Capitalising on Local Knowledge - Community knowledge exchange
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About
this book
This volume
is designed to give decision-makers in government and donor agencies an
overview of the concept of community-to-community knowledge exchanges,
as well as practical approaches to their use in developmental processes
and programs.
Also contained in this volume are case studies to illustrate the successes achieved with the approach, and the pitfalls that have been encountered in practice.
This material is intended to enable decision-makers to assess proposals for exchanges, and to support processes that include community exchanges in an appropriate manner.
A partner volume, “Guidelines for Implementation”, is designed as a practical guide for the practitioner wishing to initiate and manage a community exchange process.
If an organisation is considering adopting this approach within its programs, it may be worth undertaking a training course so as to become more familiar with the methodology, and gain practical insights into how the approach can best be applied.
Community
processes
Bringing together communities of practice is always exciting. When people
with common experiences and challenges get together and share their knowledge,
the process inevitably mobilises enthusiasm and ideas. Sound professional
practice in this context is about facilitating and supporting the process
in such a way that the participants learn as much as possible, and nurturing
the process of planning and implementing the new initiatives that might
emerge from the stimulus provided by the exchange.
These toolkits have been designed to enable the selection of promising initiatives, and provision of the most appropriate sorts of support to implementing agencies and to the communities themselves. This volume is aimed at donors, government agencies, decision makers and service providers that might be considering supporting a knowledge exchange process, or designing a program in which knowledge exchange may be a component.
The case studies that illustrate the text are drawn from recent experiences in Southern and Eastern Africa. We would like to thank all of those who freely shared their experiences with us, the communities that shared their knowledge and warmth and (last but not least) the Indigenous Knowledge for Development Program of the World Bank that made the publication of these toolkits possible.
Looking
for new alternatives
To achieve greater success in rural development programs, governments
and development agencies have adopted the “bottom-up” approaches advocated
by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Initiatives
conceptualised in this way mobilise the creativity and energies of local
people, and are indeed “owned” by them.
Local ownership of developmental initiatives promotes broad acceptance of development activities, and avoids the pitfalls of imposed initiatives, which may be used by community members in ways very different from those intended by the designers.
Many agencies and practitioners have been frustrated by the limitations of development frameworks and methodologies to promote and support people-driven initiatives. The rigidity of programs designed in a top-down manner does not easily accommodate bottom-up processes!
We live in a globalised world, in which knowledge is our most valuable asset. The “knowledge economy” of the formal business sector recognises this, and intellectual property is the most valuable asset of many large corporations. The same is true of communities of practice that may have limited access to resources such as finance or markets. Their great strength is that they know how to heal using local plants, or to produce crops in harsh environments without outside support.
The challenge in development practice is to develop methodologies that mobilise the knowledge and release the potential of communities to address developmental problems in new and creative ways. Community knowledge exchanges have recently been recognised as a powerful catalytic tool that development agencies can use to stimulate community-driven developmental processes.
Knowledge exchange processes are not new for people in rural communities. Rural gatherings such as feast days and funerals are always alive with the sharing and validation of local knowledge. However, the process is often constrained by a lack of focus and by physical isolation. Mainstreaming this ancient way of learning to support developmental processes, and to contribute to achieving goals identified by community members is the logical response.
It is time to reflect and identify new and locally appropriate ways to facilitate development. This toolkit does not provide a methodology that fits all circumstances. It provides an overall framework and approach, and a set of tools that must be adapted in the various local conditions. The examples and learning events are from Southern and Eastern Africa, and indeed this is the focus for this publication. Appreciating that this region of Africa is heterogeneous and diverse is important in using this toolkit. The local examples are firmly rooted in the respective settings and have to be understood in this context.
Learning
for change
Our point of departure is that knowledge is the basis for all conscious
action. Knowledge is about knowing, and we can know things in different
ways: we often think of knowing as being merely cognitive and rational.
However, we can also know things in terms of feeling and doing. These
forms of knowing usually play an insignificant role in classroom training
situations. On the other hand, in rural communities feeling and doing
are important ways of knowing. Because of their highly interactive nature
and cultural setting, community exchanges embrace and enhance all kinds
of knowledge.
