Overcoming barriers to sharing African knowledge for climate change adaptation

4 May 2009. African experiences, research and innovations that could help vulnerable communities to adapt to climate change are rarely well disseminated across the continent.

The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has teamed up with Environment and Development in the Third World (ENDA-TM); IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) and the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) to launch on 4th May the internet platform AfricaAdapt, a network that will ensure African knowledge on climate change adaptation is effectively gathered and shared.

AfricaAdapt is the first network focused on sharing African knowledge on climate change adaptation. It will offer African researchers, practitioners, local communities and policymakers an innovative combination of services and activities to overcome linguistic and geographical barriers to sharing their adaptation knowledge across the continent.

The network is funded through the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Climate Change Adaptation in Africa programme.

What does AfricaAdapt offer?
AfricaAdapt’s interactive website, face-to-face events, specialised radio broadcasts and support for innovation will facilitate the sharing of new and traditional African knowledge on adaptation. The website will connect users according to their areas of interest and their activities bringing communities of practice together whilst meeting their information needs with tailored products. Members can sign up to updates on projects, themes, and events and receive them through email, newsletters or automatic newsfeeds.

Face-to-face fora, and local radio programmes will be used to reach out to local communities and ensure that their own knowledge and experiences are shared with others working to address climate change impacts in Africa. Media have a key role to play in facilitating the sharing of knowledge on climate change and AfricaAdapt will work with community-based radios and seek opportunities to collaborate with journalists across the region.

Related Video

AfricaAdapt Intro Video (English Version) from HabitatSeven on Vimeo.

Vidéo d'introduction pour AfricaAdapt from HabitatSeven on Vimeo.

Related:
Also the UN has plans to launch a similar information platform: Global Climate Change Adaptation network for Africa. See Network to combat climate change impacts on Africa set to be launched

Related video from IFPRI:
Gerald Nelson, Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, discusses agriculture and climate change. Recorded March 30, 2009.

The AU Agriculture Conference

Ministers of agriculture articulated the major agricultural issues at AU Ministerial Conference which took place 22-24 April, 2009 at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The host Minister, Honourable Tafera, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for the Federal Republic of Ethiopia opened the meeting calling on all cooperating partners to support Africa's development efforts under the CAADP agenda.

Africa's lead donors attending the meeting include JICA, The World Bank, EU, DfiD, FAO, WFP, IFAD and AGRA. Others present are AfDB, Global Donor Platform, the UN High Level Task Force on Food Security and UNECA.

Sierra Leone's Minister of Agriculture, Honourable Sessay, gave a moving outline of Africa's vast water and land resources and stressed that if the continent focused strongly on the disciplined planning process under CAADP, there is no doubt, the continent will overcome its developmental obstacles.

Libyan Minister of Agriculture is chairing the AU Ministerial Session on Agriculture which is on the theme "investing in agriculture for economic growth and food security" and tackling the key issues of climate change, livestock development, land policies, food security, agricultural finance and the overall status of CAADP implementation.

The decisions of the Ministers in Addis will form the main materials for the consideration of the AU Heads of State Summit in June/July, 2009.

During the meeting, COMESA Senior Agricultural Advisor Dr Cris Muyunda held sessions with several COMESA Ministers among them Honourable Joseph Made Minister of Agriculture from Zimbabwe who reconfirmed that country’s readiness to host the COMESA Agriculture Meetings from May 11-15, 2009 in Harare.

Dr. Muyunda also met Honourable Amin Abaza Minister of Agriculture from Egypt who reiterated his readiness to host the 2nd Joint COMESA Agricultural/Environment Ministers Meeting in Cairo from 15-16 August, 2009.

Meanwhile, the Head of Malawi Delegation Dr. Daudi Yamba has confirmed that the Malawi CAADP Compact has been approved by the Malawian Cabinet. This brings to two, after Rwanda the number of CAADP Compacts concluded in the COMESA bloc. COMESA is now way ahead of all Regional Economic Communities on the continent in concluding CAADP compacts.

All going according to plan, COMESA should have three compacts by the time of the COMESA Summit in June this year.

Reference
04/05 COMESA Ministers Articulate Agricultural Issues at the AU Agriculture Conference

Strengthening capacity for safe biotechnology management is sub-Sahara Africa

29th April 2009. Nairobi, ILRI. The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) andThe Syngenta Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture (SFSA) have signed an agreement to strengthen the capacity for safe biotechnology management in Sub‐Saharan Africa. 

