Decolonised and transformative knowledge to address critical global challenges

Budd Hall and Rajesh Tandon explore how evidence for policy or practical change emerges from knowledge created by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities as they address climate crisis and adaptation. Synthesising learning from case studies in Asia, Latin America, Africa and Indigenous Canada, they outline learning about values, principles, ethics and methods.

Knowledge and the Challenges of our times

We are facing an all too familiar set of global challenges. In this blog, we explore ways in which evidence for policy or practical change emerges from knowledge created by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities as they address climate crisis and adaptation. We also suggest that to advance and address the complex challenges facing humanity, new knowledge is needed. But whose knowledge? What kinds, and from what sources? Are new understandings of knowledge relevant, as well as those previously ignored or rejected? And how might knowledge created through community action contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal agenda?

An international collaboration with case studies drawn from Asia, Latin America, Africa and Indigenous Canada, the DECODE Knowledge Project aims to systematise existing practices of community and Indigenous-led participatory research from a variety of networks to draw lessons about the values, principles, ethics and methods that can support multi-dimensional impacts on climate resilience. Guided by a gender and decolonial lens, it builds on theoretical understandings of knowledge democracy and the recognition of community knowledge cultures.

Knowledge democracy principles include the recognition of epistemic diversity, decolonised knowledge, and respect for community and Indigenous ways of knowing. Knowledge democracy involves the co-construction of knowledge between academics and community knowledge holders. It encourages social and relational ways of representing, validating and acting upon knowledge including through arts-based, participatory, storytelling and ceremonial methods. Finally, knowledge democracy calls for free and open access to research and the rejection of paywall-based knowledge products. Each of these steps, we believe, is central to developing locally contextualized and actionable knowledge that can address the UN SDGs.

Three case studies of Indigenous and community-led research

We explore this potential in three community-based case studies. These are selected from the cases informing DECODE’s comparative analysis, from which we also share key findings.

Food from the Forest: The Himalayan Action Research Centre (HARC) supported the creation of The Women’s Cooperative, Alaknanda Krishi Vyavsya Bahuudeshya Swayat Sahkarita (HAKVBSS), located in Uttarakhand, India, to engage in sustainable agriculture and use traditional knowledge to produce high-value, wild edibles for the marketplace. This community-based initiative aimed to empower women, preserve traditional practices, and enhance livelihood resilience against climate change.

Regenerating Acholi Traditional Knowledge: Regenerative practices helped to cultivate and share traditional Acholi knowledge, address climate change, and empower women in Uganda. The partnership between the Gulu University and Wise Women Uganda bridged traditional and scientific knowledge while supporting regenerative practices, community-based healthcare, and educational capacity.

Connecting Indigenous-led research through climate, water and health issues: During the COVID-19 pandemic, research teams engaged directly with community members from Tŝilhqot’in First Nation and Qwelmínte Secwépemc First Nation to better understand the relationships between the forests and rivers of central British Colombia, and how those relationships impact on interconnected climate and health issues.

10 learnings about values, principles, ethics and methods

1. Indigenous knowledge is not the enemy of academic knowledge. These case studies show how interactions between community knowledge keepers and academic researchers can support the production of contextualized and actionable knowledge.
2. Indigenous knowledge is more than know-how. It is part of community culture and identity and embedded in a spiritual worldview with values of sustainability, conservation and inclusion, expressed in local languages and dialects.
3. The practical needs of a community can define new knowledge production and mobilization. When academic researchers integrate these in defining shared research agendas, interest in mutualistic partnerships can develop.
4. The recognition of distinctive community or Indigenous knowledge cultures can encourage the building and nurturing of partnerships of mutual respect and trust over time. This means those working in academia listening to and respecting knowledge from either community sectors or Indigenous Peoples experience.
5. The bridging of different knowledge cultures can be facilitated by diverse intermediaries, specific to each context. For example HARC, a Himalayan-based NGO, played a pivotal role in bringing women’s knowledge of forest edible foods to the forefront of their cooperative. In Gulu, Uganda, the Knowledge for Change Hub, part of a global network of knowledge hubs, facilitated the emergence of women’s knowledge about forest regeneration.
6. Methods of Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR), especially those that are arts-based and culturally appropriate, have been useful to support the inclusion of community knowledge in the entire research process. This can support the creation of safer spaces for more authentic collaboration.
7. Multiple forms of knowledge dissemination have been deployed to reach a diversity of stakeholders. Both academic and popular forms of knowledge sharing have proven necessary. Wise Women Uganda presented their work on a local radio in Northern Uganda. Community meetings were held led by Indigenous language speakers and knowledge keepers in Canadian First Nations communities.
8. Women’s leadership and knowledge are central to many community-led initiatives. Further evidence is being sought to explore how gender relations in the community can be transformed through the public articulation of women’s holistic knowledge about nature (land, forest, water, plants, animals).
9. Open discussion and agreements about knowledge sharing, knowledge ownership, and benefit sharing have proven key to building and sustaining trusting partnerships. Conversations about these ethical issues need to be held from the beginning and continue throughout the partnership.
10. Co-management and co-governance mechanisms between community and academic partners support impactful knowledge mobilization and sustained impacts. Community-driven co-management protocols help, even when formal arrangements of collaborative governance are not institutionalized.

An invitation to conversation

The DECODE knowledge project is moving into a phase of peer learning. While we explore additional case studies we are developing a new knowledge platform and want to hear from others interested in the role of locally contextualized and action-oriented knowledge applied to the climate crisis and other UN SDG themes. Do you have evidence that communities, social movements and Indigenous Peoples’ place or land-based knowledge can impact policy and practice? Want to join the conversation? Join our series of regional webinars highlighting lessons learned from this work to date.

The DECODE Knowledge Project is funded by the International Development Research Centre. You can connect with Budd Hall on email or LinkedIn, and Rajesh Tandon on email, LinkedIn and Twitter/X.