Social Norms
Social norms action with informed and engaged societies
Social Norms
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at lainiciativadecomunicacion.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Documenting Indigenous Knowledge in Sarawak - Malaysia

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The Sarawak Biodiversity Centre (SBC) is implementing a project that works to empower local communities to maintain, document, and share their Indigenous Knowledge (IK) systems on plant resources - with a focus on the sugar palm, an essential cash crop in the Bidayuh culture. The programme involves promoting IK documentation in local communities through Information Communication Technology (ICT). Community Knowledge Centres facilitate transmission of the knowledge to young people and enable the use of the knowledge in sustainable management of biodiversity and development of agriculture and economy within the communities.
Communication Strategies
Plants, fruits and seeds of all known varieties of the sugar palm in the community are documented and conserved by and for the community. Audio and video recordings of the community's knowledge on the utilisation of the sugar palm are made in the community's own language and deposited in the Community Knowledge Centre. On the basis of the recordings, farmers produce papers that can be registered in the local traditional knowledge/IK register and then re-used by members of the community as well as by research scientists. This register is a formal system in the state that affords legal protection to the documents.
Development Issues
Environment, Agriculture, Technology.
Key Points
In 1998, the government established SBC as a resource centre in Sarawak for biodiversity inventory, monitoring, research, education, utilisation, management, and conservation. Among other things, the SBC assists the state in identifying priorities for research on biodiversity for traditional use among local communities. In Sarawak, there are over 36 ethnic communities, each of which has inherited traditional knowledge from its ancestors. Each group knows its land and is familiar with its environment; the survival of this traditional knowledge, programme organisers worry, is threatened.
Sources

Chapter 2 ("Insights from Existing Initiatives") of "Unlocking economic opportunity in the south through local content: A proposal from the G8 Dotforce" by Peter Armstrong, OneWorld (Editor); Chris Addison, Consultant; Subbiah Arunachalam, MSSRF; Peter Ballantyne, IICD; Hugo Besemer, Consultant; Diane Cabell, Harvard Law School; Pete Cranston, OneWorld; James Jeynes, Accenture; Barbara Keating, OneWorld; Eric Saltzman, Berkman Center, Harvard Law School; John West, Consultant - March 2002. For a copy of the full report, please see Open Knowledge Workspace page on DGroups site, which can be accessed from DGroups site. Or contact Peter Armstrong, Director, One World peter.armstrong@oneworld.net

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Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/30/1999 - 00:00 Permalink

When I have to consult information on communication projects I always look at the Comminit page info.