Using the mobile to create social groups around a value chain

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16th of July 2009. Interview with Mark Davies, Esoko and Founder of Busyinternet, Accra, Ghana after the panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture at the end of the second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference.

Mark explains how social groups can be created around a value chain or a specific commodity - similar as social groups on Facebook.

He recognizes that this has yet not be tried out but he expects this will be the future as long a this can be done in a very cheap way. This can initially been driven by companies like Unilever of Nestle because they have their networks and need to be able to communicate more quickly and more effectively with the small distributers. This is presently very expensive. Using the mobile for data exchange is an obvious solution.

"The value change we think of is probably more around successful commercial businesses to start with"

Why M&E is crucial for mobile phone use in agriculture

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16th of July 2009. Interview with Mark Davies, Esoko and Founder of Busyinternet, Accra, Ghana after the panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture at the end of the second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference.

Mark explains why Monitoring and evaluation is so crucial for the use of mobile phone in agriculture, that it is not fair towards Ministries of Agriculture to expect they would remain abreast of the latest mobile phone technological developments. He also shares his thoughts about the potential of videos for farmer extension messages. But he wonders whether the mobile phone screen is the most appropriate format?

Nokia and the quest for relevant farmer content

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Interview with Sean Paavo Krepp, Head, Nokia Africa & Middle East Emerging Markets Services, South Africa after the panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture on 16th of July 2009 at the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference.Accra, Ghana.

Sean explains:

1. why relevant content for farmers is so important,
2. why it is important to collaborate with the public sector,
3. if funding for re-packaging of agricultural information and research findings is not a big problem.

He also shares his thoughts about civil servants in Ministries of Agriculture who feel they can not cope with the quickly evolving mobile phone technology

Nokia Tune Arabic Re-Mix !

Third and last day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference

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17th July 2009. The last day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference was devoted to the IAALD Africa Chapter Business Meeting and the Conference Report & Recommendations.

Peter Ballatyne gives his impression on the conference (his take home message) and the participants. He says that the debate during the second day about Public Private Partnerships in mobile telephony use for agricultural information demystified the impression that agricultural research centres are "sitting on a lot of information" which just needs to be tapped on.

On the contrary, a lot of energy will go into repackaging agricultural information into useful formats.

Second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference

Panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture

From left to right: 1. Jonathan Petko, Regional Alliance Builder, USAID Ghana Office,
Accra, Ghana / 2. Sean Paavo Krepp, Head, Nokia Africa & Middle East Emerging
Markets Services, South Africa / 3. Jonas Wanvoeke, Research Assistant, Learning & Innovation
Systems Program, Africa Rice Center (WARDA), Cotonou, Benin / 4. Mark Davies, Esoko and Founder of Busyinternet, Accra, Ghana

16th of July 2009. Second day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference. The second day had some lively debates on:

Intellectual Property Rights and Open Access to Knowledge in Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

Opening Access to Knowledge in Agricultural Sciences and Technology: International, Regional, National and Institutional Initiatives.

• Davy Simumba of the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute reported on a survey of attitudes to open access among agricultural researchers in Zambia. More than 85% of survey respondents indicated that their research is funded through public sources. Hence, it could be reasonable that the results would be publicly and openly accessible. Read more at IAALD 16th July Prospects for open access to AgInfo in Africa

Open Access Publishing: Views of Researchers in Public Agricultural Research Institutions in Zambia

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• Complementing Simumba’s survey, Frankwell Dulle from the Sokoine University of Agriculture reported on a survey of open access attitudes among university policy makers Tanzania. The overwhelming majority (95%) of respondents indicated that “dissemination of research outputs was a problem” in their institutions. Read more at IAALD 16th July Prospects for open access to AgInfo in Africa
  
  Fostering open access publishing in Tanzanian public universities:

  View more presentations from iaaldafrika.

Advocating for Opening Access to Knowledge in Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa: the Way Forward

Panel Discussion on: Public private partnership in m-agriculture: roles and incentives of stakeholders. Organized by: The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

CIARD Africa Advocacy Consultation

14th July 2009. The Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) initiative is working to make agricultural research information publicly available and accessible to all. This means working with organisations that hold information or that create new knowledge – to help them disseminate it more efficiently and make it easier to access. A consultation was organised at FARA on CIARD for the RAILS national learning teams which attended previously the RAILS side event at IAALD.

