Indigenous Knowledge and Development
Monitor, July 1998 Indigenous Knowledge and Development
Monitor, July 1998
Contents IK Monitor 6(2) | IKDM Homepage | Suggestions to: ikdm@nuffic.nl | (c) copyright Nuffic-CIRAN and contributors 1998.
CIKSAP
The Centre for Indigenous Knowledge Systems and By-Products (CIKSAP) was established in Kenya in 1994, in order to improve the livelihoods of the rural and urban poor. CIKSAP recognizes that indigenous/local knowledge is based upon religious, philosophical and cultural concepts and principles which are in harmony with the natural environment. Indigenous communities are custodians of vast storehouses of traditional knowledge, skills and expertise. CIKSAP seeks ways to work together with communities in order to tap that knowledge, and to utilize it to create self-sustaining habitats.
In an effort to achieve this goal, the centre envisions such initiatives as the establishment of a database of indigenous knowledge systems and by-products; an evaluation of the potential of indigenous knowledge systems and by-products in rural development; the development of appropriate indigenous knowledge systems and by-products; schemes to educate grassroots communities; the exchange of information; collaboration and networking with related institutions and/or individuals.
CIKSAP has set up three community-based, on-farm research sites where village communities participate in activities related to poverty alleviation, gender, policy, and the conservation of biodiversity. The latter project is linked to the Community Biodiversity Development and Conservation programme (CBDC), a global network with partners in 14 countries throughout Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
For more information, please contact:
Monica Opole, Co-ordinator CIKSAP,
P.O. Box 66344, Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel.: +254-2-448 150.
Fax: +254-2-444 424.
E-mail: ciksap@nb.net.co.ke
GREEN Africa-Network
Global Renewable Energy and Environmental Conservation Network-Africa is a new organization normally referred to by the acronyms GREEN Africa-Network and GAN.
The ‘energy’ referred to in the name is not limited to the conventional connotation, but also denotes the diversity inherent in our quest for the sustainable use of exhaustible resources.
The idea behind this organization was first mooted in 1996, and it was accredited as an NGO in December 1997. GREEN Africa is registered under the NGO Council, an umbrella organization of all Kenyan NGOs.
GREEN Africa is committed to research, training and policy development using environmentally sound science and technology aimed at sustainable development in Africa. GAN’s activities are currently focused on research and field activities limited to Kenya. However, a gradual expansion to the continental and global levels is envisaged through active networking.
One of GREEN Africa’s activities is the Community-based integrated health and ecosystem management project in rural Kenya. This project focuses on ‘indoor ecology’, which studies the link between the human environment and the life cycles of plants and animals that flourish in the disturbed ecosystem. It is designed to foster the sustainable exploitation of non-timber forest products and the conservation of natural forest biodiversity and ecosystems.
Another clear example is GAN’s Ethnomedicinals project, which would not be possible without the involvement of local community members and traditional healers. The project aims to tap this rich source of knowledge, blend it with modern science and technology and develop commercially viable medicinal products that will also improve the living standard of the local population.
As regards energy, GREEN Africa is committed to harnessing natural energy sources (solar, wind and biomass), in order to improve the socioeconomic situation of the population, especially in rural areas, while maintaining the environmental sustainability.
In all its activities, GAN recognizes, appreciates and seeks to strengthen the role of indigenous knowledge. In GREEN Africa’s field station in Rachuonyo District, lessons from the community are combined with advanced science and technology, in an effort to formulate workable solutions to local problems and needs.
Readers of the Indigenous Knowledge and Development Monitor are invited to join GREEN Africa’s volunteers with project teams, whose operational field modalities are currently being developed. GREEN Africa would also appreciate any assistance with information technology equipment, to help promote the strategic role of environmental responsibility through sustainability.
GAN is planning to publish a newsletter, GAN Forum, which will appear within the next three months.
For further information, please contact:
Dr Hellen A. Oketch-R, Programmes Director,
GREEN Africa Network,
P.O. Box 58396,
Nairobi, Kenya.
Tel.: +254-2-717 510.
E-mail: heoketch@africaonline.co.ke
IIED Resource Centre
In the past ten years the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has gathered a huge amount of authoritative information on participation and environmental planning. In 1996, IIED established a Resource Centre in order to collect and make accessible exisiting and new information on participatory approaches from around the world, with the emphasis on Africa, Asia and South America.
The IIED Resource Centre houses the following specialist collections of materials: the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) collection; the International Environmental and Natural Resource Assessment Information Service (INTERAISE) collection, the IIED archive; and a recent addition, the Community Wildlife Management (CWM) collection. Through the resource centre, IIED and a network of resource centres around the world have made it their goal to close the gap between the demand for reliable information and training support and the capacity to supply it.
The PLA collection presently includes more than 1500 documents, mainly unpublished literature from various sectors and disciplines.
The INTERAISE collection includes two categories of documents:
- national conservation strategies, environmental profiles and action plans, sustainable development strategies and related documents from all over the world;
- mpact assessment guidelines from governments and agenciesall over the world, and similar documents which provide information on the environment and natural resource bases, including statistical material and regional and national charts and maps.
The CWM collection was established as part of the Evaluating Eden project, a global collaborative research project aimed at exploring the myths and realities of community-based wildlife management. Currently it has around 700 documents, including material in Spanish and Portuguese.
The IIED Resource Centre offers document delivery services, with free delivery of material to non-OECD countries (OECD: Organization for Economic Cooperaton and Development), subject to copyright clearance for the documents in question.
The Resource Centre may also be visited (on appointment only; priority given to users from outside the UK). Visitors are urged to keep sending reports of their individual field experiences with the use of participatory methodologies; these can be added to the PLA collection, thus increasing its vitality and relevance.
For more information, contact:
Paola Barbarino, information manager/librarian, IIED,
3 Endsleigh Street,
London WC1H 0DD, UK.
Tel.: +44-171-388 2117.
Fax: +44-171-388 2826.
E-mail: resource.centre@iied.org
Or visit our web site on http://www.iied.org/resource/ Here, the catalogues for the PLA and CWM collections are now online available.
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