Folklore is the collection of traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the generations by word of mouth. This vast expressive body, studied by the corresponding discipline of folklore, has evaded the attention of economists. In this study we do four things that...

The Africa Region's Indigenous Knowledge for Development Program promotes client/staff action learning through cross regional exchanges to learn about the impact of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) systems in development. The first such exchange and learning tour was organized in September-October 2002...

The Indigenous Knowledge for Development Program, started in 1998, was the Bank's response to clients, and civil society who called for a more systematic integration of the indigenous knowledge (IK) in the development process. The program developed partnerships, and collaborative links with...

The present edition of IK Notes asks the reader to provide feedback, and assess the contribution the publication has made to their related work. The intention is to learn about perceptions of IK Notes, and the role of Indigenous Knowledge in development. The survey is divided into two parts;...

Indigenous knowledge (IK) can act as a powerful tool in a learning environment to teach students. Conventional curricula, and achievement tests in many countries, however, do not support students' learning based on their IK. Learning environments need to be adapted to help students build on...

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...

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...

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...

Recent reports document that the failure of projects in Africa over the past twenty years happened because local people's involvement and control were thought to be part of the goal of development, rather than the process of development. Many people and groups throughout Africa strongly believe...