Elimu Asilia

Elimu Asilia was founded in June 2012, at Corat Africa, Nairobi County, Kenya. The online platform was launched on June 5, 2013. It is one of the first online digital libraries in Kenya managed by the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) and hosted virtually with the support of Goethe Institut-Kenya. It is dedicated to collecting and sharing Indigenous Knowledge (IK) on Culture, Environment, Health and History from individuals, communities, counties and Kenya in general. Elimu Asilia’s historical basis is that African knowledge and cultures were preserved and transmitted orally. They did not record events and accounts in writing. Indigenous stories and information are inadequate, and not easily accessible through print and digital media. Hence, Kenyan Libraries have inadequate local IK content to contribute to the global knowledge economy. Recorded information in various accessible media is important to contribute and stamp our global presence. A part from inaccessibility, local content on the web is also low because of limited capacity to record, transfer and disseminate the information. Given this challenge, the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) as the premier heritage institution in Kenya and its partners, established Elimu Asilia to bridge the knowledge gap. Elimu Asilia is the brainchild of Dr. Ashah Owano and other co-founders in the NMK’s Directorate of Research and Collections (DRC). This project is part of the outputs of the Resource Centre Department and other NMK libraries countrywide.