The low productivity of agricultural crops is among the factors leading to low income and food insecurity for rural people in the Southern Zone of Tanzania. The use of improved seeds is one way of increasing the productivity of agricultural crops. It was realized that the seed supply pipeline...

The note looks at the results of a Bank mission for the development of indigenous knowledge (IK) in Francophone Africa, namely in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon, which was based on consultations with private-public counterparts involved in promoting its development. Although there is...

Female genital mutilation is wide-spread throughout many regions of Africa and elsewhere. It is usually perpetrated during early childhood and has serious consequences for the medical, gynecological, and obstetrical well-being of girls. These effects persist throughout the childbearing years and...

This note reviews the Rural Extended Services and Care for Ultimate Emergency Relief (RESCUER) project in Uganda, started as an initiative to address strategies for expanding the maternal referral system, and improving the Traditional Birth Attendants (ABE) assistance. The project design...

This case study describes how farmers in Bonam, a village in rural Burkina Faso, predict seasonal rainfall, and, examines how their forecasts relate to scientific ones. The research shows that farmers are used to operate in multiple cognitive frameworks, though are interested in receiving...

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 majority of Ethiopians depend on medical plants as their only source of health care, especially in rural areas where access to villages is lacking due to the absence of vehicular roads. The increasing scarcity of medicinal plant species represents a trend that should be immediately...

The link between the documentation of local knowledge and the dissemination of useful local technologies to farmers is generally weak in the indigenous technology development process. To fill gap, the Uluguru Mountains Agricultural Development Project (UMADEP) has been working with local farmers...

Indigenous healing has shown itself to be an effective treatment for the trauma suffered by children in war-torn countries of Africa. Recent experience in Mozambique demonstrates that other dimensions of local culture may be just as important in socially "grounding" a generation of young people...

The note reviews the cultural role of traditional healers in communities in Ghana, and Zambia, as one of the best hopes for treating, and stemming the spread of AIDS. However, healers rely on medicinal plants which have significantly decreased, as their habitats are lost through deforestation,...