Speaker: Sarah Cummings, Knowledge Ecologist Presentation at the Eldis 20th Anniversary event "Learning from 20 years of digital knowledge sharing for global development" held at IDS on Thursday 15 September 2016 and Friday 16 September 2016. A video of this presentation is available at: https://youtu.be/wdtP1aXInTk

1. The SDGs and local knowledge
for development
Challenges and opportunities
Sarah Cummings, Knowledge Ecologist
Eldis 20th Anniversary Workshop
15 September 2016

2.  EADI IMWG, IKM Emergent, KM4Dev and Dgroups
 Results from two papers
 Research at Athena Institute of the VU University
which focuses on transdisciplinary research
 Local knowledge and social capital for sustainable
development
Background

3.  Traditional/modern, local/global, indigenous/non-
indigenous
 Links to sustainability because of environmental
knowledge
 Local knowledge is marginalized
 Example of ‘local’ academic knowledge
 The field of development studies
Systemic challenges facing local
knowledge

4. Dahdouh-Gubas et al (2003)
 2798 articles from the Current Contents database
 Research carried out in the 48 least developed countries.
 70% articles did not have co-authors from the developing country
 Life Sciences having a much higher rate of collaboration (65%) than Basic
and Applied Sciences (27%) and Social and Human Sciences (5%)
 Explanations: lack of confidence, ignorance, negligence, or neo-colonial
science?
Marginalisation of academics from
developing countries

5.  10 journals, including EJDR
 Web of Science interface for authors
 Journal websites for Editorial Board (backed up with
individual searches to identify gender)
 329 editorial board members
 2112 articles
 Period 2012-2014
Data collection

6.  Authors located in developing countries on average
14% of all affiliations
 Authors in UK and USA dominating with 41.1% 0f all
affiliations
 Other 45% from other developed countries
 9% of editorial board members from developing
countries
 Dominance of key institutions in editorial boards
 Women roughly 30% of editorial boards
Conclusions from the data

7. Links between the top 11 institutions and the
editorial boards of the 10 journals

8. Development is, most of all, the result of the synergy
among millions of innovative initiatives people take every
day in their local societies, generating new and more
effective ways of producing, trading, and managing their
resources and their institutions. The work of policy
makers and development agencies may contribute greatly
to the success of those initiatives, may shape them, or
may undermine those efforts. (Ferreira, 2009, p.99)
Development is endogenous

9.  New paradigm for sustainable development for all
countries
 First universal, unified agenda
‘The spread of information and communications technology
and global interconnectedness has great potential to
accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to
develop knowledge societies, as does scientific and
technological innovation across areas as diverse as medicine
and energy’ (UN, 2015: 9).
Do the SDGs redress the balance in
favour of local knowledge?

10.  ‘the overriding mentality is still that developing
countries are vessels to be filled with knowledge and
ideas’ (Ramalingam, 2015)
 the lack of reference to local knowledge
(International Council for Science/International Social
Science Council, 2015)
 failure to recognise that development needs to be
based on developing countries’ experiences and
realities (Leach, 2013)
Knowledge in the SDGs?

11.  Critical discourse analysis
 Adapted methodology to take into account sub-
discourses and the history of past discourses
 Technical-scientific-economic discourse
 Pluralist-participatory discourse
Analysis of knowledge and
knowledge societies in the SDGs

12. Techno-scientific-economic
discourse
Pluralist-participatory discourse
Main proponents
Policies of, for example, USA, Japan,
EU, Singapore, Slovenia
UNESCO, Mansell, Stehr, Castells
National governments International organisations, academics,
development practitioners
Conceptual provenance
Symbolic value
Symbolic power of socio-economic
development based on knowledge
Universal access to knowledge
Knowledge societies as a
source of development
Transformational value of knowledge
Approach to problem solving
Linear approach to technical
problems
Non-linear, emergent approach to
complex problems
Emphasis on scientific knowledge Combination of practical
experimentation with scientific
knowledge
Need for collective thinking
Multiple knowledge are needed to solve
complex problems
Hierarchy of knowledge
Primacy of scientific and
technological knowledge
Pluralism
Lack of cultural and linguistic
diversity
Cultural and linguistic diversity
Failure to recognise the value of local
knowledge
Recognising the value of local
knowledge
Approach to development
Exogenous development Endogenous development
Ownership of knowledge
Role of technology

13.  knowledge and knowledge societies are very marginal to
the SDGs
 Only one reference to local knowledge as ‘traditional
knowledge’ in Goal 2: End hunger
 techno-scientific-economic discourse is the dominant
discourse at the level of implementation and goals
 Some evidence to pluralist-participatory discourse at the
level of vision and strategy
 Vision and strategy are transformational
 Implementation, goals and targets appear to represent
business as usual
Do the SDGs redress the balance in
favour of local knowledge?

14.  Marginalisation of developing country-based authors in
scientific publishing
 A view of development which focuses on exogenous
knowledge, also evident in the field of development
studies although there are signs of change (Oldekop et al
2016)
 Marginalisation of local knowledge within the SDGs
 Emphasis on technical-scientific-economic discourse of
knowledge in the SDGs ‘business as usual’
 The pluralist-participatory approach – which values local
knowledge is virtually absent
Overview of the challenges

15.  ‘…reflection upon knowledge societies and how to build them makes it
possible to rethink development itself’ (UNESCO 2015)
 The Knowledge Development Goals to be developed in Vienna in October
are an opportunity to redress the balance in favour of knowledge for
development – statements are requested, follow KM4Dev for news
 New models of development publishing: guidelines and new journal
business models (such as the ‘Knowledge Management for Development
Journal’)
 Critical discourse analysis emphasises need to create new discourses
through new alternative narratives
 Possibility to work on a Brighton Declaration tomorrow – as a new discourse
- in which we could outline some possible solutions to the challenges
identified at this meeting
Opportunities and possibilities

16. Thank you for your attention!