Women & Indigenous Knowledge: a South-South Perspective NotesKI A little over half the world's popula- An understanding of the role of gen- tion are women, whose roles, responsi- der and the way it impacts the intrinsic bilities and potential contribution to value of local knowledge systems is the families and communities place critical to the understanding, interpre- them at the center of locally-manage- tation and dissemination of indigenous able, cost- effective and sustainable knowledge. As a result of this gender development. They are involved in differentiation and specialization, the large numbers in agriculture, food se- indigenous knowledge and skills held http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm curity and traditional medicine all over by women often differ from those held the world. Yet, most development ini- by men, affecting patterns of access, tiatives are still largely geared towards use, and control, while resulting in dif- men, and women remain an over- ferent perceptions and priorities for whelming proportion of the poor. De- the innovation and use of IK. It also velopment projects and government impacts the way in which IK is dissemi- initiatives in South Asia have made nated, documented, and passed on to great strides in recognizing this dispar- future generations. ity and have attempted to address this No. 63 shortcoming. December 2003 Gender dimensions of Indigenous IK Notes reports periodically on Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives Knowledge (IK) in Sub-Saharan Africa and occasionally on such initiatives outside the Region. The gendered nature of IK is often It is published by the Africa Region's overlooked, marginalized or ne- Knowledge and Learning Center as part of an evolving IK partnership glected. While the differences may between the World Bank, communi- tend to be more subtle in industrial ties, NGOs, development institutions countries, the same cannot be said of and multilateral organizations. The World Bank views expressed in this article are developing countries. Information, espe- those of the authors and should not be cially IK-related information, tends to be attributed to the World Bank Group or its partners in this initiative. A viewed, perceived and acted upon differ- webpage on IK is available at // ently by the different genders. www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/ default.htm 2 Cross-regional exchange of women's Indigenous more likely to nurture the needs of the family, they tend to Knowledge be primary practitioners of this indigenous knowledge. Sur- veys have revealed that a vast majority of local folk healers In September 2002, the World Bank Indigenous Knowledge (also called "Naitivaidyas) are women. Economic advance- Program organized a study tour to South Asia, involving ment within a community and urbanization are factors pro- counterparts from three Bank projects in East Africa. During pelling larger numbers of young men in rural areas to mi- the trip to Sri Lanka and India they met women engaged in grate to urban areas. Women are thus becoming responsible all forms of knowledge activities -- as active members of for maintaining indigenous knowledge of traditional medi- their communities with varying roles of innovators, manag- cine in rural areas. ers and leaders. The key to some of the success stories ob- served in South Asia resulted from having women involved in Medicinal plants conservation planning and implementation in projects at the grassroots The team attended a workshop of NGOs involved in the level. conservation of medicinal plants in Chennai, South India. It was interesting to note that women were active in most of Traditional medicine the NGOs which appeared to be among the vanguard of this India has a rich tradition of indigenous medicine -- movement. The Foundation for Revitalization of Local Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Amchi -- besides a vast collec- Health Traditions (FRLHT) is a local NGO that is coordinat- tion of living traditions of ethno-medicine scattered across ing the implementation of a pioneering program for the con- the country. Even today, a large percentage of rural house- servation of medicinal plants by involving women in its in- holds in India utilize home remedies, the recipes of which situ and ex-situ conservation efforts. The team learned that have been handed down from generations. Since women are women (some of whom used to work as daily laborers at con- IK Notes struction sites earning a daily wage of 40 rupees -- less than $1) had been tapped to help with ex-situ and in-situ "Medici- nal Plants" conservation. A gender focused program called would be of interest to: "Kitchen Herbal Garden" (KHG) encourages rural household women to help identify medicinal plants and grow a package Name of fifteen or twenty medicinal plants in their kitchen gardens Institution and use them for appropriate primary health care needs. FRLHTs business model relies on dedicated rural women to Address help revitalize local traditional medicine systems. It is esti- mated that the above activities have benefited more than 36,000 households in South India. Nearly 25 percent of the participating households in the KHG program have added additional medicinal plants to their garden on their own ini- tiative and have also disseminated this knowledge and plants Letters, comments, and requests for publications to their neighboring households. This has a drum-roll effect should be addressed to: as it both raises the awareness of useful medicinal plants and Editor: IK Notes saves on routine medical expenses. Knowledge and Learning Center Africa Region, World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Mailstop J8-811 Food security Washington, D.C. 20433 Women's role in food security is much more multidimen- E-mail: pmohan@worldbank.org sional -- they often preserve biodiversity as they tend to have specialized knowledge of traditional plants / available 3 resources for nutrition and health. In this context, the team and indigenous knowledge stepped up the challenge of visited the NGO-initiated UP Sodic Lands Project near bringing technology to their village. In the small town of Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh. This program aims to reclaim Embalam in South India, women are pivotal in running "Vil- land lost to salinization through the use of locally-mined lage Knowledge Centers" being used by various neighboring mineral `Gypsum'. Other interesting components include villages as well as their own. This initiative not only enables the use of integrated pest management based upon local women to educate themselves further but also serves as a knowledge. Women appear to play a major part in the use of platform to learn more about local diseases and treatments. IK related to cattle as they are the ones who mostly collect Women were able to find other women doctors or read about fodder for cattle, milk them and collect, dry and use cow certain ailments