Mainstreaming IK in Development

One of the strategic objectives of the IK Program is to mainstream the application of IK in national development programs. The following are examples of the activities supported by the IK Program which have produced specific outcomes in this area:
   

• The IK Program has partnered with the Global Research Alliance to launch initiative with the aim of integrating traditional and modern medicine with modern science. By developing this golden triangle on a global level, the partnership is working towards the provision of integrated healthcare that is affordable and accessible, especially for the poor, safe and effective. Under this partnership, the following events have been organized:
      
  
  • 1st IK Validation Workshop in South Africa (February 2005), which brought together leading scientists and reputed traditional healers from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The participants developed a road map for collaborative validation of IK, with a special focus on traditional medicine.
  • 2nd IK Validation Workshop  was held in New Delhi (February 2006) to refine the roadmap and evaluate progress in implementating the first validation pilot in Tanga, Tanzania. The pilot used traditional medicine to treat the opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS.
       
• A national IK stakeholder workshop in Uganda in December 1999 helped formulate a national IK strategy (Kampala Declaration).These efforts, promoted by the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology, resulted in the integration of IK into the Uganda Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP).
• Following a regional workshop, the Government of Kerala incorporated IK into the state's 10th Five Year Plan (2002-2007) and allocated resources to fund IK activities in health, agriculture and MRM.
• Ugandan National Agricultural Research Organization  (NARO) has launched a program to incorporate IK within the context of World Bank supported Agriculture Research and Training Project (Phase II).
• In October 2004, H.E. Bejamin Mkapa, President of Tanzania endorsed a six-point action plan outlined in the publication “Indigenous Knowledge: Local Pathways to Global Development”. The action plan aims to raise the profile of IK, mainstream IK in country development programs, and secure additional funding from development partners.
• The SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) incorporates IK into its science and technology priorities.
• Sri Lanka 's ministry of science and technology has established a special task force to mainstream IK in development.
• Following several awareness raising events and demonstration pilots, farmers in Burkina Faso are increasingly adopting traditional soil and water conservation practices known as "Zai", a technique that is practiced by other communities in the Sahel.
• The IK Program sponsored an IK Knowledge and Learning Exchange in September 2002 which brought policy makers, project leaders and Bank staff from East Africa to sites in India and Sri Lanka to learn together from local communities about the successful integration of IK practices in early childhood and medicinal plants development programs. The learning exchange enabled the visitors to adapt their programs and integrate the learning into their ongoing programs in their respective countries.
• The 2nd IK Knowledge and Learning Exchange in June 2004 brought project teams and Bank staff from Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Malawi to India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to learn from local communities about the use of indigenous knowledge, micro-credit, medicinal plants and informatics. The visitors later integrated the learning into their ongoing and new projects and programs.
• IK Program has developed guidelines (pdf) for integrating IK in project planning and implementation in partnership with ILO, CIDA, and KIVU Nature Inc.
• The Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), has established a trust fund ($500, 000) to support the activities sponsored by the Ik Program designed to help build the capacity of IK practitioners to document, validate and mainstream best practices into development planning and policies.
• IK Program has also facilitated cooperation between US National Institutes of Health, George Washington University Hospital and Bank staff to cooperate on the validation of herbal treatments of HIV/AIDS related opportunistic infections.