Until now we didn’t put the Problem statement and Hypothesis of our project online. Thus, here they are… Problem statement and Hypothesis helped us to clearly isolate the objectives for the project and gave us a direction for our work. Defining the problem statement and hypothesis was finally possible after conducting a detailed literature research about the complex meaning of TK.
Problem statement
The application of TK in development
cooperation has become increasingly important in the last three
decades. Some of the reasons for this are that TK is perceived as
resource efficient, holistic, participatory and sustainable. However,
the implementation of TK concepts often does not lead to the
anticipated results.
Hypothesis
Projects utilizing TK systems often do
not have the anticipated results because projects planners do not
take important characteristics of these concepts into account. This
lack of understanding leads to a misuse which manifests itself most
often in the following problems:
- That TK is taken out
of its original context and reduced to a simple technique. - That TK is
categorised, codified and applied from a western, scientific point
of view. - That TK is only used
as a front for community participation and sustainability in
projects otherwise following the old patterns of development aid. - That TK is often
idealized as the best solution to sustainability and community
participation without evaluating it realistically.