Dr. Awuor PONGE |
| Special thanks to the Global leadership of EvalIndigenous, Dr. Fiona Cram and Serge Eric Yakeu-Djiam for the guidance throughout this development and to my various friends and academics who have gone through the article and given their feedback, to refine the article to its present published status. I also acknowledge the general guidance from EvalPartners Network, under which EvalIndigenous works. Last but certainly not the least, the support received from the Ford Foundation that has supported the various activities that I have been engaged in under the EvalIndigenous Global Network, namely:
|  Published in Journal of Climate Policy (JCP) |
- Ponge, A., Oduor, Wycklif Ochieng’., Odhiambo, Collins Oduka., Murigo, Grace Wanjiru., Awuor, Aisha Adhiambo., Nzai, B. T., & Kisioi, Alexander Koech. (2025). ‘Traditional Decision-Making as Evaluation: Developing Indigenous Evaluation Methodologies with Kenyan Communities.’ Nairobi: EvalIndigenous.
- Ponge, Awuor & Murigo, Grace Wanjiru. (2024). July 2023 – December 2024: Indigenous Evaluation: Chenda Chenda Celebrations 2024 – Traditional Decision-Making as Evaluation.
- Ponge, Awuor & Murigo, Grace Wanjiru. (2024). Indigenous Evaluation Blog: Chenda Chenda Celebrations 2024 – Traditional Decision-Making as Evaluation.
- January 2022 – December 2022: EvalIndigenous visit with the Mijikenda of Kwale County, Kenya 2022.
Indigenous belief systems are not peripheral, but foundational to sustainable environmental stewardship and climate adaptation
- Ponge, Awuor & Murigo, Grace Wanjiru. (2022). January 2022 – June 2022: Development of the Indigenous African Voices from Kenya Project: The Mijikenda of Kwale County in Kenya for EvalIndigenous Global Network and EvalPartners, in the capacity of Africa Regional Representative for EvalIndigenous Global Network.
- Ponge, Awuor., Oduor, Wycklif Ochieng’ & Murigo, Grace Wanjiru.(2021). January 2020 – June 2021: Development of the EvalIndigenous Network’s ‘Indigenous African Ethical Protocol for Evaluations.’ Ottawa: EvalIndigenous.
- Ponge, Awuor. & Oduor, Wycklif Ochieng’. (2020). January 2020 – December 2020: Development of the EvalIndigenous Voices Project (Africa) for EvalIndigenous Global Network and EvalPartners, in the capacity of Africa Regional Representative for EvalIndigenous Global Network.
The current article has just been published in the Journal of Climate Policy (JCP), Volume 5, Issue No. 1 (2026). It appears on pages 12 – 32 under the title: “Sacred Groves and the Supernatural: The Role of Indigenous Beliefs in Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa.” The article can be cited as follows, using the APA Style 7th Edition:
- Ponge, A. (2026). Sacred Groves and the Supernatural: The Role of Indigenous Beliefs in Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Climate Policy, 5(1), 12 – 32. DOI: 10.47941/jcp.3612
Sacred groves are biocultural conservation systems, outperforming state-managed protected areas in biodiversity and ecosystem services
In this study, I have drawn on comparative evidence across sub-Saharan Africa, to demonstrate that these sites sustain rich biodiversity, regulate microclimates, protect watersheds, and contribute to carbon sequestration, often outperforming conventional state-managed conservation models. This evidence underscores the central argument that Indigenous belief systems are not peripheral, but foundational to sustainable environmental stewardship and climate adaptation.
The EvalIndigenous Global Network Dissemination Mini-Grant has played a transformative role in ensuring that this research does not remain confined to academic circles. Instead, it has enabled the translation of complex findings into accessible, community-friendly formats, including a simplified report and digital dissemination across Indigenous networks. This approach reflects a fundamental shift in how knowledge is shared – moving from extraction and publication toward reciprocity, accessibility, and community relevance. It will ensure that the very communities whose knowledge underpins the research will engage with, validate, and benefit from it.
Indigenous beliefs and rituals sustain ecosystems and climate resilience through spiritual authority and community governance
At its core, this article challenges dominant conservation narratives by demonstrating that Indigenous belief systems – through taboos, rituals, and spiritual custodianship – are not obstacles to development, but powerful governance systems that often outperform formal conservation approaches. Sacred groves emerge not only as biodiversity hotspots but also as climate adaptation infrastructures: protecting watersheds, enhancing soil stability, regulating microclimates, and storing carbon. At the same time, the study highlights growing threats from modernization, cultural erosion, and policy neglect, calling for urgent integration of Indigenous knowledge into mainstream environmental governance.
In supporting this work, the EvalIndigenous Global Network is venturing into uncharted waters – redefining what counts as valid knowledge, who produces it, and how it should be shared. This is more than a dissemination effort; it is part of a broader movement to indigenise evaluation and reposition Indigenous worldviews at the centre of global conversations on sustainability and climate action. The Mini-Grant model sets a precedent for how research can be both academically rigorous and socially transformative, by prioritising culturally grounded dissemination and amplifying Indigenous voices.
