News & Events

Thirteen years ago Mintzberg stated: “The strategic data bank of the organisation is not in the computers but in the mind of its people.” With this conference the Department of Information and Knowledge Management at the University of Johannesburg supports the view that indigenous knowledge should be brought into the main stream of knowledge. The socio-economic potential of indigenous knowledge should be considered, as well as the non-economic values, such as the impact of IKS on lifestyles and ways in which societies are run.

To register for the conference and for further information on the cost and venue (CSIR
International Convention Centre), please visit our website (www.uj.ac.za/kmconf).

Past Events

Participatory Innovation Development (PID) – Training of Facilitators,June 26 to July 11 2006, Kampala, Uganda

This training workshop is an initiative of Prolinnova, a NGO-led global program to PROmote Local INNOVAtion in managing natural resources for sustainable agriculture. It is being organized by the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) with Environmental Alert in Uganda.

The training workshop is open to practitioners from Prolinnova as well as from other organizations and networks. It recognizes the need for researchers and extension officers to be more capable of supporting farmers’ innovations, validating, documenting and spreading them more widely, conducting joint experimentation with farmers, and building on farmer innovation in their work. The course will employ methodologies that will enable participants to value participatory processes and to becoming facilitators of learning during the PID (Participatory Innovation Development) process. Key learning methodologies include sharing of experiences, field visits, interaction with local people, action planning and group work . The participants will thus become aware of the challenges faced by development professionals and scientists in moving local innovations further towards joint experimentation and integrating relevant information and ideas coming from others, including formal research.

For more information and to receive an application form, contact Angie Algo at Angie.Algo@iirr.org.

Incentives for Supporting On-Farm Conservation, and Augmentation of Agro-biodiversity through Farmers’ Innovations and Community Participation:An International Consultation for Learning from Grassroots Initiatives and Institutional Interventions
May 27 - 29, 2006, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

The Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad has undertaken a three-year research program in collaboration with other research institutes to identify the feasibility of using various market and non-market based incentives for promoting on-farm conservation of agrobiodiversity. The international consultation aims to provide a platform to share the findings of such research projects being implemented in different parts of India and elsewhere.

The consultation plans to discuss various issues related to the following themes:

1. Socio-cultural, economic factors affecting current state of on-farm agro biodiversity and triggering of innovative spirit.
2. Current policy environment influencing agrobiodiversity and required policy changes.
3. Complimentarily of formal and informal seed development and supply systems for ensuring availability of crop varietal diversity.
4. Incentives for enhancing demand of locally adapted crop varieties in household as well as industrial sectors.
5. Monetary and non-monetary incentives for encouraging farmers to innovate, improve, exchange and conserve agrobiodiversity.
6. Market research on channels of procurement and preferences of industrial and individual consumers of agrobiodiversity in local as well as distant markets.
7. Scientific basis of on-farm conservation and exploring the role of agricultural research, conservation and development institutions particularly in characterization and value addition of local crop and varietal biodiversity.
8. Methodological approaches and tools for monitoring the state of agrobiodiversity and bringing awareness among different stakeholders.
9. Farmers perspectives and role in influencing the policy environment and institutional changes expected.

For information, guidelines for submission and registration, please contact: Professor Anil K Gupta at anilg@iimahd.ernet.inor visit www.sristi.org/agrobioconf.html

Underutilized Plants: Their Role in Preventative Medicine, Nutrition and Sustainability
Tuesday, May 2, 2006, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Feinstone Hall, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD

Public health professionals working in some of the most economically challenged areas of the world are also in proximity to a large array of underutilized plants. Traditional knowledge of their medicinal and nutritional uses is being lost at an alarming rate. This loss is accompanied by disappearance of the plant species themselves and of the ecosystems they support. This symposium will increase awareness by highlighting some of these underutilized plant resources and their benefits to local populations. We hope that health professionals, plant researchers and others will attend. For program details, refer to The Center for a Liveable Future's website.  

UNAIDS Conference: Global Summit on HIV/AIDS, Traditional Medicine & Indigenous Knowledge, Accra, Ghana, March 3 - 18, 2006

This conference aims to: facilitate the identification and testing of potentially beneficial low-cost naturally-derived medicinal products for HIV/AIDS prevention and cure and also facilitate the production of valuable resources which will ensure sound education and cultural empowerment in the fields of medicine, health care and sustainable development. The Global Summit on HIV/AIDS, Traditional Medicine and Indigenous Knowledge will be held at the Accra International Centre, Republic of Ghana. For more information visit:
http://www.africa-first.com/gsaidstmik2006/default.aspx

1st Innovation Systems at the Community LevelWorkshop, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,February 6-8, 2006

This workshop brought together fifty delegates from 15 countries, representing scientific institutions, practitioners, governmental and non-governmental agencies and multilateral institutions, participated in the facilitated workshop. An 8-point plan (Manesar Statement) was developed to help promote innovation by the communities. For more information, please visit the Global Research Alliance website.

2nd IK Validation Workshop, New Delhi, February 1-3, 2006

The objective of this workshop was to refine the roadmap and evaluate progress in the implementation of the first validation pilot in Tanga, Tanzania. The pilot used traditional medicine to treat the opportunistic infections associated with HIV/AIDS.  For more information, please visit the Global Research Alliance website.

Indigenous Knowledge Goes Global through GDLN

For the farmer in Kampala, the day was productive even though he didn't work the fields: instead, he asked a fellow farmer in India exactly how to apply a banana fertilizer that his counterpart was using with much better success. Since 2005, farmers like these are connecting through GDLN Affiliates in Africa and South Asia to share their experiences. They are participating in an on-going program, led by the World Bank, that aims to incorporate traditional knowledge in development programs and promote dialogue among practitioners in developing countries. More...

Events - 2005

Global Conference on African Healing Wisdom, Washington DC, July 6-9, 2005

The workshop aimed to to increase the capacity for dialogue and cooperation among traditional healers and health care providers across the health continuum in the United States, African countries and African communities in the Americas and Caribbean region. For more information visit:http://www.procultura.org/AFRICA.htm

First Africa Regional Conference of ICMI, Johannesburg, South Africa
June 22 - 25, 2005

This workshop's theme was Mathematics Teaching and Teacher Education in Changing Times and has the four strands: (i) Teacher Education (primary and secondary; initial and in-service), (ii) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Resources for teaching and learning, (iii) Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS), Ethnomathematics and the Curriculum, and (iv) Teaching and Learning Mathematics (primary, secondary and tertiary). For more information visit: http://www.wits.ac.za/ICMI

Australian Rural Health Education Network Indigenous Knowledge Conference, Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand),
June 22 -25 2005

Hosted by He Parekereke and Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) the Indigenous Knowledge Conference will bring together scholars and academic and community researchers from a range of disciplinary fields and nations to develop discipline - based responses to the real-world struggles of Maori and Indigenous peoples. For more information visit:
http://www.vuw.ac.nz/indigenousknowledges