The process by which our knowledge is expanded is learning, and active learning is crucial in developing survival strategies in a rapidly changing physical and economic environment.
The learning process can be simply conceptualised as cyclical process that is followed by the learner, as illustrated in the diagram. In reality, we are usually engaged in a number of the stages of the cycle at any one time, for example observing the road conditions and reflecting on the best way to reach a destination while driving a car. However, the conceptualisation is useful in understanding a complex set of interactions. Action taken without reflection, learning and conscious decision is usually poorly focused, and may be destructive.
When we are “learning while doing” the processes of learning are taking place constantly, and in a less orderly way.
The learning cycle is also useful in understanding the ways in which groups can go about enhancing their knowledge so as to make more effective plans and decisions. If the crucial steps of reflection and learning are missing from collective decision making, groups or organisations will make poor decisions that are not informed by the new information that they could get by observing and reflecting on new information, or on their own recent actions. The simple process of collective reflection allows all members of a group to learn and creates a collective intelligence.
Knowledge exchanges are an invaluable way of exposing people to opportunities to learn about new or alternative ways of doing things that matter to them, such as marketing their produce, treating diseases or managing natural resources. However, it is important to design and facilitate the exchange visits in such a way that the participants, individually and collectively, are able to reflect on the new information and learn what it might mean to them.
Reflection can be a simple process of allowing participants to “surface” meaningful observations and experiences, both positive and negative. Reflection can also be a more structured process that focuses the attention of participants on the things that they have agreed to learn about and offers an opportunity to assess the extent to which they have done so. Consciousness of both achievements and shortcomings, and what action can be taken to enhance performance, will contribute to achieving a desired outcome.
Understanding
people’s needs
Successful development supports people’s efforts to improve their situations,
and enhances their ability to satisfy their felt needs. It is thus useful
to conduct participatory needs assessment exercises in the early stages
of development initiatives.
Information from needs assessments should be treated with circumspection, because community members are likely to put forward those needs that they believe the development agent will be able to meet. This might lead to “shopping lists” of needs being presented that cannot possibly be provided for by any outside agency.
Naïve responses to needs put forward by some members of a community could undermine some local survival strategies. Careful analysis is needed of the possible outcomes of interventions, and there are some insights that only local people will have.
Improvement of people’s circumstances is the task of development agencies. However, unless people are in dire need due to natural or human disasters, it is usually inappropriate for the development agency to intervene directly in people’s lives. Development processes that are able to support processes of development in ways that enhance, and do not undermine the sense of responsibility of the local people are most likely to succeed. Too much support may create dependency.
What
is a community?
To many people, “community” implies a group of people living in the same
area, usually in a rural setting. It also often implies a group of people
in need of “development”. Yet community can also mean a group of people
having a common profession, religion or other characteristic.
The root of the word community implies “something shared by”, “coming from” or “done by two or more people or groups”. In this publication we use the word in this sense. Common knowledge, resources, beliefs, values and/or practices provide a basis for collective action.
We use the expression “community of practice” to describe a group of people who share similar approaches to something particular, such as health care, farming or even development facilitation. Some communities of practice have strong local nodes, for example farming communities or churches. Others are more scattered, such as traditional healers or water diviners.
In the formal sector, communities of practice are often able to share their knowledge at conferences, workshops or retreats. Our focus in this publication is on less formal communities of practice in both rural and urban settings, who usually also lack the resources to share their knowledge effectively.
Knowledge exchange makes a unique contribution to community development, which is understood here as a process that increases self-reliance and enhances the capacities for problem solving within any given community. Adoption of innovative technologies might be one of many indicators of development at a community level, but should not be confused with the processes of empowerment that enable people to utilise technologies effectively.
The knowledge exchange approach is effective with many different sorts of communities of practice, such as traditional birth attendants, healers, community-based tourism operators, farmers, women’s groups, craft workers and fishers.
Participation,
ownership and outcomes
Participation means to be part of, or to share in something. Participating
means being actively responsible for the direction that an initiative
is taking. People who feel excluded from participating in shaping new
initiatives will either ignore them or actively undermine them. Those
who participate actively will contribute their knowledge and experience,
as well as their enthusiasm, commitment and vision. These are the “fuel
in the tank” of any initiative.
