The management of indigenous knowledge (IK) initiatives in Swaziland.

Abstract

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) is an important resource which needs to be collected and preserved for present and future generations and also disseminated in every possible way. Muswazi (2001) states that Swaziland has an immense quantity of IK dealing with almost every aspect of daily life such as food production, preparation and preservation; agriculture; leadership; medicinal plants and their use and so on. It is therefore important that this useful information be well managed to be accessible for present and future generations. If not well managed, its abundance would be of no significance to potential users. IK if appropriately utilised, can enhance productivity and development. A lack of knowledge or inappropriate use of it, can lead to poor decision making and generally impact negatively on production and development. The fact that IK systems are at risk of becoming extinct pose a very big challenge to the Swaziland National Library (SNL), the Swaziland National Archives (SNA), the Swaziland National Museum (SNM) and the University of Swaziland (UNISWA) Library which are sites for this study. This is because among other functions they are tasked with managing IK. This present study was conducted to investigate the strategies used by the four institutions to collect and preserve IK for future use. This study adopted the qualitative research methodology. The study population consisted of four administrators and eleven staff members dealing with the management of IK in the four institutions. Semi-structured interviews and observation were used as data collection tools. Information gathered through the interviews was analysed using content analysis and then presented in the form of tables and graphs.