Modernization and cultural erosion threaten sacred groves, calling for urgent integration of Indigenous knowledge into policy
This journey reaffirms that the future of climate resilience and biodiversity conservation will not be secured by external interventions alone, but through meaningful partnerships that recognise, respect, and elevate Indigenous knowledge systems. As we continue to explore these uncharted waters, the role of platforms like EvalIndigenous becomes ever more critical – not just in supporting research, but in reshaping the very paradigms through which knowledge, policy, and practice are understood.
 | Dr Awuor PongeSasakawa Fellowship Scholar, The Practice of International Development; Former Vice-President, African Evaluation Association (AfrEA); Africa Representative, EvalIndigenous Evaluators Network - EvalPartners; Senior Associate Fellow i/c Research, Policy & Evaluation, African Policy Centre (APC); Adjunct Faculty, Development & Policy Studies, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) |
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Seeding Projects, 2025 Across Africa, Indigenous evaluation is not emerging as something new—it is being recognised, named, and strengthened through work that begins with communities themselves. Four 2025 AGDEN-led EvalIndigenous Seeding grant projects from Nigeria, Lesotho, and Liberia offer a powerful, collective insight: evaluation already exists within Indigenous systems of knowledge, practice, and relationship. What connects these projects most strongly is their shared commitment to participatory, community-led methodologies. Through focus group discussions, storytelling, observation, and dialogue, each project centres local voices—engaging elders, women, youth, and community leaders not as subjects, but as knowledge holders. |  |
In Liberia, for example, Misann Miapeh’s H-Live Project worked with communities across three counties using focus groups to identify Indigenous indicators of economic growth, social wellbeing, and environmental change. This approach reflects a broader shift: evaluation as something generated from within, rather than imposed from outside.
Across the projects, evaluation is revealed as embedded in everyday life. In Nigeria, Angela Inyang and Rinji Kwarkas’ project on the Ikom Monoliths shows how knowledge of governance, memory, and accountability is held in cultural artefacts—stone carvings that encode community values across generations. Similarly, Dr Dagwom Dang’s research with the Berom people demonstrates how Indigenous business systems operate through reciprocity, trust, and collective responsibility. Here, economic activity is not separate from evaluation; it is where fairness, contribution, and wellbeing are continuously assessed.
| In Lesotho, Nurain Ahmed’s project showed how Indigenous cultural practices—including initiation rites, storytelling, and communal life—function as systems of reflection and social regulation. These are spaces where communities teach, reinforce, and evaluate behaviour, ensuring continuity and cohesion across generations. | |
Germinating Projects, 2025
The Germinating projects offer a rich and critical engagement with Indigenous knowledge systems as living, contested, and adaptive foundations for evaluation. Across the Germinating projects, Indigenous practices—whether expressed through taboos, proverbs, governance systems, or cultural understandings of identity—are treated as dynamic frameworks that shape social order, ethical conduct, and decision-making within communities.
Findings highlight both the strength and complexity of these systems. For example, Solomon Waiyego’s project on taboos with the Agikuyu community in Kenya demonstrates how cultural norms continue to regulate environmental stewardship, leadership legitimacy, and social responsibility, while also revealing tensions where some practices reinforce gender inequities and exclusion. Similarly, Dr Almas Mazigo, Miss Miriam Mkombozi and Mr Patrick Mpedzisi’s study of Shona and Swahili Proverbs, and Francis Dago, Roger Apahou and Christelle Tetialy’s project on endogenous governance systems in Kagbès in Côte d’Ivoire demonstrate how knowledge is transmitted intergenerationally, embedding values of reciprocity, accountability, and collective wellbeing into everyday life. At the same time, the projects identify a generational shift, with younger community members engaging these systems selectively, prompting processes of reinterpretation and renewal.
Mr Rutagewelera Mutakyahwa, Dr Almas Fortunatus Mazigo, Ms Forunata Mulekuzi’s Germinating project explored Bahaya wedding ceremonies in northwestern Tanzania as living sites of Indigenous evaluation practice, illustrating how cultural ceremonies themselves operate as evaluative spaces. In a similar vein, Arnoux Nopi’s project in Cameroun examines biological and cultural femininity within the Ngiembo’on community in Cameroon as a foundation for strengthening Indigenous evaluation practices. These projects highlight how evaluation operates not only at the level of actions and decisions, but also through the ongoing negotiation of identity, roles, and belonging.
Taken together, findings from the Germinating and Seeding projects confirm that Indigenous evaluation requires deep engagement with Indigenous knowledge as a source of evaluative criteria, ethical guidance, and governance. They offer more than case studies—they point toward a future where evaluation is accountable to communities, informed by their knowledge, and aligned with their aspirations, reflecting the strength of AGDEN’s mentoring and the commitment and the excellence of the researchers who have brought this work to life.
EvalIndigenous thanks you all
An excerpt from our 2026 January - March quarterly newsletter.
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