Whether a donor or other outside agency demands participation of communities or not, a well-designed development intervention will ensure that it is maximised. If people have contributed to shaping a process, and have actively learned and been excited by what takes place, they will feel motivated. They will feel that the initiative is theirs, and not something being done for, or to them. This sense of ownership of the ideas and plans will manifest itself in the ways in which community-based initiatives are taken forward.
On the other hand, an approach that seeks to address the expressed needs of the community can give rise to the perception that it is the responsibility of the service provider to meet these needs. In most cases the people who have the capacity or potential to meet the needs best are the community members themselves. If the service provider takes the primary responsibility for meeting the needs, the participation and ownership of the community members will be diminished. It is thus vital to ensure that the process is one in which community members realise that they are responsible.
Failure of development initiatives often manifests itself when the development agent withdraws, and it becomes apparent that there is not enough local ownership to sustain the initiatives that it has facilitated. However, if an initiative starts out right, with full participation and ownership of the concept from the start, the chances of it succeeding are far better. Knowledge exchange processes can do much to engender participation, but it is important to realise that they should be designed to maximise participation throughout the process.
Effective participation in knowledge exchange does not imply that everyone must be fully engaged, all the time. Not only must a knowledge holder be willing to share that knowledge, but the listener will need to feel and express a real interest to learn about it.
Indigenous
knowledge and local resources
In the global project of conserving the shrinking resources of the planet,
the essential role of local resource managers has been recognised and
enshrined in international law. Each of the world’s small-scale farmers,
pastoralists and hunter-gatherers makes his or her management decisions
in the context of a local knowledge system. Local knowledge that arises
from tradition and is embedded in culture is referred to as indigenous
knowledge. Indigenous knowledge is not independent, and is always linked
in some ways to other parts of the global knowledge system.
Support agencies have an important role to play in enabling people to enhance and broaden their local knowledge systems, and to enable people to make sound management decisions based on wider global environmental and economic realities. In order to do this effectively, it is important to understand the nature of knowledge, and the dynamics of knowledge systems.
Knowledge exists within our minds, and is based upon the innumerable learning experiences that we undergo in the course of our lives. Some of these learning experiences are consciously structured by traditional or formal educational processes, but most occur within the daily interaction of people and their environment. Indigenous knowledge is people’s knowledge, and is learned within our communities. It forms of a complex web of knowing and perceiving that shapes our response to the world and the opportunities that it offers.
The propositions and values of formalised scientific knowledge may contradict those of indigenous knowledge systems, and educational institutions have sought to replace indigenous knowledge with scientific knowledge. However, different ways of knowing the world need not be in conflict and that no single knowledge system can legitimately claim to be the “right” one.
How is knowledge shared by people? We sometimes read of “transfer of knowledge”. However, this expression is misleading: we can convey what we know to others in words or gestures, but we cannot transfer our knowledge. In order to enable others to share what we know, we must share it in ways that are consistent with what they know, and that they will easily be able to access and understand. Common language, culture and economic and physical circumstances make this process more accessible. At the heart of successful knowledge exchange processes is the bringing together of peers who can identify with one another in a way that enables them to learn relatively easily from each other. Adult learning theory makes an important contribution to understanding how to do this effectively (see Methodology section).
Indigenous knowledge is a large and complex field, and we do not intend to provide an overview of all the issues relevant in development practice. For further information, refer to Alan R. Emery’s excellent publication “Guidelines: Integrating Indigenous Knowledge in Project Planning and Implementation”. Produced in partnership by the World Bank, CIDA, ILO and KIVU Inc., the IK Guidelines are available on the web at http://www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/guidelines/index.html
Women are important keepers of knowledge (Petauke, Zambia)
Community members in Petauke shared their knowledge about producing and storing indigenous crops (Petauke, Zambia)
The learning spiral is the basis for designing knowledge exchanges
Rooibos tea is an important indigenous resource in the Suid Bokkeveld (South Africa)
