Preserving and Promoting Indigenous Knowledge
The United Nations reports there are over 476 million indigenous people living in 90 countries across the world, accounting for 6.2% of the global population. Of those, there are more than 5,000 distinct groups.
Indigenous communities and indigenous or traditional ancestral knowledge play a crucial role in understanding and adapting to some of the world’s most critical development challenges. This includes climate change, use of natural resources, biodiversity conservation, food security, and promoting and protecting indigenous languages and culture.
Preserving and Promoting Indigenous Knowledge
You can read about the Preserving and Promoting Indigenous Knowledge themed activities delivered by Commonwealth Alumni below – as well as the impact these activities had on their chosen community.
Promoting indigenous medicinal knowledge in Uganda
In March 2024, Commonwealth Alumnus Akusa Patrice Mawa delivered an activity to create awareness on preserving and promoting indigenous knowledge on traditional medicine in Entebbe, Uganda.
Building farmers’ resilience to drought through natural farming in India
In November 2023, Commonwealth Alumnus Meesha Tandon delivered a workshop and training programme for farmers to promote natural farming using indigenous methods and raise awareness on climate resilient agriculture practices in Bundlekhand.
Revitalising indigenous knowledge for effective post-harvest management in Uganda
In October 2023, Commonwealth Alumnus Fredrick Omara delivered a sensitisation workshop and radio awareness talk show to promote IKP to reduce post-harvest losses (PHL) in Uganda.
Promoting indigenous knowledge for sustainable mangrove restoration in Ghana’s Volta River Estuary
From October 2023 to March 2024, Commonwealth Alumnus Sylvanus S. P. Doe delivered a series of awareness activities to promote ways in which mangroves can be sustainably reforested and restored using indigenous ecological knowledge to develop a mangrove restoration project.
Uniting indigenous knowledge and forest management expertise to safeguard Kenya’s Eburru Forest
In August 2023, Commonwealth Alumnus Sylvester Ngome Chisika delivered a sensitisation workshop to share ways of integrating traditional and indigenous methods of biodiversity conservation with modern forest management certification in Eburru Forest.