Though the development, articulation, and systematization of indigenous knowledge in Africa are most often seen as issues of culture and local epistemology, they have at the same time critical power dimensions. The relation between local knowledge bases - and practitioners - on the one hand and...

Based on research from an evaluation of functional adult literacy during the late 70s, focused on peanut-growing in the western region of Mali, results demonstrated that while literacy programs only attained its full quantitative objectives in just a few localities, the vast majority of...

One of the down-sides of worldwide agricultural development, has been the replacement of native plant species by marketable crops, accompanied by a reduction in the diversity of the seed stock. This accounts for the disappearance of plants with potential medicinal uses, particularly in high...

Indigenous knowledge in West African schools, has yet to gain its stand in the official education sector in order to certify knowledge, and train the next generation, a sector seemingly unlikely to embrace local knowledge, or regard indigenous science as a legitimate source of inspiration....

The note identifies the essential ingredients - employment, meaning, and self-direction - through examples that represent efforts to fill the void in apprenticeship of adult roles, for impoverished young people thrown out of a traditional framework, and into the vortex of African cities. And...

Whereas evaluation has often been considered an activity required by donors, but fundamentally foreign to local culture, there is however plenty which has been done recently to develop participatory, and empowering modes of program evaluation, giving local stakeholders active roles, and a say in...

The note examines regional planning, and future participatory methods for economic development in West Africa, based on the work carried out by the Club du Sahel - a branch of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - responsible for coordinating northern donor agencies,...

At a time when the fate of national representative government in Senegal, still hangs in the balance, a variety of grassroots organizations is seemingly, and unexpectedly laying some of the groundwork for future change. Notions of "democracy" - adapted to local Senegalese conditions - are being...

The note examines methods for grassroots dissemination, from results of African research on the themes of decentralization and local capacity building, but in a manner that would include both the disseminators, and targeted audiences, to critique the studies, analyzing related experiences, 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...