This is a 3‐year project (2009‐2011) for a total investment of $1,265,565 to be managed by FARA and implemented by the Sub‐Regional Organisations (SROs) and the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in six countries in Sub‐Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Malawi.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by Dr. Wilson Songa, Agriculture Secretary to the Kenya Ministry of Agric., Dr. Carlos Sere, ED ILRI, Dr. Segenet Kelemu, Director of BecA-ILRI Hub in the presence of all the participants of the BecA-SFSA conference. There was a lot of interest in the project as it was considered timely for countries about to start handling of GM products.

Reference:
Press Release Syngenta
Related:
Kenya: BecA-ILRI Hub - Syngenta Foundation Conference
“From technology to product development for the African farmer”. April 29, 2009, ILRI Campus, Nairobi Read Conference Program

SCARDA as an action research project

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Adipala Ekwamu of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) compares the SCARDA project to an action research project. Several ways of dealing with change inside the agricultural research departments all over the continent need to me explored, documented and compared. He commends the evaluation of DfID but an evaluator can not be an expert in everything. The importance of documenting change processes can not be underestimated. It is not a once in a while activity but needs to be tracked on a day to day basis.

Going beyound the assessment of agricultural research institutes

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Interviewed during the SCARDA (Strenghtening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa) Regional Programme-wide Strategies and Learning Workshop (Accra, FARA Secretariat 27th-30th April), Mick Mwala recognizes the value of the initial institutional analysis. But the DfID evaluator was right to question the quality of those initial assessments because it did not capture well the relations with the other departments inside the University of Zambia nor the relations with other research and capacity building institutes at the national level. He trusts the continent wide network of African agricultural research institutes will survive well after the DfID support to SCARDA.

The failure to network accross the African continent

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Interviewed during the SCARDA (Strenghtening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa) Regional Programme-wide Strategies and Learning Workshop (Accra, FARA Secretariat 27th-30th April), Rory Hillocks explains how the SCARDA prgram has managed to overcome the failure to network accross the African continent for increased capacity building in agricultural research for development. But institutional change is a long term process which requires a commitment for 10 years. a) SCARDA started with scoping studies which were a kind of needs assessment. b) It was followed by a more in depth institutional analysis: how does research meets clients' demand? c)The next phase will have to deeped the institutional change and have it absorbed inside the focal agricultural research institutions and broaden the links with the research partners: the capacity building, the research, the extension and all the stakeholders through-out the agricultural commodity chain.

What are the major benefits of the SCARDA project?

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Dr. Stella Ennin (Deputy Director of the Crop Research Institute in Kumasi) sees a lot of - albeit not always intended - benefits related to the many activities of the project on Strenghtening Capacity in Agricultural Research for Development in Africa (SCARDA). The institutional analysis has forced CRI to think critically on a number of problems and CRI did not wait for SCARDA to start to come up with solutions. The possibility of continental networking is one of the major benefits: information exchange can now be more personal with other ARD actors on the continent which were previously not known. Project reporting should be able to capture unintended benefits like email exchange between the SCARDA partners on other funding opportunities. Dr. Stella Ennin heard of the African Women in Agricultural Research for Development (AWARD) program thanks to SCARDA information exchange and finally 3 CRI students benefited from this program. The SCARDA network has also given Dr. Ennin the opportunity to write and submit a research paper.

Should FARA respond to the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development report?

The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development (IAASTD) looks realistically at how we could effectively use agriculture/AKST to help us meet development and sustainability goals.

An unprecedented three-year collaborative effort, the IAASTD involved more than 400 authors in 110 countries and cost more than $11 million. It reports on the advances and setbacks of the past fifty years and offers options for the next fifty years.

The results of the project are contained in seven reports: a Global Report, five regional Sub-Global Assessments, and a Synthesis Report. The Global Report gives the key findings of the Assessment, and the five Sub-Global Assessments address regional challenges. The volumes present options for action. All of the reports have been extensively peer-reviewed by governments and experts and all have been approved by a panel of participating governments. The Sub-Global Assessments all utilize a similar and consistent framework: examining and reporting on the impacts of AKST on hunger, poverty, nutrition, human health, and environmental/social sustainability.

The five Sub-Global Assessments cover the following regions:
Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA)
East and South Asia and the Pacific (ESAP)
Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)
North America and Europe (NAE)
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)

The IAASTD was initiated by the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization, with support from the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and other sponsors. Its goal is to analyze the potential of agricultural knowledge, science, and technology (AKST) for reducing hunger and poverty, improving rural livelihoods, and working toward environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable development.

