Networks

International Institute of Rural Reconstruction

In 1996, IIRR produced the excellent manual Recording and Using Indigenous Knowledge, which describes the wide range of methods that can be used to record IK. / ALH

The International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR) is a non-profit NGO, founded in 1960. The Institute is dedicated to improving the quality of life of the rural poor in the developing nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America. To address global problems of poverty, illiteracy, disease and civic inertia, it focuses on three programs: ‘Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture’; ‘Community Health, Reproductive Health and Nutrition’; and ‘Institutional Capacity Building’. IIRR has trained almost 10,000 development practitioners from 2,500 institutions representing about 100 developing countires.

Training courses are offered on indigenous knowledge in development, integrated conservation and development, household food security, gender analysis and related topics. Based in the Phillipines, the Institute has regional and sub-regional offices in Ecuador, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nepal, and a coordinating office in New York. IIRR produces a wide range of publications including books, working papers, information kits, videos and slide-tape programs. IIRR liaises with a number of international and national institutions, donor agencies and NGOs. It has an international staff of 154 people from 12 countries with expertise in training, environment, sustainable agriculture, rural enterprise development, economics, health, nutrition, community organizing, integrated rural development and other fields.

‘Many misunderstandings and mistakes occur because outsiders and local people do not understand what each other means when they use particular words ... In some cases, local definitions are broader than their western equivalent. For example, Fulani pastoralists in Africa regard several important livestock diseases as just one disease because they have similar symptoms. In other instances, local descriptions are more detailed. For example, the Inuit of the Arctic have many words for snow; farmers in Central America have different names for corn depending upon its stage of growth or its intended use; and pastoralists in northern Africa have an extensive vocabulary describing parts of a camel’s body, reflecting how important the camel is to these people. Some abstract concepts, such as beliefs about what causes disease, have no western equivalent. It can be difficult to match indigenous terms and taxonomies with their corresponding western ones. Methods such as interviews, sorting, ranking, building taxonomies, and observation can help match indigenous and western terms.’

IIRR. 1996. Recording and Using Indigenous Knowledge: a Manual. Silang, Cavite, IIRR.

CONTACT

Mila Resma, Training Coordinator, Headquarters,
International Institute of Rural Reconstruction,
Y.C. James Yen Center, Silang, Cavite 4118, Philippines;
Tel. +63.46.4142417, Fax +63.46.4142420,
E-mail iirr@phil.gn.apc.org

Or contact a regional office:

• Isaac Bekalo, Director,
  IIRR Regional Office - Africa,
  PO Box 66873, Westlands, Nairobi, Kenya;
  Tel. +254.2.446522 or 442610, Fax +254.2.448148,
  E-mail iirr_kenya@elci.gn.apc.org
• Daniel Selener, Director,
  Regional Office – Latin America, Av. America 4451 y Pasaje Muirriagui, Donoso, Apartado Postal 17-08-8494, Quito, Ecuador.

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Biodiversity Foundation for Africa

As large conservation NGOs downsize and the salaries of biologists employed by African governments and universities get even leaner, organizations such as BFA are likely to be the wave of the future. Comprising a multi-disciplinary network of biologists based in Zimbabwe with many years expertise in southern Africa, BFA has been carrying out important surveys in the region, including recent work which has set the priorities for vegetation conservation in Zimbabwe. / ABC

The Biodiversity Foundation for Africa (BFA) was established in 1993 with assistance from the World Conservation Union (IUCN), of which it is now a member. The main goals of the Foundation are to increase understanding of tropical African biodiversity, particularly of the Zambesiaca region, and to promote the aims and objectives of the 2nd World Conservation Strategy, the Global Biodiversity Strategy and the Convention on Biological Diversity. It seeks to achieve this through facilitating and carrying out research and inventory, and by improving institutional capacities and skills. More specifically, this entails: (1) collection, collation, inventory and analysis of biodiversity; (2) increasing the availability of biodiversity information to decision makers, planners and other interested parties; (3) developing strategies and techniques for measuring and monitoring biological resources; and (4) establishing networking links for collecting and disseminating biological data for tropical Africa.

The Foundation has expertise in monitoring savanna woodland from a multidisciplinary perspective. Its efforts focus on monitoring biodiversity in southern African savannas and measuring human impact on them.

The Foundation is involved with IUCN and the Zambezi Society, a conservation NGO, in documenting wetland biodiversity and identifying sites of conservation interest across the Zambezi Basin. Other activities include the production of guides to the natural history of selected areas or groups of organisms, and assisting IUCN, Harare in developing a Biodiversity Information Network for southern Africa.

