Stakeholders in the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of indigenous knowledge projects

Indigenous knowledge preservation can lead to sustainable development and the protection of the environment, facilitating the achievement of one of the United Nations’ sustainable development goals, number 15, which seeks to protect the sustainable use of ecosystems to avoid desertification and land degradation. This article reports on a study aimed at identifying the stakeholders to be involved in the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of IK in the digital era. The study considered the Ulwazi and Mukurtu projects, which are documented in the literature and representing the contexts of developing and developed countries, respectively. A qualitative approach triangulating data collection techniques was employed by doing a systematic literature review on four databases, i.e., Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Dimensions, followed by a web content analysis of the websites and official social media platforms of the two projects. Content analysis was used to select the relevant documents, followed by online interviews to collect data from two project administrators to validate the findings. The data were thematically analysed using the NVIVO software. The findings provided valuable information about the role and functions of stakeholders in the context of the model that is being designed for IK projects. It was noted that all stakeholders should be involved so that no one is left behind.