Karimlan
A Simulation Game on Sustainable Development

Publisher:  CUSO, Canada
Year Published:  1990
Resource Type:  Unclassified
Cx Number:  CX3935

Abstract: 
Karimlan is a simulation game for nine to 36 people, designed to provide reflection on the issues of sustainable development and the environment.
Based on the real circumstances which confront indigenous people in Africa, the game simulates (in a recommended time of four and one-half hours) a three-day community meeting in which the federal government attempts to convince its tribal population to accept a development plan. Players role play, and represent the interests of, tribes, local and federal governments, and concerned agencies. Some of these groups are in stubborn opposition to the others' interests from stage one. By steeping the players in passionate, albeit feigned, conflict,the game enables participants to invest their own "attitudes, values, and experiences" in the learning, interpreting roles and situations out of their own personal experience. AFter the simulation there is a debriefing in which players reflect upon the experience and its implications.
"The game addresses a number issues including: land use; the struggles of indigenous people for survival and self-determination; cultural, economic, and political sustainability of different groups of people sharing the same land and resource base; different environmental strategies -- protection vs. management; the conflicts between development for people and protection for the environment; the role of aid agencies in promoting environmentally sound development; issues of power, control and access to information."
The game includes a five-page background on the real situation in the Great Serengeti Plains of Tanzania.