‘Over the last 20 years, particularly over the last decade, the Zambezi Valley has seen a great change not only in the agricultural technology available, but also in the attitudes of the people living there. Settlement of people from elsewhere in the country has taken place on a large scale, particularly in the mid-Zambezi Valley. These people bring with them not only new ideas but a strong will to achieve more than just a subsistence existence. They have little historical connection to the land and are less inclined to conserve remaining vegetation for traditional reasons. Capital investment, particularly from the State, is very high in comparison to what it was before. Tsetse fly has again been cleared across most of the Valley, and cattle numbers have greatly increased in places. The major effect of the increase in cattle on botanical conservation is not overgrazing but the ability it now gives farmers, through the use of draft oxen, to cultivate heavier soils which were previously unsuitable. The advent of subsidised tractor power has greatly speeded this process up and made soils available for cultivation that are too heavy even for oxen, in particular those supporting tall mopane woodland. Cash-crops such as cotton are now widely planted in some areas, and cultivation expands to the limits imposed by technology and land availability, rather than to the limits of each family’s requirements and labour.’

Timberlake, J.R. & R. Cunliffe. 1997. Sites of Interest for Botanical Conservation in the Communal Lands of the Zambezi Valley in Zimbabwe. Consultant’s report prepared by the Biodiversity Foundation for Africa, Bulawayo. Harare, The Zambezi Society.

CONTACT

Alan Sparrow or Jonathan Timberlake,
Biodiversity Foundation for Africa,
PO Box FM 730, Famona, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe;
Tel. +263.964424 or 964427, Fax +263.9540709,
E-mail bfa@telconet.co.zw
for Jonathan Timberlake, Tel./Fax +263.946529,
E-mail timber@telconet.co.zw;
for Verity Mundy (Administrator) Tel./Fax +263.949413

 

The Flora Zambesiaca region comprises Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It does not include South Africa, whose fauna, flora and conservation priorities are far better known.

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Solomon Islands Development Trust

SIDT’s Village Development Workers are active in various communities, promoting kitchen gardens, improved sanitation, raised kitchens and composting. / GJM

The Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT) strengthens village life by empowering villagers to address environmental issues and improve their lives. In 1984, SIDT initiated an outreach program in which ‘Mobile Team Members’ visited villages. This course of action was chosen because of the unique geography of this country, which includes over 500 islands spread out over a million square miles of ocean. SIDT now focuses on the training of ‘Village Development Workers’. Based in their own communities, they work in close cooperation with government personnel, forming a direct link between the villagers and the authorities.

SIDT produces a number of resource materials, including comic books in Pijin and a bimonthly magazine, LINK. This magazine, which features articles written by villagers, allows rural people to express their thoughts, aspirations and plans for the country’s future. All secondary schools receive free copies of LINK. Plays have also proven to be an effective means of communication. The SEI Theatre Team and Mere Akson (Women’s Action) Theatre Team work together with villagers, presenting plays that address issues such as the effects of logging, efficacy of traditional medical practices, and the value of local foods.

SIDT is investigating ways of harvesting forest products on a sustainable basis. These products include pressed oil from nuts, paper, rattan furniture and honey. A village resource center has been established, in which new garden techniques and technologies are tested.

‘In 1992, SIDT established the Conservation In Development (CID) programme to support forest resource owners in the establishment of forest conservation areas using the Intergrated Conservation and Development (ICAD) approach. This programme provides a vehicle for the extension of SIDT’s resource management awareness work into elaboration of practical sustainable development planning, and technical assistance for the establishment of village based enterprise projects which focus on promoting non-timber products such as ngali nut oil pressing, fibre paper making, eco-tourism and honey production. The success of the CID programme encouraged SIDT, in October 1994, to look towards the establishment of a further unit (the Ecoforestry Unit) to provide technical assistance to resource owners in sustainable forest management. The new EFU programme gives SIDT both the advantage and strength to directly involve and assist resource owners with projects associated with ‘eco-timber’ …

The programme has evolved strict criteria for landowners to become involved, and the standards used for forest management are based on the ITTO’s criteria and the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) Criteria for Forest Management. The key aspects are:

• clear undisputed rights and ownership of the forest lands;
• full clan support for ecoforestry support;
• a community organisation that involves men and women, can make decisions, resolve disputes, and equitably share the benefits;
• landuse plan that clearly identifies reserves and ‘tambu’ areas, garden areas, buffer zones, and the eco-forestry production area;
• minimal environmental impact (generally no roads or soil disturbance); and
• monitoring.’

Anonymous. 1997. Ecoforestry Unit I stat long SIDT. LINK Special 15th Anniversary Issue:28-29.

CONTACT

John Roughan, Solomon Islands Development Trust (SIDT),
P.O. Box 147, Honiara, Solomon Islands;
Tel. +67.7.21130, Fax +67.7.21131,
E-mail sidt@pactok.peg.apc.org

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