IKM’s belief in collaboration and collective effort is reflected in our Project Profile. To us, culture lies at the heart of sustainable development, together with economic, social and environmental concerns. In fact, IKM has contributed time to the preparation of the successful nomination dossiers of two of Africa's newest World Heritage Sites, and is currently involved in the nomination of a third African cultural landscape for inscription on the World Heritage List. Our involvement in partner projects usually goes beyond simple milestones. For instance in declared heritage sites we continue to assist local communities in Local Economic Development (LED) planning. Below are some examples of the types of initiatives that attract IKM support:
Information sharing and knowledge management: The web-based information sharing platform and associated toolkit known as DLIST (Distance Learning and Information Sharing Tool) which has given rise to several applications targeting a dozen African countries. One example is DLIST Benguela (http://www.dlist.org), which is an excellent example of the synergy and collaboration of IKM members and its broader network of partners.
Participative filmmaking: We have made a number of films, either as free standing documentaries or participative filmmaking, including ones where local people were trained to use simple video cameras and film their environment and heritage. The one-hour film Getting our Land Back covers the struggle of the Richtersveld community to get land back from which they have been re-possessed (see: www.fopfilms.com). Namaqualand’s Blood Diamonds focuses on the environmental and social damage inflicted by mines.
Coastal community capacity building: CoastCare is a national government poverty alleviation programme of the Department of Environmental Affairs in South Africa, which is implemented at the grassroots level in South Africa. IKM assisted community members in the Northern Cape to gaine benefit from the programme and start its own businesses.
Integrated and participative planning: The Orange River Mouth Ramsar Site straddles the border of Namibia and South Africa. In this instance, we have assisted a group of stakeholders, including local government and the Richtersveld community, to develop a planning framework and prepare proposals to assist in its implementation. IKM implemented a UNDP-funded project in the ORM, with the goal of returning the ORM and coastal belt to a functioning ecosystem which is appreciated and wisely managed, and can provide economic development opportunities to help alleviate poverty in the area. The main objectives were to build the capacity of youth, decision makers and local people, and to support livelihood planning in the ORM amongst local communities and to develop a Land Use Plan for the future management of the area. Another example is the Ae!Hai Kahalari Heritage Park consists of land that were returned to the Khomani San and Mier Communities after a successful land restitution land claim. IKM and some of its partners developed the management plan for the heritage park which is part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park between South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
Networking: IKM has been involved in the establishment of a number of networks. Most recently it facilitated the establishment of the Benguela Youth Ocean Network that focuses on the ocean and coastal areas of the Benguela Current that flanks the West Coast of South Africa, Namibia and Angola. In earlier days it supported the SARUNO network (http://www.saruno.org) that started when school children from the arid western part of South Africa, Russia and Norway came together to pool their energies to address the burning need to provide sufficient clean water for people across the globe.
Capacity building in rural areas: One example is the Richtersveld Sida !Hub Community Property Organisation (CPA), representing a community that received its land back from which it had been dispossessed during the Apartheid era in South Africa.
Cultural Landscape Mapping: The Micheweni District of Pemba Island, Zanzibar, has benefitted from an extensive cultural landscape mapping exercise supported by the Government of Zanzibar with UNDP funding and technical assistance from IKM. The cultural landscape mapping is rich in ancient mosques and other sites of cultural and archaeological significance. In addition, IKM is providing Cultural Landscape Mapping support to an ongoing heritage inventory of the transfrontier area between southern Namibia and South Africa. (see also: http://book.ecoafrica.co.za).
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