The purpose was the creation of a core group of African senior research information specialists at regional, sub-regional, and national level in Africa who are familiar with the CIARD manifesto and principles and understand the main implications/challenges of trying to achieve institutional change and implement the CIARD Checklist and actions.

The second purpose was to agree on an agenda for action to advocate the CIARD agenda amongst key audiences in African agricultural research, namely: (a) research managers and decision makers, (b) researchers and academics, (c) information specialists.

When the UK DFID (Department for International Development), aware of the value of putting research into use, commissioned FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) with the task of catalyzing efforts to ensure that agricultural research information and knowledge become public domain, it triggered the formation of a global partnership on Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD). The partnership includes FAO, EGFAR, the CGIAR, and others in the agricultural research community.

The partners in the CIARD initiative are committed to promoting the sharing of data, information and knowledge to empower the various stakeholders involved in agriculture. To begin with, CIARD outlined a checklist – the Triple A checklist that defines what is meant by ensuring your research outputs are Available, Accessible and Applicable.

CIARD pathways will help researchers identify a publisher who has more flexible policies on open access, so that they do not have to sign away all rights to their journal article. These pathways will also help a senior manager understand the value of institutional policies that enable sustainable development of repositories for their center. They will be brief and to the point. Where users like the IT unit and librarians, want more detail i.e. on Creative Commons, there would be linked resources on the web.

The pathways could broadly be clustered as:

• General – strategic and policy issues, organizational issues which need to be addressed in handling research outputs.
• Capture, Collection and Curation of research outputs – ensuring that all the outputs are described in a form that makes them available and accessible.
• Managing Web Presence – using the internet to make the information accessible to others.

First day of the IAALD Africa Chapter Conference

From left to right: Kevin Painting (CTA), Hon. Sherry Ayiteh (Minister for Environment, Science and Technology), Dr. A.B Salifu (DG Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Ghana), Dr. Monty Jones (E.D FARA), the representative of FAO

13 - 17 July 2009, Accra, Ghana. Second IAALD Africa Chapter Conference. The theme of the conference is Towards Opening Access to Information & Knowledge in the Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa:

initiatives aimed at opening access to AS & T information and knowledge including open access/archives initiatives,

the challenges faced by institutions in the agricultural sciences and technology field in Africa, and the way forward.

Presentation of eRAILS by Myra Wopereis of FARA

The discussions of the first day focused on following sub-themes:

Access and dissemination of knowledge in agricultural sciences and technology in Africa – mapping the landscape, major challenges,

Opening access to publicly funded research – views from research scientists, policy makers, development partners/funders of research and information professionals, and experiences and lessons from the North

Opening of the IAALD confence by Hon. Sherry Ayiteh (Minister for Environment, Science and Technology), Dr. A.B Salifu (DG Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Ghana).

In the keynote address to the IAALD Africa conference, Monty Jones – Executive Director of FARA and World Food prize laureate - argued that open access, to transform African agriculture, must:

• catalyse innovations
• improve African knowledge management
• strengthen Africa’s capacities to build its own capactities
• promote enabling policies
• facilitate access to markets

Arguing that “all of us should be doing advocacy in one way or the other,” He also posed some key questions to attain opening access:

• Are we advocating to the right people and the right institutions?
• Do we have the right systems for the intended users?
• Do the users have the skills and infrastructure to access the Knowledge?
• Do we have the appropriate institutional policies?
• Do we have the platforms that practitioners need to share and learn?
• How do we build and how do we manage knowledge - among all the different actors?

Speaking in the opening plenary of the IAALD Africa conference, Krishan Bheenick of the SADC Secretariat traced the development of AIMS – the Agricultural Information Management System of SADC.

Facilitation of Information Sharing on Agricultural R&D in the SADC Region

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References:

• IAALD Programme (pdf)
• IAALD 15 July 2009 Monty Jones on open access to AgInfo in Africa
• IAALD 15 July 2009 AgInfo management system for Southern Africa
• IAALD 15 July 2009 Knowledge creation and knowledge systems for African agriculture
• Ghana News - Accra,Ghana General News of Wednesday, 15 July 2009 Research and Development output to be made public - Sherry Ayittey

Participants to the RAILS side event at IAALD

12-13 July 2009. RAILS Side-event at the 2nd IAALD Africa Chapter Conference on the theme ‘Towards Opening Access to Information & Knowledge in the Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Africa’.

