Publication: Eritrea - The Process of Capturing Indigenous Knowledge
Loading...
Published
2001-09
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Eritrea is a country with rich indigenous culture and traditional practices. It is often difficult to discern indigenous knowledge (IK) embedded in community practices, institutions, relationships, and rituals due to its tacit nature. Many countries have recently recognized the threat of losing IK and are putting together initiatives aimed at preservation and revitalization of this valuable resource. In 1982, a group of Eritreans launched a scheme to identify and document their local knowledge. The initiative was conceived to be carried out in two phases: collection of IK information, and detailed validation and analysis. The purpose was to study the cultures and traditional practices of the ethnic nationalities and capture, categorize and document these for subsequent preservation and publication. This Note describes the process, analyzes the constraints and impact, and discusses the next steps.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Pidatala, Krishna. 2001. Eritrea - The Process of Capturing Indigenous Knowledge. Indigenous Knowledge (IK) Notes; No. 36. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/10802 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Developing Indigenous Knowledge in Francophone Africa : A Four Nation Overview(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-03)The note looks at the results of a Bank mission for the development of indigenous knowledge (IK) in Francophone Africa, namely in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon, which was based on consultations with private-public counterparts involved in promoting its development. Although there is an abundance of initiatives, and activities occurring to develop IK - in health, agriculture, education, natural resource management, and cultural affairs - it is nonetheless, unevenly distributed throughout the four countries: seldom is IK promotion, part of public policy; there is a marked divergence among sectors of development; most IK initiatives have been undertaken in social sectors, much fewer in agriculture, and far lesser initiatives in technology, finance, and engineering; and, practices in the use of African languages are mostly conditioned by a host of other policy concerns. On recognizing the value of IK, suggestions indicate variants, such as taking IK as a heritage of accumulated wisdom, as an embodiment of specific African modes of thought, and, as a means of articulating local know-how. On building the challenge for increased IK, the note recommends the inclusion of IK in development projects, by explicitly involving local actors in the design of intervention methods; by disseminating the methodology for a participatory local development; by identifying centers to become the collective focus of IK; and, by designing pre- and in-service methods for professional training of development.Publication Women and Indigenous Knowledge : A South-South Perspective(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-12)The gendered nature of Indigenous Knowledge - IK - is often overlooked, marginalized or neglected. While the differences may tend to be more subtle in industrial countries, the same cannot be said of developing countries. Information, especially IK-related information, tends to be viewed, perceived, and acted upon differently by the different genders. This note seeks to provide an understanding of the role of gender, and the way it impacts the intrinsic value of local knowledge systems, critical to the understanding, interpretation, and dissemination of indigenous knowledge. As a result of this gender differentiation and specialization, the IK and skills held by women, often differ from those held by men, affecting patterns of access, use, and control, thus resulting in different perceptions and priorities for the innovation and use of IK. It also impacts the way in which IK is disseminated, documented, and passed on to future generations. In attempting to achieve cross-regional exchange of women's IK, the Bank organized the Indigenous Knowledge Program, a study tour to South Asia, and the key to some success stories, as observed in the region, resulted from having women involved in planning, and implementation in projects at the grassroots level. The note reviews aspects in traditional medicine, medicinal plants, food security, as well as the level of information communications technology, and early childhood development. In this context, some adaptations concerning women were found, namely, bottom-up approach; battling HIV/AIDS; and innovations in early childhood development.Publication Social Networks among Indigenous Peoples in Mexico(2009-06-01)This paper examines the extent to which social networks among indigenous peoples have a significant effect on a variety of human capital investment and economic activities, such as school attendance and work among teenage boys and girls, and migration, welfare participation, employment status, occupation and sector of employment among adult males and females. The analysis uses data from the 10 percent population sample of the 2000 Population and Housing Census of Mexico and an empirical strategy that allows taking into account the role of municipality and language group fixed effects. The authors confirm empirically that social network effects play an important role in the economic decisions of indigenous people, especially in rural areas. The analysis also provides evidence that better access to basic services, such as water and electricity, increases the size and strength of network effects in rural areas.Publication Health : Indigenous Knowledge, Equitable Benefits(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1999-12)The note looks at the intellectual property rights connected with the use, and value of medicinal plants, which has become a metaphor to describe indigenous ownership of traditional knowledge, generating options for contractual mechanisms to ensure benefits return to source cultures, and countries. However, through time, the extinction rate of species, and cultures continues to accelerate, while human health further deteriorates from diseases for which no cure exists. The note seeks answers on how to apply lessons from the Convention on Biological Diversity, and how to move on to implementing such lessons. Through the case study in Nigeria, practical information shows how countries, companies, and cultures can cooperate. It explains the work of the Bio-Resources Development and Conservation Program, organized as a focal point for collaborative research, that builds technical skills in Nigeria, thus generating pharmaceutical leads that target therapeutic categories for tropical diseases. Within this setting, Sharman Pharmaceuticals established a research relationship with scientific institutions, village communities, and traditional healers, which uses the science of ethno-botany, and that of natural product chemistry, medicine and pharmacology, to create an efficient drug discovery process. Recommendations on remaining issues, and future progress are presented.Publication Sahelian Languages, Indigenous Knowledge and Self-Management(World Bank, Washington, DC, 1999-10)While many of the languages in Africa may be related, and inter-comprehensible, it is also a multilingual continent, where a relatively high proportion of the population speaks, or understands more than one language. However, the distribution of languages is not uniform. The reasons are both topographical, and political: dense forests, numerous, rivers, thus hampering both transport, and communications. The note identifies the work of a local nongovernmental organization, established by community members to prod literacy instruction centers in West Africa. Primary education completion exams - which must be taken in French, and govern admission to secondary schooling, reveal that children who started education in their mother tongue, performed on average, significantly better than graduates of standard primary schools. The note further examines case studies in different countries, revealing this change is most pronounced in Francophone countries, where little recognition was given to African languages, exemplifying the literacy gains of multilingualism, as well as an increased articulation of indigenous knowledge. Multilingualism for one, provides a sense of local ownership, enhancing cultural and political assets, and, this "indigenous" effort at knowledge construction, will seemingly survive, because it is owned by local actors, founded on local economic, and social necessity.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Doing Business 2014 : Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises(Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2013-10-28)Eleventh in a series of annual reports comparing business regulation in 185 economies, Doing Business 2014 measures regulations affecting 11 areas of everyday business activity: Starting a business, Dealing with construction permits, Getting electricity, Registering property, Getting credit, Protecting investors, Paying taxes, Trading across borders, Enforcing contracts, Closing a business, Employing workers. The report updates all indicators as of June 1, 2013, ranks economies on their overall “ease of doing business”, and analyzes reforms to business regulation – identifying which economies are strengthening their business environment the most. The Doing Business reports illustrate how reforms in business regulations are being used to analyze economic outcomes for domestic entrepreneurs and for the wider economy. Doing Business is a flagship product by the World Bank and IFC that garners worldwide attention on regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. More than 60 economies use the Doing Business indicators to shape reform agendas and monitor improvements on the ground. In addition, the Doing Business data has generated over 870 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since its inception.Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.