For more than 15 years (from 1996 – 2011) the COMPAS network programme brought together experiences of NGOs in 12 countries (in South America, Africa, Asia and Europe) concerning their initiatives to support endogenous development: development based mainly, but not exclusively, on local values, knowledge, institutions and resources. The experiences have led to a better understanding of the role of biological and cultural diversity and of endogenous knowlege in development programmes. They have allowed those involved to articulate a number of basic principles uderlying the support of endogenous development.
Endogenous development is based on local people’s criteria for development and is aiming at their material, social and spiritual well-being. It is a process of change that places major importance in working with local communities and starting from people’s own worldviews, resources, strategies, and initiatives as the basis for development. It considers not only the material, but also the socio-cultural and the spiritual traditional and modern resources people have access to, in order to broaden options when formulating appropriate development paths. The process highlights the problems that many rural people experience when engaging with Western-based approaches that adopt a narrow materialistic and essentiallly economic vision of development.
To facilitate exchange of experiences and discussion on process and outcome, the COMPAS network has published a magazine (COMPAS Magazine on Endogenous Development, later called Endogenous Development Magazine). In several workshops and converences the experiences gained in the COMPAS network programme, together with experiences from the wider network, were discussed and assessed and conclusions on what has been learned were drawn. These efforts resulted in several COMPAS publications, compilated knowledge overviews as well as proceedings and training guides (see the COMPAS and CAPTURED publication list). Several of the COMPAS partners compilated overviews based on the endogenous knowledge of their own region (India, Africa, Asia).
Universities were also involved in the COMPAS programme and since 2008 three universities (in Ghana, Bolivia and India) have been working together in a special programme to build their own capacities for supporting endogenous development and implementing programmes for endogenous education and research: the CAPTURED programme.
In the process, the participating universities have acquired more insights into the social relevance and the foundations of the specific ways of knowing in their own cultures. Despite the marginal position of endogenous knowledge, in each case endogenous knowledge has great impact on the decision making in many areas of local people’s lives: farming, health practices, the ways in which communities use water, land, plants and animals, the ways in which they organise themselves, and the ways in which they express and live their spiritual life and values.
The aim of endogenous development is to empower local communities to take control of their own development process. While revitalising ancestral and local knowlege, endogenous development helps local people select those external resources that best fit the local conditions. Endogenous development leads to increased biodiversity and cultural diversity, reduced environmental degradation, and a self-sustaining local and regional exchange.
39 Issues in this Publication (Showing issues 5009 - 5001) Previous
Book 013 Learning Together: Developing Inclusive Knowledges and Sciences #13 - 01.01.2010
This guide book is a joint production of the partners of the CAPTURED programme. It is being compiled on the basis of the experiences and expertise of the members: The University for Development Studies in Tamale, Ghana, AGRUCO of the Universidad Mayor de San Simon in Cochabamba, Bolivia and The Foundation for the Revitalisation of Local Health Traditions, Bangalore, India. It also builds heavily on the experiences of the Compas programme coordinated by ETC Foundation in the Netherlands and of the Centre for Development and Environment of the University in Bern.
Book 014 Learning Endogenous Development: Building on Bio-Cultural Diversity, Vol. 2, #14 - 01.01.2010
This book contains a number of examples of research methods that can be used by researchers as possible approaches to be adapted and modified for the specific research in question. But it also contains a number of questions that need to be answered in the course of the Captured program. We therefore offer reflections, frame conditions, challenges, options and possible examples. We hope and expect that students and researchers will take a critical look at all these, and use them as a source of inspiration and as a way to trigger the creativity to design specific research methodologies for each research project.
Book 015 Towards Co-Creation of Sciences #15 - 01.01.2012
The objective of this book is to stimulate co-creation of sciences through an inter-cultural and inter-scientific dialogue – a dialogue in which each way of knowing expresses itself, where differences are positively and respectfully considered, and where options for complementarity (and aspects of potential incommensurability) may become clear.
