vation develop-
ment 2
ment: The way out
for Nepal's food
security 6
tory innovation de-
velopment 8
letter for those interested
in promoting socially and
ecologically responsible
livestock development. It
is produced by the En-
dogenous Livestock De-
velopment with support
from HIVOS-Oxfam No-
vib Biodiversity Fund.
contributions to Evelyn
Mathias,
evelyn@mamud.com
Paul Mundy,
paul@mamud.com
Bayer,
Hooft.
do not necessarily reflect
those of HIVOS-Oxfam
Novib Biodiversity Fund.
support her eight children. Her husband has been ill for many years. A while ago,
her oldest son, a schoolteacher, bought her a modern beehive for 450 birr (about
US$ 50). As this is very expensive, Giday started making similar beehives using
traditional materials such as wood, dung and mud. By widening the spacing be-
tween the frames inside the hive, she found she could harvest about 5 kg more
honey. She built hives for rearing bees as well, and began selling bee colonies for
450500 birr each. Now honey and bee colonies are her main source of income.
so develop new and better ways of managing resources. Starting with what they
have learnt from their parents and grandparents, friends and neighbours, they add
knowledge from other sources, and they modify outside technologies. In contrast to
"indigenous knowledge", which has a static connotation, the term "local innovation"
reflects the dynamics of people's knowledge and its process of expansion.
overlooked the indigenous knowledge and local innovation of the so-called "target
population". But when these efforts failed to improve the farming and livelihood sys-
tems of the poor, outsiders started to have a closer look at what people living under
difficult conditions were doing. The value of indigenous knowledge for development
became obvious in approaches such as participatory appraisal methods and the
documentation and communication activities of the Global Indigenous Knowledge
Network. The Honey Bee Network (page 8) documents and shares indigenous
knowledge and organizes ways to identify and reward local innovators.
the value of indigenous knowledge; it also seeks to mobilize and improve people's
knowledge and management capacities as well as their manipulation of local re-
sources to enhance their use in development.
ognized the potential of building on indigenous knowledge and local innovation.
They are in a good position to bring together local actors with other stakeholders
scientists, educators, governments, development professionals and others. P
innovation: Enhancing IK dynamics and links with scientific knowledge. IK Notes 76.
World Bank, Washington, DC. www.worldbank.org/afr/ik/iknt76.htm. Giday Aregay's
story adapted from: Hailu Araya and Yohannes GebreMichael. 2006. Local and
"modern" innovations: What interests whom? LEISA Magazine 22 (3):2829.
www.prolinnova.net
tors reserve the right to edit contributions and adapt them to the style of the newsletter.
We are also happy to include announcements you may have, provided they are relevant
to the focus of this newsletter. Please send any information for the next issue to Evelyn
Mathias (evelyn@mamud.com).