Indigenous Knowledge for Development: a Framework for Action

This paper has been prepared in the context of the Indigenous Knowledge for Development Initiative. The initiative is lead by the World Bank in partnership with several organizations which are collaborating under the Partnership for Information and Communication Technology for Africa (PICTA). The main premise of the paper is that the vision of a truly global knowledge partnership will be realized only when the people of the developing countries participate as both contributors and users of knowledge. There is, therefore, a need not only to help bring global knowledge to the developing countries, but also to learn about indigenous knowledge (IK) from these countries, paying particular attention to the knowledge base of the poor. To this end, the paper: explains why indigenous knowledge should play a greater role in the development activities of the World Bank and its development partners; and proposes a framework for action for the development partners to help raise awareness of the importance of IK and to better integrate IK in their development activities so as to improve the benefits of development assistance.