Indigenous Knowledge and Development
Monitor, March 1998 Indigenous Knowledge and Development
Monitor, March 1998
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Sustainable development, INDISCO and the global IK network, Huseyin POLAT, ILO-INDISCO Programme Coordinator
According to an ILO
publication, by the year 2020, Planet Earth's population is expected to reach eight
billion. If all of these eight billion individuals desire to join the modern consumer
culture, the pressure on the global environment will be enormous. One point seems
incontrovertible: the nations of the world must re-learn to respect local conditions
rather than try to impose imported development models. Sustainability is the keyword and
it is with the world's indigenous peoples that we have to converse. They are native
to every ecosystem in the world, able to flourish in the most fragile and hostile
environments, and obviously have vital information to give us if we will only listen.
To encourage the world to listen, and to help indigenous peoples in their struggle to preserve their identities and cultural values, the ILO (International Labour Organization) has been engaged in dialogue with indigenous peoples for over 60 years as it has taken part in technical cooperation and aimed to set standards.
In 1993, the ILO launched a special programme, INDISCO, as an inter-regional support mechanism to help indigenous and tribal peoples to strengthen their local organizations and cooperatives. The first link with the global IK network was made in 1994, when CIRAN was asked to suggest an expert who could attend the INDISCO Technical Review Meeting that was held in Chiang Mai (Thailand) in December of that year. CIRAN recommended the Director of CIKARD, Dr D. Michael Warren, and this proved to be an inspired choice. Dr Warren attended the meeting, presented a paper in which he emphasized the importance of the knowledge systems of indigenous peoples, and encouraged the field staff by saying, "The experience that INDISCO has had in strengthening the capacity of indigenous organizations through cooperative structures is of great interest not only to the global network of indigenous knowledge resource centres, but to the broader community of development professionals."
The first actual collaboration dates from 1995, when INDISCO, together with PHIRCSDIK, undertook a study in the Philippines to collect and analyze information about the indigenous knowledge systems and practices of three of the major indigenous groups in the country: the Ifugaos, the Atis, and
the Badjaos (1). This led to the ILO-INDISCO/UNDP Project, which began in 1996; criteria were developed and six indigenous communities in the Philippines were selected for the documentation of indigenous knowledge and practices. The documentalists were local people, preferably belonging to the indigenous communities being studied. It took one year to complete the survey. Project activities included training the local documentalists, making observations and conducting interviews in the field, collecting and analyzing data, and writing reports (2).It is remarkable how instrumental Dr Michael Warren was in creating among the INDISCO partners an appreciation for indigenous knowledge as well as an understanding of how to work with it. Shortly before his sudden death on 28 December 1997, Dr Warren took part in the INDISCO Donor Consultation and Planning Workshop, which was held in New Delhi (India) on 4-8 November 1997. The workshop concluded that all the INDISCO projects in Asia and Central America should incorporate consideration of indigenous knowledge and practices into project activities, in order to save traditional jobs and make the impact of project activities sustainable. During the workshop, Dr Michael Warren recommended activities which would draw the international IK network into the various INDISCO projects and communities. It is hoped that his ideas will prove viable, and that the proposed culture-based IK centres of the INDISCO partners will indeed contribute to achieving sustainable development.
1
The way we live: Indigenous practices of the Ifugaos, Atis and Badjaos of the
Philippines. INDISCO Case study No.3. Geneva: ILO 1996.
2
Indigenous knowledge systems and practices of the Dumagat, Ibaloi, Batangan, Tagbanwa
and Marano Communities in the Philippines. ILO-INDISCO Technical paper 1997
(unpublished).
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