Page 31 - Caring_for_your_community

Case Study
VILLAGE BOTANISTS COURSE, THE ETHNOMEDICINAL GARDEN OF THE INSTITUTE OF TRANSDISCIPLINARY
HEALTH SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY, INDIA
Description: The Village Botanists Course runs over a
six-month period, catering for 30 participants. Initially
held annually, the course now runs four times a year and is
divided into four levels: 1) orientation, covering basic botany
and documentation, 2) practical assignments, 3) field visits
and training on documenting traditional knowledge related
to medicinal plants, and 4) evaluation and assessment of
knowledge and skills. Course participants are folk healers from
different rural areas important for medicinal plants. Some of
the 350 village botanists (aka parataxonomists) now work with
the Forestry Department (conducting surveys as ecotourism
guides, or helping prepare the People’s Biodiversity Registry)
or have become entrepreneurs. The village botanists from one
state of India were awarded the Equator Prize in 2014 for their
extensive conservation work.
Focus of the programme: This programme directly addresses
the Institute’s dual mission of conserving medical plants and
documenting traditional knowledge of them. It aims to build
the capacity of local communities to prepare biodiversity
registers (documenting natural resources and related traditional
knowledge) in accordance with the Indian Biodiversity Act.
Working with people of low economic status, folk healers and
women (women care for family health, and so make up 20 per
cent of participants – the aim is for that to reach 30 per cent), Environment and Forestry of India and later by UNDP and GEF.
the programme tackles poverty and employment issues by
encouraging entrepreneurship. Village botanists contribute
to the garden by collecting medicinal plants to expand
its collection.
Parataxonomists document and
collect local medicinal plants as part
©of the Village Botanists Project
I TD-HST
Engagement approach: Participants are recruited through
the Forestry Department, NGOs and folk healer associations.
Participants use the conservation area, hence the course helps
them ensure sustainability for a resource they depend on.
The course is made accessible and engaging by being delivered
in the local language and using a pedagogy that includes
games and practical demonstrations. To motivate more women
to sign up self-help groups were formed to support them in
generating income for their families. Contact with participants
is maintained by establishing mutually beneficial relationships;
providing information in return for data.
Audience research: The programme uses a wide range of
approaches for evaluating its own success and its participants.
Through observations made during tasks tutors assess
participants’ ‘soft’ skills, like leadership. In the second level
of the course participants complete assignments such as
herbarium sheets and documenting traditional knowledge.
Mid-term evaluation involves an individual meeting with each
participant to discuss their progress, how best to support them
and how they feel about the course. Formal assessment of their
knowledge is made through a presentation and written exam.
Funding: Originally funding came from the Ministry of
More recently, the programme received funding through the
State Biodiversity Boards, in line with the Indian Biodiversity Act.
Challenges: Finding the right scientific terms in the local
language and identifying the right resource person to liaise
between Institute staff and community members, who is also
able to help participants understand key concepts.
The local community prepare
biodiversity registers,
documenting natural
resources and related
©traditional knowledge
I TD-HST
CARING FOR YOUR COMMUNITY | A MANUAL FOR BOTANIC GARDENS 29