not only with reference to their immediate dung for energy purposes. Women also play a vital role in families but also relating to their farms and agricultural is- post-harvest operations and storage of grains. The team sues. learned about the wide-spread incorporation of IK practices The team visited several project sites related to the "Infor- such as threshing (use of wooden sticks, spreading the ear- mation Village Research Project" in Pondicherry supported heads on roads, use of bullocks), winnowing (use of broom- by the MS Swaminthan Research Foundation (MSSRF) which sticks), cleaning (use of sieves), drying, storage and pest emphasizes an integrated pro-poor, pro-women, pro-nature control methods (use of neem leaves). The project, while orientation to development and community ownership of rich in use of villagers' indigenous knowledge of the lands technological tools. Most of the operators and volunteers at and minerals was a critical factor in the empowerment of the these "Village Knowledge Centers" were women. Advan- local women. Using participatory community planning, the tages for women have a far-reaching effect because "when women are involved from the grassroots level up helping women derive benefit, the whole family derives benefit". them to not only understand and run the project effectively These Village Knowledge Centers provide a host of value but also giving them a platform for personal and economic added services such as providing weather and wave forecasts development. Through the use of joint land ownership, mi- and conditions to fishing villages, information on govern- cro planning and resource mobilization women have been ment schemes about housing loans, eye camps, bus sched- able to become more financially independent which contrib- ules, market access to women's self-help groups, doctors ad- utes to more stable family situations. dresses, insurance, herbal remedies and employment oppor- tunities. The Village Knowledge Center at Embalam also ap- Information communications technology (ICT) peared to be a support platform that enabled local women to Opportunities for connecting IK and global knowledge us- disseminate IK as well as IK products -- such as traditional ing the vehicle of modern science and technology abound. In medicines. Sri Lanka, women utilize information technology to capture, store and disseminate IK by digitally photographing centu- Early childhood development (ECD) ries-old palm-leaf manuscripts containing information on The team visited the "Child Development Center" (CDC) "traditional medicine" and storing them on computers. in Kerala to learn about the application of indigenous knowl- Without a climate-controlled environment, these manu- edge in Early Childhood Development (ECD). In the context scripts deteriorate rapidly over time. This initiative (a) en- of childhood disability, CDC has placed emphasis on early sured that this body of knowledge is preserved for future detection and intervention rather than relying primarily on generations; (b) has the potential for cost-effective dissemi- rehabilitation services. Early stimulation programs involving nation; and (c) allows access to a larger body of interested IK were demonstrated that appeared to be effective in im- researchers for validation. proving the developmental status of "low birth weight" In India, this access to ICT enabled women to empower (LBW) babies. IK practices involved the use of validated themselves and improve the quality of their lives at various simple tools for detecting developmental delay within the levels. Women who are traditionally the custodians of local community. This integration of IK practices made it possible 4 to provide community- level workers with simple assessment · Battling HIV/AIDS. Interestingly one major lesson that the tools that also served as vehicles for providing early therapy African team wished to impart to the teams and NGOs on services to children with disabilities. their trip to India and Sri Lanka was how to deal with the epidemic of HIV/AIDS. Although the AIDS pandemic in South Asia is not near the levels it has reached in Africa, Cross-regional exchange: Knowledge adaptation there are mitigatory models that can be adopted from Af- Developmental approaches in Africa seem to focus mainly on rica. Women are not only agents of change, but also pur- the introduction of modern knowledge systems by replacing veyors of information and knowledge in this regard. In- traditional or indigenous knowledge. This has not proved formed women educate their families and their extended very effective as it is based upon the "concept of substitu- families and fighting HIV/AIDS through informed women tion" and tends to reject traditional values, which are nor- could be a powerful tool. Informing women in the local mally the main social asset of the poor. Enhancement and communities about traditional medicines for alleviating or sustainability of developmental initiatives can be enhanced treating the symptoms of AIDS is often effective, espe- by building upon traditional values that have been identified cially since the majority of people in Africa still go to or and validated as being beneficial. In this context, the follow- can only afford traditional healers. ing are some adaptations concerning women that the team · Innovations in ECD. In Sub-Saharan Africa, women contrib- identified at the conclusion of their "Learning & Exchange ute 60­80 percent of the labor in both food production in- tour" to Sri Lanka and India : tended for household consumption and/or sale. However, · Bottom-up approach. Increasingly involve women in a par- women's role in food security is multidimensional. Women ticipatory fashion, where they can provide inputs into the also often preserve biodiversity as they tend to have spe- way a project is being designed and implemented ; Instead cialized knowledge of traditional plants / available re- of simply giving communities projects and programs that sources for nutrition and health. In India, the team saw this will `help' them -- involve women in the project cycle at in the innovative way women cared for their children. Dur- an early stage. This ensures that women of a community ing visits to ECD centers, there were many different ways will take personal interest and responsibility in making in which women not only taught but also provided food and those programs work and reach the identified objectives. nutrition to babies and children. As one African counter- part remarked "We may not be able to afford using slates for our children, but we can certainly afford to use IK to help them in the process of learning, growing and socialization." This note was written by Krishna Pidatala and Aisha Rahman Khan. For more information, please contact Krishna Pidatala or Aisha Rahman Khan. Their addresses are: World Bank, 1818 H. Street NW, Washington D.C. 20433. Tel. Nos.: (202)-473-7353 and (202)-473-8281. Email addresses : kpidatala@worldbank.org or Akhan1@worldbank.org