**5. Findings and analysis**

#### **5.1 TK holders' institutions: nature and existence**

In the case studies, there is evidence of existence of TK holders' institutions, in the form of customary laws, customs, traditions, family secrets, oral agreements, sharing mechanisms, community sanctions, trust, councils of elders, social capital and individuals holding specialised TK.

TK holders' institutions are grassroots decision-making units through which diverse social problems are identified and solutions provided at the local level. For instance, among the Mijikenda, the *kaya* elders seem to perform most of the functions listed by Mowo *et al*. In the Mbeere case study, the main institution in charge of traditional pottery are elderly women [80], who do not have many other roles in the community like the *kaya* elders.

As mentioned earlier, TK holders' institutions are governance frameworks that provide answers to contemporary problems faced by TK holders, as evidenced by the work of *kaya* elders in conservation. As data repositories, they play a central role in the creation, diffusion and application of innovation; while the innovation they generate continues to replenish and strengthen them. This also explains why those institutions can boost and contribute to peace, justice and the building of strong institutions.

Unlike conventional IP institutions, TK holders' institutions take a more inclusive and pragmatic approach to gender, as demonstrated by the prominent role played by elderly Mbeere women in conducting traditional pottery and transmitting those skills to young women. Studies have shown that the IP system does promote gender bias against women innovators and creators ([10], note 8 at 551-584) demonstrating its inappropriateness in promoting and protecting innovative activities by women. Therefore, TK holders' institutions are able to accommodate the participation of women, and even men depending on a given context as aspects of their gender inclusivity in innovation. Further, they thus produce varied innovations that may deal with a wide range of social problems, such as environmental degradation, and poverty that may affect different segments of society.

#### **5.2 Roles of TK holders' institutions in promoting innovation**

TK holders' institutions have a role in advancing innovation. Those institutions (social capital/networks) provide what De Beer *et al* describe as a 'local innovation system' ([42], note 61 at 60). They are the space that supports learning, knowledge production and utilisation; innovation promotion and exchange; and flow of knowledge and innovation ([34], note 52 at 1). In the Mbeere case study, senior women transmit intergenerationally pottery skills and practices to young women,

either through apprenticeships or experiential learning [80]. Similarly, among the *kaya* elders, TK can be passed through divine intervention, for instance, where prophets get information on different calamities, diseases and outbreaks, and pass the same to elders [22]. The respective innovations have thus survived courtesy of the institutional dynamics that allow the flow and transmission of innovation intergenerationally.

TK holders' institutions allow communities to enhance their innovative capacity, and expand their institutional networks, at the local level and beyond. This increases their innovation output, as they access information and learn new techniques of production. The General Coordinator of ABN explained that in their work they 'encourage the sharing of seeds within and outside communities to encourage diversity' [81]. The *kaya* elders have had a collaboration with UNESCO, where the latter supported the formation of the Mijikenda Council of Elders for all the nine sub-communities, and gave funding to hire forest guards [22]. Moreover, UNESCO has donated funds that were used to give awards to *kayas* that are doing well in conservation thus incentivising elders and enhance competitiveness in conservation [22]. Thus, strengthening TK holders' institutions, would correspondingly enable communities to collaborate effectively with relevant actors, and help advance their innovation activities.

TK holders' innovations are mainly geared towards meeting some social goals (drawing parallels with social innovation), and not necessarily profit making. One respondent indicated that 'the driving force for TK holders is not economic but revitalization of knowledge and practices' [81]. Among the Mbeere people, pottery was not done for sale, although nowadays this has changed [80]. Additionally, the goals and expression of TK holders' innovations, at times, have less to do with products, and everything to do with services to society. The innovations tend to take the form of 'services to the land' with huge public benefits in terms of biodiversity, and environmental and climate values, which are not easily convertible into income streams ([35], note 52 at 24). The *kaya* elders have through long interaction with their environment, developed innovative practices and systems for regulating access to the forests, medicinal plants, sacred *kaya* areas, rare species, traditional knowledge and agricultural activities [21]. Moreover, the pottery activities of the Mbeere women contributes to firewood conservation, as the traditional pots retain more heat than normal cooking pots [82]. According to the General Coordinator of African Biodiversity Network (ABN),

*"The greatest contribution of communities to SDGs mostly is in climate change, environment and water. The revival of seeds, biodiversity and ecosystems contributes to SDGs because we work in a holistic manner. This work contributes to adaptation and improved nutritional levels amongst the communities." [81].*

Through bridging social capital, TK holders' institutions act as special vehicles that promote the commercialisation and efficient diffusion of innovation in society ([51], note 76 at 9). For instance, the *kaya* elders have collaborated with TICAH, a CSO, in efforts towards documenting and commercialising their traditional medicine. The *kaya* elders provided knowledge on plants with various healing properties, while TICAH offered training on various ways of preparing drugs for purposes of commercialisation and wider reach of the drugs. The elders indicated that the collaboration was successful, and it helped improve the relationship between the youth and elders [22]. They have also collaborated with NMK in preserving their TK, traditions and cultures, and with the county government of Kilifi in having forest guards to protect the forests [82].

Whereas through collaborations, TK can empower other types of knowledge and innovation ([29], note 43 at 31), as mentioned earlier, collaborations aimed at

#### *Harnessing Traditional Knowledge Holders' Institutions in Realising Sustainable Development… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98802*

commercialisation, may occasion the loss of TK and innovation, especially if they are not carried out through TK holders' institutions. For instance, efforts by the government and some non-governmental organisations to introduce the throwing wheel (a modern technique of making pots instead of hand pottery) among the pottery communities to make the process more efficient and less labour intensive, was rejected by potters so as to preserve the sanctity of cultural and communal processes of knowledge production [83]. Moreover, they may have rejected mechanised production as it is likely to weaken traditional institutions due to less reliance on TK and related practices. Further, they could have been motivated by market demands, since hand-made and home-made crafts and cuisines respectively, tend to attract higher value than mechanised and mass produced/commercial counterparts of the same crafts. To preserve the sanctity of cultural and traditional processes of production, from adulteration and destruction, there is need to strengthen TK holders' institutions.

Further, TK holders' institutions can also facilitate the adaptation of new innovation and technologies to local needs and conditions by, *inter alia,* improving access to, and management of natural resources, sharing experiences, facilitating access to inputs and outputs, offering training, improving the availability of information, strengthening bargaining power with intermediaries and participating in public research and extension ([45], note 65 at 4), ([51], note 76 at 10). For instance, whereas the pottery practices and skills of the Mbeere have been transmitted intergenerationally [80], there are new designs and/or shapes that the community is developing. A good example is vessels designed for planting flowers, which have perforated bases, to serve as flower vases. Such shapes and designs have not been archaeologically discovered ([27], note 35 at 62) meaning they are new additions to the design repertoire.

The fact that TK holders' institutions take a pragmatic approach to gender suggests that they engender inclusivity in innovation processes by enabling women, men and other social groups in a community to participate and benefit from innovations ([11], note 9 at 5). The Mbeere case study shows that TK holders' innovation is gendered. Traditional pottery is a preserve of women since time immemorial, and men only offer ancillary support, such as transportation of large clay bags to the potting sites, or of finished pots to the market [11]. This contrasts with the Mijikenda, where the *kaya* elders are mostly men. Thus, TK holders' innovation and processes have a pragmatic approach to gender, and offer women opportunities to innovate, participate in, and benefit from innovation processes ([12], note 9 at 7). Strengthening TK holders' institutions will allow both men and women to participate in and benefit from innovation, and diversify the innovation and innovation processes, creating more opportunities for the community to better their livelihoods.
