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 an abundance of initiatives, and activities occurring to develop IK - in health, agriculture, education, natural resource management, and cultural affairs - it is nonetheless, unevenly distributed throughout the four countries: seldom is IK promotion, part of public policy
there is a marked divergence among sectors of development
most IK initiatives have been undertaken in social sectors, much fewer in agriculture, and far lesser initiatives in technology, finance, and engineering
and, practices in the use of African languages are mostly conditioned by a host of other policy concerns. On recognizing the value of IK, suggestions indicate variants, such as taking IK as a heritage of accumulated wisdom, as an embodiment of specific African modes of thought, and, as a means of articulating local know-how. On building the challenge for increased IK, the note recommends the inclusion of IK in development projects, by explicitly involving local actors in the design of intervention methods
by disseminating the methodology for a participatory local development
by identifying centers to become the collective focus of IK
and, by designing pre- and in-service methods for professional training of development.