Paperback: 153 pages
Publisher: Island Press; 1 edition (January 31, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1597265411
ISBN-13: 978-1597265416

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Interviewed during the SCARDA (Strenghtening Capacity for Agricultural Research for Development in Africa) Regional Programme-wide Strategies and Learning Workshop (Accra, FARA Secretariat 27th-30th April), Joe Taabazuing - Management Consultant of the Ghana Institute of Management & Public Administration GIMPA - thinks FARA should give a reply to the latest report of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge and Technology for Development (IAASTD). The IAASTD Volume V - Sub Saharan Africa is called: Agriculture at a crossroads. Joe Taabazuing was one of the many contributors. The report was launched during a debate at UNEP in Nairobi on 20/04 and will be launched in Accra/Ghana on 29th of May. He says that for traditional agricultural research scientists in Africa some of the statements might appear controversial.

SCARDA: Regional Programme Wide Strategies and Learning, PSL, Workshop

Accra 25-30 April 2009. The SCARDA: Regional Programme Wide Strategies and Learning PSL workshop was organized in two broad parts: (a) the Expert group consultations and harmonisation of program-wide strategies ; (b) the Learning workshop

Step 1 involved meetings by 4 expert groups, namely:

• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Communications
• Gender & Mentoring
• Change Management

Step 2 were meetings titled “Engagement of SCARDA Implementing Entities,” (ESIE) namely:

• The sub-regional organizations, SROs
• The Lead Service Providers, LSP
• The Focal Institutions, FIs
• Lesson learning at sub-regional level.

Step 3 included the plenary sessions to receive reports of the expert groups, and, harmonize SCARDA programme –wide strategies and action plans for implementation of SCARDA in the future.

Kenya launch of Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development report

Nairobi, February 20, 2009: Immediate measures have to be taken to safeguard Africa’s growing population from the ravages of the food crisis, a report launched on 20/04 by the International Assessment on Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) says. The report’s launch comes as a culmination of a three year assessment on agricultural knowledge and practices across five key sub-global regions, and provides a roadmap towards a more sustainable and equitable future.

Speaking at panel session on agriculture and food security at the ongoing UNEP Global Council in Nairobi, IAASTD Director Robert Watson emphasized the need for governments to take a proactive lead in addressing food security concerns. “If we persist with business as usual, the world’s people will not be fed adequately over the next 50 years. Business as usual will result in further degradation of the environment and further widening of the gap between those who have and those who don’t”, he said.

The event was organized by the US-based non-profit organization, Island Press, publisher of the IAASTD Reports, and a trusted source for environmental information and solutions. Commenting on the launch, Chuck Savitt, President and co-founder of Island Press said, “This discussion today is a reflection of our commitment to make a positive difference by contributing fresh insights towards addressing the pressing environmental problems of the day. As in other parts of the world, we strive to create and support communities of teachers, scientists, policymakers, communicators, and citizen activists in Africa who are passionate about the natural world and are empowered by access to innovative ideas to protect it."

The IAASTD Report consists of seven volumes including five sub-global assessments: Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA), East and South Asia and the Pacific (ESAP), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), North America and Europe (NAE) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); each of these sub-global assessments address the unique challenges in each region.

[The report will be launched in Accra on 29/05]

Reference:

International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
Summary for Decision Makers of the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) Report
This summary was approved in detail by CWANA governments attending the IAASTD
Intergovernmental Plenary in Johannesburg, South Africa (7-11 April 2008). Copyright © 2009 IAASTD.

IPS 27/04 Agricultural Extension Work Both Important and Under-valued

Provide smallholder farmers in Africa access to geospatial data, services, tools, and methodologies

Recognizing the importance of geospatial information to agriculture decision making and the inadequate access to data, tools, and analyses, especially in Africa, a Geospatial Technology Program was initiated. The Geospatial Technology Program is under the administrative oversight of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). CGIAR, in partnership with CH2M HILL and ITC, will design and develop a comprehensive program to provide smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and other agricultural stakeholders with access to geospatial data, services, tools, and methodologies to help them make more informed decisions.

Farmers will have access to higher-quality, location-specific information to make better decisions. They can use this information to decide which crops to raise and when to harvest; receive pest and disease information via cell phone; and apply changing technologies to boost productivity. They will also be able to help other farmers by reporting pest and disease conditions. Developing countries will benefit from collection and dissemination of agricultural data; analysis and communication of geospatial information; and monitoring and evaluation of agricultural development efforts.

