 'The role of indigenous knowledge in facilitating science education'. They will demonstrate teaching modules in health science (Bono therapeutics in Ghana) and environmental science (Yoruba natural resource management in Nigeria; Yoruba environmental health and settlement planning in Nigeria).

CIKIB CIKIB, in collaboration with the Institute of Ethnobiology, was engaged in various activities in 1996. The centre published a book entitled 'Ethnobiology in human welfare', which appeared as Proceedings IV ICE (519 pp.). Three ongoing projects were continued: 'Comparative ethnobotany of India and Latin America: search for underutilised bioresources' (CSIR, India), by Dr R.L.S. Sikarwar; 'Comparative studies in diversity, ethnobotany and conservation of Grewia optiva in India and Nepal' (IPGRI, Italy), by Dr Sneh Lata, and 'Endeavour of folk women of Karguan (Jhansi) to save natural vegetal cover' (Rainforest Alliance, USA). Preparation of another project neared completion: 'Ethnobiological working plan in M.P.'. The first steps were taken to create a network and database on the subject of Indian bioresources and related IK. It is being designed to link up with the IK network connected with the IK Monitor and facilitated by CIRAN in the Netherlands. Two young researchers received financial support in 1996. CIKIB offers consulting services and is willing to engage in joint research on reasonable, mutually agreed terms. Research is possible in the following subjects:

• Indian flora: a full botanical profile of any plant in India; taxonomic and phytogeographic data; descriptions of species that provide the means of subsistence of any people or in any region of India; data on the status of threatened plant species.
• Native bioresources in relation to the socio-economic status of any people or folk in India.

CIKPREM CIKPREM pursues the general objectives of promoting, retrieving, documenting, disseminating and integrating indigenous knowledge in its three special areas: population, resources and environment. It does this through research, conferences, publications and collaboration with people involved in the field. During 1996 CIKPREM was engaged in the following specific activities. Because CIKPREM had not accumulated enough funds of its own to sponsor or undertake empirical research in its areas of interest, it concentrated its efforts on generating relevant research topics which it then assigned to members. The centre also organized members into research teams for the drafting of research proposals for submission to potential sponsors. Three research topics were generated and assigned: 'Indigenous mechanisms for resolving land disputes in the Nsukka area' (J.C. Okeibunor); 'Traditional systems of social support for ageing in Nigeria' (Ms U.O. Okoye); and 'Indigenous mechanisms for population management and control in Nigeria' (Prof. D.S. Obikeze and others). These projects are at various stages of implementation and the researchers gladly welcome suggestions and an exchange of ideas on these topics. The centre also prepared a formal proposal for research on 'Population pressure and inter/intra community conflicts in South Eastern Nigeria', which will be used to solicit funds. In collaboration with SEMA, a firm of consultants, CIKPREM conducted a workshop on conflict management for agents of change in the Nsukka/Enugu area. The workshop took place on 18 and 19 July 1996. It was sponsored by CIKARD and attended by Dr Noa Davenport, coordinator of Iowa State University, and some 30 people drawn from all segments of society in rural and urban areas of Nsukka and Enugu. It was concluded that there is a need to integrate Western and indigenous African systems of conflict management and control. The centre promoted and facilitated the publication of articles and reports based on research conducted by members of the centre. The centre has received inquiries, correspondence, and requests from other IK centres as well as from researchers and students in various countries. These communications and the exchange of ideas are very welcome. The main problems faced by CIKPREM last year were poor communications facilities and a lack of research funds. The University of Nigeria, where the centre is located, does not have e-mail or Internet access yet. The centre hopes that these constraints to an easy flow of information will be overcome in 1997.

CIRAN Those of you who have visited our site on the Internet (http://www.nuffic.nl/ciran) may have noticed that the management of the international indigenous knowledge network of 3000 persons in 130 countries is only one of CIRAN's activities. As agreed at the international conference 'Indigenous knowledge and sustainable development', CIRAN will continue to support the international IK network by facilitating the exchange of information between the members of the network. Our major concern in the first two and a half months of 1997 was to publish volume 5, nr. 1, of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor on time despite the fact that the editor, Ms Anna van Marrewijk, is on pregnancy leave until April 1997. This issue has therefore been edited by a temporary replacement, Ms Madelinde Winnubst. We were very lucky to find Ms Winnubst available to do the editing and all the other work involved in producing an issue of the Monitor. As you may have concluded yourself, she has done a great job as acting editor. As part of its role of facilitating the exchange of information, CIRAN recently began offering a new service to the international IK network. This has been to develop a World Wide Web homepage specifically for indigenous knowledge. The objectives of this project are:

• to create a central point of entry on the Internet which enables users to access various secondary sources of information on local or indigenous knowledge;
• to make specific search tools available for retrieving and accessing the primary sources of information on local knowledge that are available on the Internet;
• to create facilities that will make the IK homepage accessible to more persons and organizations in the South;
• to stimulate North-South and South-South interaction and cooperation.

