IK Notes http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/default.htm Indigenous Knowledge: the East Africa-South Asia Learning Exchange An Example of South-South Cooperation n March 2002, a multi-sectoral team their struggle to improve their liveli- I of 33 World Bank staff from the Af- rica Region embarked on a learning tour of five East Asian countries — Ja- hoods. For example, farmers have used organic fertilizers to increase soil fer- tility in parts of Asia and Africa for cen- pan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and turies; similarly, local healers have Vietnam — in order to better under- used medicinal plants in India and Tan- stand the Asian development process. zania to treat common human and ani- The main objective of pioneering mal diseases. learning across regions was to enable Many local organizations, institu- staff to provide better quality service tions and communities have a wealth of to clients by helping expand their knowledge of IK practices. However, knowledge of successful development these practices are not disseminated practices, and by enhancing their be- effectively because community-based havioral skills in adapting good prac- organizations lack the capacity to cap- tices from one region to another. ture, document, validate and share Inspired by the success of the pilot them. As a result, IK is underutilized in study tour, the Africa Region embarked the development process, and local No. 55 on an initiative to build cross-regional communities are constrained in their April 2003 partnerships between E. Africa and S. Asia seeking to integrate indigenous IK Notes reports periodically on knowledge and practices into Bank- Indigenous Knowledge (IK) initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa and occasionally supported operations. The aim was to on such initiatives outside the Region. leverage the experience of IK good It is published by the Africa Region’s practices from South Asia into Bank- Knowledge and Learning Center as part of an evolving IK partnership supported projects in East Africa. This between the World Bank, communi- would also help foster new partner- ties, NGOs, development institutions ships for South-South dialogue, coop- and multilateral organizations. The World Bank views expressed in this article are eration and technical assistance. those of the authors and should not be The focus was on indigenous knowl- attributed to the World Bank Group or its partners in this initiative. A edge as it is a key element of the social webpage on IK is available at // capital of the poor, assisting them in www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/ default.htm 2 ability to shape the debate on development priorities and practices. If needed, a common web page for the partnership lack the means to achieve them. To bridge the knowledge will be created to link to project specific information. gap, the Africa Region organized a cross regional IK learning Finding a facilitator. Given the broad range of clients and exchange between East Africa and South Asia. variety of topics to be covered during the exchange, it was The first step was to identify potential projects in South necessary to identify a facilitator to ensure a structured Asia and East Africa that had either already developed effec- learning process during the exchange. The Executive Direc- tive IK components to promote community driven develop- tor, Uganda National Council for Science and Technology ment and those lacking these elements. The purpose was to (UNCST) was selected as an appropriate facilitator. match knowledge-seeking communities with those having Video conference and exchange of information. A video made effective use of their local assets for development. conference was arranged involving all participating clients where specific information on the use of IK (case studies) was presented and discussed. This gave them an opportunity to Proposed activities understand the importance of IK and to voice their opinions The cross-regional partnership is being built in four phases. on what they hoped to get out of the exchange, thereby giv- The first phase will build linkages between the East African ing the organizers an opportunity to design the study tour in and South Asian projects. The second phase will involve a way that met the needs of the clients. A separate video con- learning exposure for project personnel and CBO partners ference was held with the facilitator, to familiarize him with from project communities on actual project sites in India and the planned activities and agree upon a modus operandi. Sri Lanka. The third phase will focus on building capacity for integrating IK into project activities and strengthening coun- Phase II. Learning exposure for EA countries try-level initiatives in the East African projects. The fourth phase will help the projects to continue the partnership for In September 2002, a group of clients (16 development prac- further cooperation and learning. The activities are designed titioners) from Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda, accompanied by in these four phases to emphasize the importance of building 5 Bank staff visited India and Sri Lanka. The participants in- and continuing the partnership rather than merely undertak- cluded project staff from early childhood development and ing study tours. medicinal plants projects, civil society representatives, a tra- ditional healer, a parliamentarian and a minister. The learn- ing exposure comprised of (a) field visits to selected project Phase I. Building linkages sites/communities to understand how the process worked, Mapping exercise. The first activity to be undertaken was to (b) interaction with field functionaries to understand how IK identify nodal persons from each of the participating catalyzed the communities’ environmental and social assets projects and develop shared perceptions on the purpose of into economic gains (c) meetings with three State Chief the initiative and role of the partners. Information and Ministers in India to understand how good governance and guidelines already available on integrating IK and practices leadership have led to relatively sustainable development into project planning and implementation were shared with policies. the projects. Learning through reflection: In addition to discussions Initiating dialogue. Contacts between the various part- with counterparts and visits to project areas in South Asia, ners was initiated and initial information on the initiative the learning exchange included opportunities for the group was exchanged. The use of IT for exchange of information to reflect on their learning through debriefings. This learn- was encouraged. Those projects already having web sites will ing approach, recently pioneered in the Africa Region, in- be encouraged to post IK-related information and the volves video-taped narratives based on open-ended questions progress that has already been made in identifying the IK and designed to distill a “story”. Over 5 debriefings the partici- 3 pants were encouraged to reflect on what they learned, how opment and were keen to test some