Participants:

JANVIER Nkunzebose
Institut Des Sciences Agronomiques du Burundi (ISABU),
Bujumbura Burundi.

Rachel Rege
Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), Assistant Director, Information Documentation Services Nairobi.Kenya

MAQALIKA MATSEPE
Agricultural Information Services Ministry Of Agriculture And Food Security, Senior Agricultural Information Officer, Lesotho

Mohammed Sannoh

Senior Communications Officer, SLARI, National Agricultural Research Coordinating CouncilFreetown - Liberia
Francois Stepman
Communications Expert

FARA

Jacqueline Nyagahima

ASARECA

Uganda

Paula Pimentel
Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique (IIAM),Researcher - Technology Transfer And Information Systems DirectorateMaputo, Mozambique

Jacky Nnam
Knowledge Sharing Officer

Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa.
Accra- Ghana
Keven Nancy Principal OfficerResearch and DevelopmentSeychelles Agricultural Agency Republic of Seychelles

Ifidon Ohiomoba PSTAD OfficerForum for Agric Research in Africa. Ghana

Sostino Mocumbe Communications Officer Institute of Agricultural Research of Mozambique Maputo, Mozambique

Abdoulaye Aziz BANGOURA
IRAGResponsable Information Scientifique & TechniqueConakry - Guinee

Francine Rasolofonirina
Ministry of Agriculture-Livestock and fisheries -Head, Extension Service and Farmer's Training DepartmentDirectorate of Extension Service and Farmer's Support Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and FisheryAntananarivo - Madagascar

Richard AWAH NCHE
Director, Department of Communication and Documentation,Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD),Yaounde - Republic of Cameroun

Issel Ould Abdatt
Centre national d'élevage et de recherches vétérinaires. CNERV. Directeur General adjoint. Nouakchott Mauritanie

Dady Demby

Forum for Agric Research in Africa. RAILS Program OfficerAccra- Ghana

Hadiza Gabey
INRAN, Chef De La Division Information. Valorisation et Documentation. Niger, Niamey

Justin Chisenga
Information Management SpecialistFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO - Regional Office for AfricaAccra, Ghana

Jocelin Makoko
INERA-Chef deDivision Biométrie & Informatique Président du Comité National de Pilotage (CNP) du Réseau Régional de l'Information Agricole (RAIN ) RD Congo

Claudine Umukazi
Institut des Sciences Agronomiques du Rwanda (ISAR)

Kigali Rwanda

KONE Yékéminan Anatole
Information/Communication Manager

CORAF/WECARDDakar - Senegal

Myra Wopereis
Forum for Agric Research in Africa. Director, Access to Knowledge and TechnologyAccra- Ghana

Kedro Diomande
Centre national de recherche agronomique, directeur des systemes d'informationAbidjan Cote-d’ Ivoire

Emmanuel Mbembe
Chef de service de la Communication et de la Vulgarisation,
Délégation Générale à la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique/Centre National de Documentation et d’Information Scientifique et Technique ( CNDIST),
Congo-Brazzaville

Frank W Dulle
Sokoine University of Agriculture,P.O.Biox 3158, Chuo kikuu,Morogoro-Tanzania.

Krishan Bheerninck
Regional Information, Communication and Training Officer,Implementation & Coordination of Agricultural Research & Training(ICART) projectFood, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) DirectorateSADC Secretariat, GaboroneGaborone, Botswana

Goliath Leon Mwale
ZARI Lusaka, Zambia.

Davy Simumba
Zambia Agriculture Research Institute -Mount Makulu Central Research StationChilanga - Zambia

Joel Sam
Deputy Director
CSIR-INSTIAccra-Ghana

AHLAM ISMAIL MUSA
Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC), Central Library,Head Librarian And Manager Agris Resource Centre Of The Sudan,Agricultural Research Corporation (Arc)Sudan

Rafaa Ashamallah Ghobrial
Information Research Assistant Professor Head of Information Services and Systems Documentation and Information Centre National Centre for Research Ministry of Science and TechnologyKhartoum, Sudan

RASOANINDRAINY Andrianjafy
CAETIC-IT & Project Management specialistAdministratorCAETIC DevelopmentAntananarivo, Madagascar

Grace Kamau
Head - InfocentreInternational Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)Nairobi Kenya