References:

AGCommons

SciDev 24/04 African farmers get geospatial info on their phones

Farm Input Promotions Africa

Related:

WhereCamp Africa, ILRI Nairobi 04/04/09, was the first gathering of its kind to take place in Africa. WhereCamp is the free unconference for geographers, mobile location experts and social cartographers and all kinds of folks interested in place.

Launch of the North African Sub Regional Organisation (NASRO)

19th April 2009. Cairo, Egypt. The new North African Sub Regional Organisation (NASRO) was launched with the following three functions:

• better networking and integration among North African countries leading to improvement in knowledge sharing and lessons learnt;
• providing timely information to policy makers and,
• better representation of NASRO within the regional fora, FARA.

Current members of NASRO are: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Tunisia and Sudan. Egypt and Libya vied to host the NASRO Secretariat. Libya was chosen unanimously. Below are the newly elected officers of NASRO.

1. Chairperson: Prof. Ayman A. Hadid President, ARC of Egypt with two year term
2. Vice Chairperson: Prof. Habib Amamou Director General IRESA, Tunisia
3. Interim Executive Secretary: Prof. Azhari Hamada, Director General, ARC of Sudan

The Chairperson has 2-year term while the Executive Secretary will be in office for one year as an interim. Dr. Hamada is tasked to setup the Secretariat by recruiting the require staff and preparing the governance and policy documents to operate the Secretariat.

How important is internet visibility of African agricultural research outputs?

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Interview with Harry Heemskerk, Head of Information Projects and Products at the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

Agricultural research outputs need to be shared and made visible in order to increase the visibility of African agricultural research institutes, the visibility of individual researchers and the visibility of concepts and research outputs.

The digitalisation and digital repositories are important:

a) for the preservation of the content,

b) for the preservation of the URL-links to the publications,

c) to store publications in one place but with visibility in many other places.

Therefore open decentralised standards are needed like the Open Archives Initiatives Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). In African research institutes this expertise in more and more available and some additional training is needed on copy right issues. Policy/Decision makers need to be involved to create awareness about open access.

The Royal Tropical Institute organised with the Association of African Universities (AAU) and with the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Ghana (CARLIGH) a workshop in Accra in March 2009 about experiences with digital repositories for Chief librarians and for vice chancellors.

Similar initiatives are taken by the Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL) and the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP).

Harry Heemskerk answers the question on what convinces key decision makers and which resources are needed.

References:

Accra, 16/04 INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONAL REPOSITORY ADVOCACY SEMINAR

Accra, 16/04 AAU holds seminar to improve access to African scholarly works

Related:

eIFL

Gaining the momentum: Open access & advancement of science and research, CSIR Conference Centre, Pretoria, South Africa 14 May 2009 - South Africa

INASP:

Training the Trainer in Information Literacy 20 April 2009 - Malawi
Institutional Repository Workshop - COSTECH 23 April 2009 - Tanzania
Training in the use of Koha Library Automation System 20 May 2009 - Uganda

D-groups partnership meeting 2009

On 15 and 16 April, the members of the D-groups partnership met in the Netherlands. The group last met in The Hague in January 2007. The meeting was organised by Euforic in its overall coordination role for the partnership. The members of the Dgroups Partnership elected a new Board to guide the Partnership in the coming years. The organizations elected were: Helvetas, Hivos, ICCO, IICD, Sula Batsu.

The meeting discussed:

• the new D-groups platform, its usability, hosting, and support provisions
• priorities for further platform development and enhancements
• election to the Foundation Board, discharging the current executive committee
• strategic directions for the coming years' management

Interviews:

New Helvetas Board member Riff Fullan reflects on the discussions:

For Riff Fullan from Helvetas, in spite of the limited amount of time availbale, the partnership meeting managed to get a lot done. The board has now some "concrete avenues to follow" and there's a lot of work to be done, but overall the feeling about this AGM is very positive.

Sarah Kerr has been involved with Dgroups from its early days. She sees Dgroups as a 'teenager', with the discussion focusing now more on the partnership than on the platform. She also highlights the importance of keeping alive the original ideas behind Dgroups, while letting them evolve at the same time. For Sarah, this is happening, and we see now things solidifing and going in the right direction, with the establishment of the Foundation and the election of the Board.

For Christian Kreutz, IICD, it's important that Dgroups partners focus their discussion also on dgroups as a community of experts on development issues. There's huge potential to exploit this element and bring people together to share their knowledge.

Patrick Kalas for the SDC (Swiss Development Cooperation) highlights the difference between Dgroups as a platform and as a partnership. While there's more agreement on the first, the discussion on the partnership needs to be deepened in terms of it's vision and objectives.