of these methodologies relevant the learning was in the East African context, and in an African context. In exchange, they also felt that South what adaptation to the observed practices will be needed to Asia could learn from East Africa, particularly from their ef- replicate it in East Africa. The debriefings results were syn- forts to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The key lessons thesized into short video clips that are available on-line on learned and areas for future cross regional cooperation in- the Intranet. clude the following. Ethiopia Phase III. Capacity Building at country level and The Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants strengthening country level initiatives Project seeks to initiate support for the conservation, man- The participants from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia developed agement and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants for Country Action Plans for strengthening the incorporation of human and livestock healthcare in Ethiopia. The Project is IK and practices in their projects and also to share their into its second year of implementation. Project staff visited a learning experiences with other partners in their country similar project on medicinal plants in Sri Lanka that is near such as NGOs and Ministries of Health. The activities will completion. There were a number of lessons learned from involve training and technical support to undertake initia- the Sri Lankan experience that the Ethiopians plan to inte- tives using IK for development and also for networking with grate into their project. These include the legal protection other partners in the country. Each country team focused on of IK and benefit-sharing mechanisms, documentation of IK the following key areas for South-South Cooperation: practices and exchanges of experiences, institutionalization • Partnerships and Networking (mainstreaming IK into de- of traditional medicine, in-situ and ex-situ cultivation of me- velopment policies, documentation and exchange of IK dicinal plants. To this end, the project team intend to con- practices, use of ICTs for rural development) sult IUCN Sri Lanka on the Medicinal Plants Project and the • Cross-Institutional Capacity Building (institutionalization Tropical Botanic Garden Research Institute of India on con- of traditional medicine, collaborative research on medici- servation and benefit-sharing mechanisms. nal plants, policy formulation and resource mobilization) • Policy Level (legal protection of traditional knowledge, Uganda validation of IK practices, integration of IK into ECD pro- The Nutrition and Early Childhood Development Project grams) seeks to improve the growth and development of children • Grassroots (integration of women’s empowerment in all under five years of age, in terms of nutrition, health, psycho- programs, involve communities in project design and social and cognitive aspects. The project is near completion implementation, use ICTs to link communities with mar- and a second phase is in the pipeline. A number of lessons kets) learned from India and Sri Lanka are planned to be inte- • Awareness Raising and Dissemination (seminars to share grated into the new project. These include the integration of South Asian experiences with national stakeholders, inter- IK into ECD policies, integrated approaches to early child- ministerial Meeting to raise IK at the policy level, press hood development, training of care-givers and adolescents in conferences to disseminate experiences to public). integrated ECD services and parenting, use of ICTs for com- munity data collection, documentation and information-shar- The East African delegation felt that South Asia was more ing to improve access to information for decision-making and advanced in several key areas related to the application of market access. In this context, as a follow-up to the Learning indigenous knowledge in early childhood development prac- Exchange, the Minister for Primary Healthcare recently took tices, the conservation of medicinal plants and the use of another official delegation to India and plans to host a re- ICTs for rural development. They were particularly im- gional training workshop in Uganda on traditional medicine. pressed by India and Sri Lanka’s holistic approaches to devel- The Uganda National Council for Science and Technology 4 (UNSCT) is sponsoring a group of IK practitioners to visit In- Client feedback dia and Sri Lanka. UNCST also plans to develop an IK pro- In a client survey, the East African delegation provided the posal for South-South Cooperation, with NASTEC - its coun- following feedback on the study tour: terpart in Sri Lanka. • This is a window of opportunity for opening up institutions to each other’s programs. Kenya • One can see the different options and approaches that can The Early Childhood Development Project seeks to im- be used to implement development activities. prove the quality and education of poor Kenyan households, • Such exchange visits are beneficial in guiding policy objec- with a focus on improved teacher performance and commu- tives and targeting vulnerable groups; and help redirect nity capacity building. The lessons learned from South Asia efforts to move towards holistic approaches towards devel- related to IK and ICTs were similar to the ones mentioned in opment. the Uganda case. The project is in its third year of implemen- • Participants should be selected from multi-sectoral and in- tation and plans to also focus on issues that were being effec- terdisciplinary activities to include legislators, researchers tively tackled in India and Sri Lanka. These include: commu- and community workers. nity empowerment, women self-help groups, income-gener- • There is a need to develop networking for both regions ating activities, microfinance, multi-sectoral approaches to and also between the institutions that have common pro- development and poverty reduction that involve the commu- grams. The East African country teams should organize nity at all levels of planning and implementation. exchange visits among themselves. • Learning experiences once documented and disseminated Phase IV. Continuing linkages for further cooperation to rural communities can strengthen poverty alleviation efforts in each country. The last phase will have activities that will ensure that the partnership is continued beyond the initial exchanges and visit. Two activities are envisaged at this stage: (i) The South Asia and East Africa projects will access and use information on IK already available to them through the web and be part of a regional partnership that builds on IK and people’s par- ticipation; (ii) The participating projects will also put to- gether a newsletter on IK initiatives and participatory M&E. In case more than one project is involved in a country, one of the institutions/projects will be chosen as a nodal agency. This note was written by Siddhartha Prakash. The IK Learning Exchange was jointly conceived and organized by Siddhartha Prakash, Krishna Pidatala and E.V . Shantha. For details contact: Sprakash@worldbank.org or Kpidatala@worldbank.org.