ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that there is the potential to create a digital project that responds to, and operates within, broadly defined development frameworks but that simultaneously has significance and value for people in their everyday lives in local contexts in Africa. The chapter considers some of the possible reasons for the current lack of contributions of African knowledge by Africans on the continent and poses certain questions. How might we create a new African knowledge platform that encourages and enables multiple contributions from everyday people, allowing them to express in their own languages their local understandings, knowledge and lived experiences? How might such a project better equip them with skills and literacies to participate in an increasingly digital world? How might such a platform be positioned in terms of empowering everyday people while still supporting a number of development agendas?
The chapter approaches these issues by briefly presenting debates around development and modernity. It goes on to offer insights drawn from a detailed and critical analysis of the Ulwazi Programme, a pioneering local knowledge initiative of the eThekwini Municipality in Durban, South Africa. Using the Ulwazi Programme as a case study, the chapter explores how information communication technologies (ICTs) and local knowledge in local languages might be employed to empower everyday people in Africa who currently lack access to resources that are in their own languages, and which are relevant to their everyday lives. The chapter then presents a theory of change for a practical project, a “Local Knowledge Platform”, which it proposes could contribute to:
Developing various forms of literacy and digital skills
Recording and improving access to relevant knowledge
Promoting local languages and knowledge
Supporting social inclusion and cohesion
Contributing to a knowledge society and economy
