United Nations Radio

Wend Wendland formally handing over digital recording equipment to Chief Morias Ole Kisio of the Laikipia Maasai community

Presenter: A pilot programme initiated by the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, is helping indigenous communities document and preserve their own cultural traditions. UN Radio's Patrick Maigua spoke to Wend Wendland, acting director of the Traditional Knowledge Division of WIPO who explained that the Maasai of Kenya are the first indigenous group to participate by digitizing expressions of their traditional culture.

Narrator: A pilot programme initiated by the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO, is helping indigenous communities document and preserve their own cultural traditions. UN Radio's Patrick Maigua spoke to Wend Wendland, Acting Director of the Traditional Knowledge Division of WIPO, who explained that the Masaai of Kenya are the first indigenous group to participate by digitizing expressions of their traditional culture:

Wendland: There are two different parts to the programme which we designed with them actually because this is the pilot programme. So the Masaai group was with us every step of the way. They were trained first on the cultural documentation side itself. So they were trained on how to use cameras, how to use sound recorders, how to archive material on a laptop, how to catalogue what they had done. They were trained on things such as interview techniques, field work ethics and so on. We were very fortunate to benefit from two external partners, two institutions that are internationally expert in these areas - the American Folklife Center in Washington is part of the Library of Congress and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke in North Carolina. The trainers that took part in the programme are among the world's experts in this field.

WIPO then provided the training on the IP side of things, essentially introducing the Masaai to the basic principles of copyright law, neighbouring rights law, patent law, trademark law and so on. The purpose of the programme was to train them very practically in a hands on way how to document their own cultures and then how to manage the rights in what they were doing. The IP training that they have been provided with essentially empowers them to make decisions on whether and if so how to grant access to their recordings to third parties.

Maasai from Tanzania

Maigua: Is the project going to be extended to other indigenous communities? There is known to be a lot of exploitation by third parties for people coming and saying we can help you then suddenly they run away with whatever they have recorded. And then all you hear is that "it's now ours." You can't even use it. You can't even play it in public. How is it going to work?

Wendland: Exactly. So that is the problem the programme is trying to address. But to answer your question, Yes. I think that this programme seems to be of interest to other groups. We've received requests to run a similar programme in other parts of the world. We have requests to run a programme like this in the Pacific Region, South America, from the Arab States, other parts of Africa. So we are now we are just in the process of consolidating or finishing off the Maasai project and then designing the next course.

Narrator: That was Wend Wendland, Acting Director of the Traditional Knowledge Division of WIPO.

Producer: Patrick Maigua/Gerry Adams, United Nations Radio
Duration: 2'21"