**5. Conclusion**

Modern scientific knowledge is a part of the top-down model of development that is the hallmark of multilateral development agencies that promote MSKS as the only solution to development problems. These agencies' claims for success in terms of improvement of the quality of life across the planet are risible, given the state of human civilization today, where, in most of the developing world, basic community needs remain unmet, despite more than half a century of 'development' engagement on the part of the multilateral agencies, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and United Nations Development Program. This is especially true of rural areas and in the bulk of the overburdened and degraded urban centres. Slums and informal settlements are the urban habitat of rural folk who have been displaced from their environments and thrown into the city. These displacements occur because of infrastructural development projects that are usually state-sponsored, of a large-scale and focused on resource extraction, energy production, transportation and communication. Very little of the infrastructural development is focused locally and hence local needs remain unmet.

This is especially true in the need areas that are critical for survival and flourishing. Clean air and water, adequate clothing and shelter, safe and healthy food, renewable energy, accessible and affordable healthcare, accessible, affordable and quality education, as well as information and communication technologies are the minimum that need to be provided to a society in order for that society to not just survive, but to prevail and flourish. The fact that adequately meeting these needs remains a pipe dream for most developing country inhabitants, especially those in rural areas and congested urban cores, is reflective of the failure of traditional development paradigms and models.

The AT movement from its start, going as far back to the colonial era when Gandhi was in the midst of his non-violent struggle for Indian independence, and continuing on through ATs actual articulation in the 1970s with Shumaker and *Small is Beautiful* has as a rationale for its existence the failures of the traditional development models.

The importance of IKS in this context becomes even more critical and significant. IKS provide tremendous knowledge and technology resource bases that tend to be sustainable, and which also focus on addressing needs in appropriate cultural contexts. IKS already have a head start in terms of sustainability. This recognition has led to proposals for the establishment of Institutes for Indigenous Science and Technology (IIKS, 2012 [17]), and work on the fusion and integration of MSKS with IKS. Anamuah-Mensah and Asabere-Ameyaw [31] promulgate the notion of fusing indigenous knowledge systems education with the regular school curriculum. They have convincingly argued for indigenous knowledge systems and the study of IKS, demonstrating how various impacts and outcomes of such engagement. Outcomes include the engagement of teachers, who are community members, in curriculum development that does not devalue indigenous knowledge but focuses on integrating these into the curricula. Using indigenous knowledge can have tremendous benefits in terms of the being able to link disparate disciplines with its intrinsic multi-disciplinarity and interdisciplinary approach. The potential to deal with linkages with the environment, with culture and how these engage with development objectives is there and should be taken advantage of. In this way, IKS and the modern scientific knowledge system are also brought closer together, further strengthening the thematic and disciplinary linkages between IKS and appropriate technology development. This also enables the articulation of the complementarity of IKS and MSKS, even while employing MSKS to validate IKS; the balance between the informal of IKS and the rigour and formality of MSKS is not envisioned as contradictory.

These and other questions underscore the importance of a thorough understanding of, and appreciation for indigenous knowledge and indigenous knowledge systems, and how these can contribute holistically and sustainably to the development of communities in a participa-

Modern scientific knowledge is a part of the top-down model of development that is the hallmark of multilateral development agencies that promote MSKS as the only solution to development problems. These agencies' claims for success in terms of improvement of the quality of life across the planet are risible, given the state of human civilization today, where, in most of the developing world, basic community needs remain unmet, despite more than half a century of 'development' engagement on the part of the multilateral agencies, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and United Nations Development Program. This is especially true of rural areas and in the bulk of the overburdened and degraded urban centres. Slums and informal settlements are the urban habitat of rural folk who have been displaced from their environments and thrown into the city. These displacements occur because of infrastructural development projects that are usually state-sponsored, of a large-scale and focused on resource extraction, energy production, transportation and communication. Very little of the infrastructural development is focused locally and

This is especially true in the need areas that are critical for survival and flourishing. Clean air and water, adequate clothing and shelter, safe and healthy food, renewable energy, accessible and affordable healthcare, accessible, affordable and quality education, as well as information and communication technologies are the minimum that need to be provided to a society in order for that society to not just survive, but to prevail and flourish. The fact that adequately meeting these needs remains a pipe dream for most developing country inhabitants, especially those in rural areas and congested urban cores, is reflective of the failure of

The AT movement from its start, going as far back to the colonial era when Gandhi was in the midst of his non-violent struggle for Indian independence, and continuing on through ATs actual articulation in the 1970s with Shumaker and *Small is Beautiful* has as a rationale for its

The importance of IKS in this context becomes even more critical and significant. IKS provide tremendous knowledge and technology resource bases that tend to be sustainable, and which also focus on addressing needs in appropriate cultural contexts. IKS already have a head start in terms of sustainability. This recognition has led to proposals for the establishment of Institutes for Indigenous Science and Technology (IIKS, 2012 [17]), and work on the fusion and integration of MSKS with IKS. Anamuah-Mensah and Asabere-Ameyaw [31] promulgate the notion of fusing indigenous knowledge systems education with the regular school curriculum. They have convincingly argued for indigenous knowledge systems and the study

tory, just, equitable and environmentally non-impactful manner.

**5. Conclusion**

130 Indigenous People

hence local needs remain unmet.

traditional development paradigms and models.

existence the failures of the traditional development models.

An approach to the integration of indigenous knowledge into the development paradigm, which has been suggested in other forms before [30], is diagrammed in **Figure 1**.

Alongside the use of MSKS to validate IKS, developing country governments serious about sustainable development must engage their institutional and academic scientists and researchers with informal science practitioners. Academic administrators, as well as educational curriculum and program developers have to buy into a new vision, which elevates indigenous knowledge to a position and level where it becomes part of the knowledge resource base available to the field. Building an effective interface between modern scientific knowledge and indigenous knowledge will substantively enhance capacity building capabilities and potential for successful and sustainable appropriate technology development and deployment.

**Figure 1.** Heuristic for integration of MSKS into IKS for AT development and implementation. (Adapted from Aluma [32].)
