Description/Objectives

Cross regional course organized by the World Bank in collaboration with the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN)

Location

GDLN centers in Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Delhi and Colombo for participants. Video conference centers in Geneva, Washington DC, New York, Cape Town and Bangkok for presenters.

Objectives

The multi-media distance learning lecture series will for the first time address development challenges through the unique perspective of Indigenous Knowledge (IK). Specifically, the lectures demonstrate the role of IK in helping achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The focus is on success stories in using IK to help increase food security and agricultural productivity, reduce maternal mortality and treat the opportunistic diseases associated with HIV/AIDS. The goal is to help clients incorporate IK into their programs/policies and promote South-South dialogue/cooperation among IK practitioners.

Content

The course content provides development practitioners a ‘hands on’ guide on the use of IK in the development process. This will be done through lectures by (i) IK experts and practitioners share their lessons of experience; and (ii) experts from the scientific community and UN agencies (US-NIH and WIPO) address critical challenges related to the efficacy, validation, protection, documentation and conservation aspects of IK.

Delivery Approach

The course offers a combination of presentations by experts, case studies, interactive group and cross regional discussions. The lectures will be complemented by multi-media IK learning tools that include project documents, videos, interviews and web links that provide information to assist development practitioners to achieve the MDGs. These will draw on success stories from East Africa and South Asia.

Course Materials

Each participant is provided with a hard copy of the book entitled: Indigenous Knowledge: Local Pathways to Global Development. The publication contains the core learning materials for the course, including case studies from India, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda. It gives voice to over 60 development practitioners who present powerful cases to demonstrate how local communities empower themselves to manage their own development process.

This website contains all the course materials and additional learning resources (project documents, videos, etc.). All the course content will be available in a DVD and can be ordered for free.