The book is written for students, development workers, scientists and policy makers in different cultures who are interested in cultural diversity, the implications of international cooperation and the potential of enhancing endogenous knowledge at community level, and in colleges and universities. The authors hope to stimulate dialogues between the sciences that have emerged from and function in the different cultures
Book 016 Emotional Integration & Awakening, #16 - 01.01.2005
Now the era of endogenous development is emerging, which should fly with two wings - (i) the sustainability, (ii) stability and walk with local values and resources and also judiciously blend with suitable modern values and knowledge systems and vise versa. It should work on sociologically acceptable, economically viable, environmentally sound and culturally ethical principles. Therefore this new endogenous development concept, if it is to be truly achieved and attained, unlike the previous development models, it should evolve new methodologies and strategies with the components for promotion of group dynamism on physical and emotional (mind and heart) lines (emotional integration) and with capacity building activities.
Book 017 A User's Guide on Ethnoveterinary Health Practices #17 - 01.01.2005
An estimate in 1996 shows that the gap in demand and supply of veterinary healthcare products is Rs 7600 to10500 million. Veterinary care reaches to only 20% of livestock owners. Hence, there enormous scope to develop standardized herbal products for veterinary health care. The key issues ethnoveterinary is expected to resolve are: 1. Reduction in the cost of health care among the milch animals of dairy farmers, 2. Reduction in the antibiotic and hormone residues in the milk by using the safe, effective and standardized products based on time tested local traditions, 3. Provision of timely veterinary service to farmers in response to the primary health care needs of the livestock and 4. Contribution to the economy of the local producers.
Book 018 Module on Indian Medical Pluralism: A Concept Presentation - 01.01.2004
Context of this Module:
- Global resurgence of the idea of medical pluralism. Around 40% of population is seeking health in a pluralistic way and is well accepted among lay people both in the developed world and the developing countries.
- Recognition of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) both in academic and legal systems in the developed world
- Public institutions have been slow to respond to public demand for pluralism
- Different systems have their own inherent strengths and this need to be appreciated and encouraged in a balanced way
- Integration of medical systems is a long way ahead, first step is to create mutual respect and understanding that could subsequently lead to collaborative research
- Collaborative research would further deepen the mutual understanding and integrated medical management approache
Book 019 CAPTURED End Evaluation Synthesis Report - 01.01.2012
This report provides the summary findings of the CAPTURED End Evaluation. In addition, three country evaluation reports have been produced, based on the work of the CAPTURED partners in Bolivia, Ghana and India. As noted in the ToR document, the purpose of this evaluation of the Program for Capacity and Theory Building for Universities and Research Centers in Endogenous Development (CAPTURED) is “to assess the results (products and impact), to learn from the experiences in terms of strategy and efficiency, and formulate recommendations about the possible ways in which the program activities may be continued in each of the three cases and about the options for mutual cooperation and up scaling of the program in the future”.
Book 020 Seeking Strength From Within: The Quest for a Methodology of Endogenous Development - 01.01.2010
The book presents the critical reflections and learning culled from the different experiences and, as such, represents a step towards disseminating the approaches that have been developed in the last ten years in the work of the COMPAS endogenous development programme. Rather than just compiling a range of articles from authors of different nationalities, we have also attempted to distil what makes endogenous development different from other approaches to development (participatory or otherwise), differentiating without generalising too much. Although the experiences described here have been all inspired by a comparable philosophy, the process and phases of implementation differ and are specific to each context.
Book 021 Dialogues Within and Between Different Sciences: Issues and Strategies from Endogenous Perspective - 01.01.2021
This paper presents the following questions in an inter-cultural perspective:
- What are importantant differences in worldviews and how do these affect the ways of knowing?
- What is knowledge and what is science?
- What types of relationships can exist between dominant science and the different local knowledges?
- How do we look upon endogenous development and how can it contribute to co-evolution of knowledges?
- What activities could we undertake to enhance co-evolution of different ways of knowing?
