Information and Communication Technologies, Knowledge Management and Indigenous Knowledge

Information and Communication
Technologies, Knowledge
Management and Indigenous
Knowledge

Implications for Communities
in Ethiopia

Lishan Adam, PhD

Research ICT Africa

19 April 2007

Agenda

•
Information and communication
technologies and IK

•
Community structures for promoting
IK systems in Ethiopia

•
Knowledge Management and
Indigenous Knowledge systems

•
Best practices around the world

•

Conclusion

“In Africa, when an old man dies, it is a library that burns down.”

Amadou Hampâté Bâ

What is indigenous
knowledge?

•
Profound, detailed and shared knowledge,
beliefs and rules with regards to the physical
resource, social norms, health, ecosystem,
culture, livelihood of the people who interact with
environment both in rural and urban settings

•

Knowledge that forms basis for local level
decision making in agriculture, health care, food
preparation, education, natural resource
management, and a host of other activities

Indigenous knowledge

•
Dynamic and evolved from
years of experience and
trial
-
and
-
error problem
solving by groups of people
working in their
environments drawing upon
resources they have at hand

•
Often shunned by modern
scientific knowledge

What are some roles of the
ICTs

•
include telecommunications technologies such as
telephony, cable, satellite and radio, as well as digital
technologies, such as computers, information networks
and software

•
ICTs

–
Enable capturing, storing and sharing of indigenous
knowledge

–
Support the incorporation of indigenous knowledge with
modern scientific and technical knowledge

–
Create easily accessible indigenous knowledge information
systems

–
Promote integration of indigenous knowledge in formal and
non
-
formal training

–
Provide a platform for advocating for improved benefit of the
poor from their intellectual property rights and indigenous
creators

Characteristics of IK that impact on
ICTs

•
IK is generated within communities

•
IK is location and culture specific

•
IK is part of the local ecosystem

•
IK covers human and animal life, primary production,
natural resource management (basic needs)

•
Use of IK is cost
-
effective, sustainable and locally
manageable

•
IK is dynamic , innovative, adaptive and open for
experimentation

•
IK is oral and rural in nature

•
IK is not systematically documented

•
IK is not integrated into modern scientific and technical
knowledge

Challenges in applying ICTs

•
All IK does not require ICTs
–

can be captured on paper,
books

•
Knowledge holder often do not volunteer their knowledge

•
IK databases and capturing process is laborious and time
consuming

•
Significant unresolved intellectual property issues and
challenges especially if the traditional knowledge leads to
corporate gains

•
People who need IK may not have access to the
technologies to make use of them

•
Those who read IK or access to databases are biased
towards modern knowledge

•
Need to put in place and strengthen community structures
that promote the flow of IK

Community Structures for IK
-

interface

•
Recent practice focuses on the
development of IK databases and
encourage their use by target
groups

–
The model was not successful
in many cases

•
Important to encourage the flow and
systematic gathering of IK through
existing community structure such
as “idir”, “iqub”, community
resources centres, community
libraries, etc.

•
Less high
-
tech approach to IK by
focusing on index of what works,
where to find and whom to contact

Role of Libraries and IRCs

•
Collecting, preserving and disseminate indigenous and
local traditional knowledge

•
Publicizing the value, contribution, and importance of
indigenous and local traditional knowledge to both non
-
indigenous and indigenous peoples

•
Raising awareness on the protection of indigenous
knowledge against exploitation

•
Involving elders and communities in the production of
resources and teaching children to understand and
appreciate the traditional knowledge

•
Encouraging the recognition of principles of intellectual
property to ensure the proper protection and use of
indigenous traditional knowledge and products derived
from it.


Role of MPCCs

•
Venue for ICT introduction to community

•
Platform for sharing digitized IK

•
Platform for trying new technologies and
tools out

•
Community broadcasting can be used for
exchange of IK

Role of Community Based
Structures

•
Community based social
-
capital structure such
as “idir” and “iqub” have been platforms for
exchange of IK

•
Can be used to capture and exchange
knowledge or develop indices of IK on “what
works” and “what does not”, who holds relevant
knowledge and how to contact them in electronic
and non
-
electronic formats

•
Form the basis of IK systems in Ethiopia

Example of Best Practices 1

•
Honey Bee Network

–
Gathered over 11,000 IK innovations in India

–
Provide venture funds to turn ideas and
practices into product
–

enterprise
development

–
Establish competition on recipes for women

–
Protection of intellectual property rights and
rewarding innovators

–
Annual innovators meeting, market place

–
Promotion of changes into the educational
systems


Example of Best Practice 2

•

Policy development in South Africa

–
IK policy approved by Cabinet in 2004

–
Covers aspects such as

•
Institutional and governance arrangement

•

Gathering and preserving IK

•

Networks and support mechanism for IK

•
Research and development

•
Intellectual property rights

Lesson for KM for Development
1

•
•
Tacit knowledge
-

unconscious and intuitive knowledge gained
through experience that allows individuals to make decisions without
referring to rules or principles (e.g. knowing how to perform medical
operations, knowing how to network at a conference);

•
•
Explicit knowledge
–

that is articulated and accessible to anyone
who reads, hears or looks at it (e.g. a training guide on using a
software package or the conclusions of a policy briefing paper);

•
•
Implicit knowledge
helps individuals know what is socially and
culturally appropriate in a given circumstance including shared
beliefs, values and expectations (e.g. knowing that it is inappropriate
to undermine colleagues in public, understanding management
attitudes within a given organization)

•
Indigenous knowledge is mainly tacit/implicit. That makes is hard for
capturing and exchange


Biggest lesson was

understanding the nature of indigenous knowledge

Lesson from Km for
development 2

•
Sharing knowledge is possible but that does not always translate
into use for taking decisions, making informed actions and modifying
behaviors in order to achieve development goals.

•
Effective knowledge sharing should not be imposed from outside but
should be organic, learned and has to be embedded into work
processes, local eco systems and livelihoods

•
Experiences from which most knowledge emerges, have local
particularities like context, actors and processes. This limits the way
local knowledge can be generalized and replicated in other settings

•
Valuable local knowledge is often not locally known nor socially
recognized. This is partially constrained by myths, old paradigms,
cultural idiosyncrasies and prejudices of professionals and
institutions

•
The interaction between modern and traditional knowledge is
desired but too complex to realize


Conclusions

•
Focus on IK would help the poor to build on resources in
which they are rich
–

knowledge

•
Ethiopia needs to embark on various steps

–

Create forums of institutions and networking among
these

–
Research on mapping IK asset (medicinal plants),
barriers, community and social structures

–
Strategies for identifying and document IK and
institutional and support initiatives

–
National register on IK, rewarding innovators, integrating
IK in educational systems

–
Capacity building in IK and knowledge management

–
IK policy based on developing country experiences



‘
Rabbit, where are you going?

I am going to kill the Elephant (IK).

Can you do that?

Well, I’ll try, and try again.’


Tanzanian, Proverb…


Thank you