ELLRIK ELLRIK is mainly interested in the IK systems which can be found in Greece, particularly in Crete. The centre was established in 1996 under the encouragement of LEAD and its chairman, Dr L.J. Slikkerveer. The initiative was based on the extensive collaboration that has taken place over the last eight years between LEAD, the Department of Social and Family Medicine of the University of Crete, and the Spill Health Centre. The health centre and the medical school have been working together closely in the fields of medical anthropology, sociology, social medicine and primary health care. Collaboration involves both research and training, and has been possible through grants from the Erasmus programme of the European Union. It is expected to continue under the Socrates programme. Another successful research project began in 1994, the result of collaboration between the two institutions and the Mediterranean Agronomic Institution of Chania, Crete. A number of articles and reports have appeared in national journals. The proceedings of the Dutch-Greek symposium which was held in Crete in 1992 are now in print. The types of indigenous knowledge in which ELLRIK is interested include the following:

• traditional medicine: methods and materials used in traditional and ancient Greek medicine; the use of Cretan herbs; and the indigenous technology used by traditional healers;
• ecology and management of natural resources, including those associated with indigenous technology;
• agricultural development, forestry and zoology;
• olk art and handicrafts.

LEAD One phase of field research in the Kitui District of Kenya and in the Mount Halimun area of Indonesia was concluded at the end of 1996. The research was conducted as part of the INDAKS project, the full name of which is 'Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge Systems for Sustainable Agriculture in Developing Countries: Towards an Alternative Approach for Food Shortage Reduction in Kenya and Indonesia'. The project is being carried out by a consortium made up of LEAD, KENRIK, INRIK, and MAICH R&T. The phase recently completed involved qualitative anthropological/ethno-scientific and agro-ecological research in preparation for household surveys. As further preparation for the final surveys, two workshops were held: at KENRIK in November 1996 and at INRIK in December 1996. Here the specific research methodology for the quantitative surveys was refined. The next step, soon to be completed, is to design the computer model and the definitive questionnaire. After that, surveys will be conducted in both areas and data will be analysed and compared. Since the early phases of the project required more time than initially expected, the project will probably be extended until July 1997. Under the auspices of the Inter-University Cooperation Programme between Universitas Padjadjaran, in Bandung, and Leiden University, two staff members of LEAD participated in the INDAKS workshop in December, and visited the research team working in the field. At the same time, a video documentary of the INDAKS project was recorded in Halimun. In January 1997, within the framework of the MEDUSA steering committee, LEAD helped to conduct a workshop to examine the progress being made within the network for the identification, conservation and use of wild plants in the Mediterranean countries. The members of the steering committee are Dr Y. Barkoudah (IPGRI-WANA), Mr P. Griffee (FAO, Rome), Prof. V. Heywood (University of Reading, IUCN, ICMAP, DIVERSITAS), Dr A. Nikolaidis (CIHEAM-MAICH), Ms M. Skoula (CIHEAM-MAICH) and Dr L.J. Slikkerveer (LEAD). The committee met with representatives of Kew Gardens (UK) and ETI (Amsterdam) to discuss the design of the MEDUSA database. During the workshop, the committee was invited by Prof.Dr P. Baas, Director of the Rijksherbarium/Hortus Botanicus of Leiden University, to visit the Van Steenis building in Leiden. The Rijksherbarium recently moved to this new building, which also houses the famous Rijksherbarium collection, including the Flora Malesiana.

VERSIK VERSIK was created in 1993. It is one of the programmes carried out by the Center for Tropical Alternative Agriculture and Sustainable Development (CATADI), which is accommodated in the University of the Andes, N(cleo 'Rafael Rangel', Trujillo, Estado Trujillo. The main objective of VERSIK is to document, study and apply the local agricultural systems of peasant communities in the region for the purpose of achieving sustainable development. Since VERSIK's creation, most work has been concentrated in the following areas: peasant management of the major crops and animals; the management and conservation of soil; and farmers' experimentation. A project on the role of gender in local knowledge systems recently got underway. All projects are carried out by students. Thus far, the scale of the projects has been relatively small because external funding has been so scarce. Local knowledge systems cannot be considered as separate from other factors that influence the development process in a rural community. For this reason, VERSIK is seeking funds for a holistic, participatory, rural-development project in which local knowlege systems play a central role. The project will be carried out in three important communities in the state of Trujillo, all of which are populated by farmers with scarce resources. Some of these farmers grow only subsistence crops and others combine these crops with dual-purpose cattle. The project's main aims will be to improve the food supply and income of local families, and to make the best use of existing resources--human as well as material. More specifically, the project's objectives are:

• to promote the traditional use and conservation of local edible plants, and to recover the rapidly disappearing knowledge associated with them;
• to actively involve all family members throughout the entire development process. Women play a key role in the project, which also includes work with children (inside and outside the school) and the elderly.
• to create a small rural bank.

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