Knowledge in action: Local knowledge as a development resource and barriers to its incorporation in natural resource research and development

Abstract

Local knowledge (LK) cannot be assumed to be a necessary resource in development. The case must be argued successfully in the face of other development approaches which are indifferent or hostile to it. This paper identifies three distinct development approaches (or paradigms), the classic, neo-liberal, and neo-populist, which view the role of LK in the dynamics of technical change in different ways. Each approach often incorporates elements of various paradigms into strategy statements and policy or project documents. This paper focuses on the role of LK in natural resource (NR) research and development at the ‘development interface’. Here, stakeholders bring both local and scientific knowledge to the interface and, in relation to the dominant paradigm within which external actors operate, together produce an outcome termed ‘Knowledge-in-Action’ (KIA). Six ways in which KIA is produced are characterised, and it is recommended that priority be given to those likely to produce synergy. The paper also reviews the degree to which the ODA (UK) has so far integrated LK into natural resource development projects. The paper identifies a number of structural and behavioural barriers to a greater role for LK in natural resource research and development.