From May 20-22, 2025 hundreds of scholars, community elders, youth leaders and other stakeholders in the development community will converge at the Imperial Beach and Resort Hotel, Entebbe for the maiden edition of the International Conference on Indigenous knowledge systems and restorative development in Africa. The conference is being organized by Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network, Institute of African Studies at Carleton University in partnership with Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda, with support from the Mastercard Foundation.
The Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN) was established in 2022 in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation as a consortium of universities and Indigenous institutions in Africa to undertake research geared towards identifying, recentering, and harnessing Indigenous knowledge in Africa for creating dignified jobs, and finding sustainable solutions to the challenges of poverty, governance, climate change and sustainable livelihood. AIKRN is aimed at foregrounding the authenticity of African Indigenous knowledge through co-creation, collaboration, and partnership with the custodians of knowledge such as community elders, traditional leaders, the youth and other gatekeepers of knowledge and enabling indigenous practices.
This conference is one of the series of activities designed by the AIKRN under the ongoing project on Unlocking Sustainable Solutions for Employment and Entrepreneurship: Empowering African Youth Through Indigenous Knowledge. During this conference, participants from different parts of the world will present their papers, listen to young female and male entrepreneurs who are already applying Indigenous knowledge in their enterprises, and engage with policymakers and development communities to recentre Indigenous knowledge in policy design for community-oriented development in Africa.
The forthcoming conference provides a unique opportunity to directly engage with scholars, the youth, community elders and listen to their desires to apply African Indigenous knowledge in upscaling their enterprises, addressing pressing challenges such as climate change, governance and food insecurity.
The major activities at the conference include a keynote address, plenary sessions, policy roundtables, presentation at panels, exhibition of products made from Indigenous knowledge and high-level meetings among partners.
Outputs from the conference will include edited volumes published from peer-reviewed papers, policy briefs, podcasts and articles in newspapers.
Further information on the conference is available on the website of Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network.