Integrating IK in Bank-supported Projects

Over the past few years, IK-related activities have increasingly been (or are being) integrated in the design of more than two-dozen Bank-supported operations. These include the following:

Ethiopia Women's Development Initiatives Project (WDIP) has incorporated income generation strategies derived from micro-credit schemes based on the success of the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in India.

Ethiopia Information Communications Technology for Development (ICTAD). At this stage it is planned to have IK-related activities in the Health and Agricultural Sectors. Local content development will be another focus. ICTAD will assist the government of Ethiopia to develop standards for computer based scripts for some major Ethiopian languages. This will help to disseminate and share local knowledge.

Guinea Multi-Country AIDS Program (MAP): The project seeks to organize and train traditional healers on HIV/AIDS practices, while supporting the treatment of opportunistic infections using traditional medicine. The IK program sponsored a consultant to help integrate IK into the MAP. During a supervision mission the consultant identified the activities related to traditional medicine undertaken to-date by the National AIDS committee and assessed their impact on the ground. The consultant also ensured that IK was included into the project's monitoring and evaluation system.

Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) II & III: Indigenous knowledge will play a greater role in the implementation of MASAF III. Utilizing IK can help MASAF to empower communities through valuation of their knowledge, assist MASAF in the Information, Education and Communication by building on traditional means of communication, or to better target activities. For example, customary law and practices could be instrumental to target land allocation activities. Activities related to food security and nutrition can build on the development of underutilized, indigenous crops and their processing, to better prepare for food emergencies. MASAF plans to produce a resource kit to guide development workers on how to integrate IK into MASAF.

Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF): The Community Reconciliation and Conflict Management Component (CRCM) of NUSAF component aims to integrate indigenous knowledge into its operations. While most IK integration efforts concentrate on herbal medicine, nutrition, agriculture or natural resource management, NUSAF aims to utilize the skills and knowledge of communities, elders or traditional leaders to prevent or manage conflict, to reconcile during post-conflicts and heal disrupted societies. NUSAF plans to produce a resource kit to guide development workers on how to integrate IK into NUSAF.

Agricultural Research and Training Project (ARTP) II, Uganda: The project builds on IK practices in agriculture to make them part of the outreach program. The IK related activities of the project support the transfer of relevant technologies and improved cultural practices to farmers' field to promote their adoption. The use of small farm implements designed for the smaller cattle of Uganda is an example of these practices.

Multi-Sectoral AIDS Project, Burundi: The project will encourage access to and use of appropriate indigenous knowledge and practices that have been shown to work in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The IK component will expand the capacity of extended families and local communities to cope with HIV/AIDS and to provide support for people infected or affected with HIV/AIDS.

Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project, Ethiopia: The Project seeks to initiate support for the conservation, management and sustainable utilization of medicinal plants for human and livestock healthcare. The IK component will support the development of methods to collect, analyze and interpret quantitative data on the socio-economic benefits derived from medicinal plants. Ethno-medical surveys will explore the utilization of medicinal plants and traditional healthcare practices for the prevention of HIV/AIDS and the mitigation of the adverse impact of the disease.

Northern Savanna Biodiversity Conservation (NSBC) Project, Ghana: The Project seeks to improve the environment, livelihood and health of communities through the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, including medicinal plants and agro-biodiversity. The global objective is to assist in the maintenance of the medicinal plants supply through conservation and cultivation and to preserve knowledge of their use in the home by women, healers and pastoralists. In addition funds will be provided to strengthen and upgrade the Ministry of Health's Traditional Medicine Directorate.

8 Natural Resource Management Projects in Africa plan to build on local knowledge including tangible knowledge (e.g., traditional medicinal plants and extractive resources) and intangible knowledge (e.g., mediation and consensus building strategies for NRM and shared use of environmental resources).

Karnataka Watershed Development Project (KWDP) initiated community exchanges within India and Sri Lanka to learn about local watershed development practices. The project has incorporated organic farming, medicinal plants cultivation and income generation activities.

Sri Lanka Conservation and Sustainable Use of Medicinal Plants Project has documented ancient medicinal knowledge in a community owned database; promoted the in situ conservation and cultivation of medicinal plants in local home gardens; mainstreamed IK through putting in place effective marketing techniques for herbal remedies derived from medicinal plants; transcribed ancient palm leaf manuscripts that contain information on diseases and their diagnosis, as well as prescriptions into Sinhalese; established a program to enable the bearers of traditional knowledge, community elders, to transfer their skills to selected acolytes; and created a legal and institutional framework for the protection of traditional knowledge, through the development of a National Biodiversity Strategy.

Kerala Forestry Project in India seeks to improve the quality of life and self reliance of local communities through adopting a holistic approach that links local biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, Ayurveda, modern science and technology. Project activities focus on documentation through surveys and inventories to build databases on health profiles, socio-economic status, ethno-medico-botanical aspects, plant-based biodiversity register and indigenous technical knowledge (ITKs).

UP Sodic Lands Reclamation Project in India was a farmer driven project that established local site implementation committees and self help groups and reclaimed over 68,000 hectares belonging to 247,000 families. Farmers built on traditional knowledge and agricultural practices to raise agricultural productivity and incomes by 60% over 5 years. These practices were institutionalized and widely disseminated through a local farmer’s school. Today, the state has begun to hand over training and extension services to local farmers' schools, which reach more than 7,200 farmers in 65 villages beyond the project area.

Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Zambia and Malawi country teams are also exploring additional new ways of incorporating IK into Bank supported-projects in those countries.

See also:

  Integrating Indigenous Knowledge in Project Planning and Implementation
   Integrating Local Knowledge into Natural Resource Management Projects