The institute will be a strategic tool in social transformation in its advancement of the paradigm shift in knowledge production, utilization and sharing. This includes advancing the democracy of knowledge systems in the global knowledge economy and mitigating the disjuncture between learning and living in the education and sustainable development process in Africa through integration of theory and practice.
The Institute’s transformation models and scenarios involve:
- Recognition of multiplicity of knowledge systems as culturally and place-based
- Involvement of IK-holders and practitioners in in knowledge production promoting community ownership and relevance
- Recognition of symbiotic relationship between humans and other forms of life, including spirituality
- Advancing indigenous world views, epistemologies, participatory knowledge production methodologies, belief and value systems
- Appreciation of impact of culture and ecosystems in knowledge production, utilization and dissemination
- Building an active citizenry through mobilization of community-based knowledge systems; and the holistic, cultural, multi-trans-disciplinary and community-based nature of IKS facilitates the complementarity of knowledge systems
The inter-relationship of the different scenarios is illustrated in Figure 1 below.
