Building on the strengths of African indigenous knowledge and innovation (AIK&I) for sustainable development in Africa

Abstract

The effective promotion or utilization of the ingenuity from African indigenous knowledge and innovation (AIK&I) has great potential for reducing some of Africa’s interrelated development challenges listed to be addressed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Unfortunately, the concept of ‘sustainable development’ as construed in the SDGs does not seem to take into consideration the indigenous perspective to sustainable attainment of the listed goals in its agenda. This makes sustainability difficult. AIK&I, in spite of its immense value in ensuring sustainable development, its practice is faced with varied challenges especially in Africa. This paper, using exploratory, descriptive and historical method of analysis, aims to showcase some documented success story of AIK&I practices in strategic sectors across selected African countries’ economies, specifically their utility and significance in resources management, conservation, among others for sustainable development. This is with a view to showing its capacity for driving sustainable development and disabusing the widely held view and impression that Africans have not made any significant contribution to knowledge, history and civilization. It is also to provoke academic discourse and research on the best way to make IK practices more scientific and value free.