What are some of the things that Dgroups users expect to see in coming weeks and months?

• more usability improvements on the platform;
• a public directory of groups on the new platform
• extension of Dgroups help and FAQ resources
• plans for two Dgroups training and outreach workshops sponsored by ICCO

References:

• dgroups members meeting agenda april 2009
• dgroups member letter of agreement april 2009
• helpguide1.2.pdf
• dgroups members meeting 2009 - participants
• dgroups - 2004 support outline
• dgroups - creator management in 2009
• dgroups - support planning in 2009
• dgroups: report on migration 2008-2009
• Dgroups coordination report 2007-2009
• Dgroups strategy, version 1.1
• Dgroups AGM 2007 report
• Draft Rules and Procedures Dgroups Foundation

The use of D-groups at FAO

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Interview with Kristin Koshus, main D-group administrator at FAO Rome. Kristin has been working for 9 years with FAO and is since one year and a half the D-groups administrator. FAO has about 74 active online groups: as well small groups inside FAO linked to specific events of discussions and bigger groups with partners ouside FAO.

• Large D-groups will often have a few active participants who communicate with a larger group. Smaller groups are much more focused with an active participation: they are time-limited and people know one another.
• E-mail functionality, low bandwith and the fact that D-groups are relatively inexpensive are key for the use of D-groups.
• The migration to the new platform caused a lot of frustration but his is now compensated by a much more performant platform. the new platform allows for better management of the contributions and for user analysis: who participates, from which countries, etc.
  

Using SMS for climate adaptation activism

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Interview with Frontline SMS on using SMS for climate adaptation activism during the Digital World Forum (Maputo 1 - 2/04) "Africa Perspective of Mobile Technologies in fostering social and economic development".

The technology behind fronline SMS is briefly explained. Frontline SMS can be used for social activism in the field of climate change and adaptation. Especially for targeting the youth. 

A number of agricultural project have used it as agricultural market systems, market information and request advice to agricultural experts (Phlippines, El Salvador, etc).

Connecting farmer radios to mobile phones

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Interview with Bartholomew Fisher Sulivan of Farmer Radio International (Ottowa Canada) at the Digital World Forum "Africa Perspective on the role of Mobile Technologies in fostering social and economic development" Maputo - Mozambique 1 - 2 April 2009.

Bartholomew explains how Farmer Radio International was approach 2 years ago by the Gates Foundation with the question if the effectiveness of radio for African farmers had been researched.

As this what not the case Farmer Radio conducted research with 25 different radios in 5 countries: Ghana, Mali, Malawi, Uganda and Tanzania.

The second phase will study and implement tools that allow for farmer feedback to the broadcasters through the use of mobile phone and mp3 players (listen on demand).

The approach adopted by Freedom Fone Interactive Voice Recording (IVR) (Zimbabwe) which was presented at the W3C conference on 01/04 would allow to listen to more detailed programs whereby the farmer could also leave his/her questions in an audio file.

The use of mobiles for massive agricultural data collection

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Interview with Ian Puttergill Business Development Manager of Unlimited Potential Group of Microsoft South Africa. Ian clarifies the conditions for massive agricultural data collection using the mobile phone.

Using mobile technology for data collection and transmission depends on which source you are collecting from: is the source tusted? A lot of systems are only as good as the information that comes in. It also depends on the level of accuracy which the information needs to have. If the level of accuracy needed is within 10% points of the intended results mobile phone have their place. If you want accuracy within 1 % that those who enter the information are highly schooled and know how to do it. Whatever system that is used to capture information needs to discard non relevant information (a filter for garbage) and a feedback system to tell that the information is invalid. From a database end massive data collection has to be a scalable solution but internet connectivity is here a major constraint.

Microsoft has researched some sound business models for m-agriculture (Mobile-agriculture). It first depends on the social relevancy of the application and how the mobile network operators will react to this. Follows then the business model which can be a donor funded model, commercial models (pay for subscription service), nominal cost and non-profit models, and advertising models. Advertising models are interesting because it can drive revenues shared to mobile operators, to the other partners: content providers and service providers.

The final objective is to find models that are sustainable in the long term.

NOKIA about creating a mobile agricultural service

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Sean Paavo Krepp, Head of Emerging Market Services of NOKIA South Africa explains the essential pillars for creating mobile agricultural services:

1. Content that is relevant
2. Content that is timely
3. Content that is a very high quality

It is therefore important to collaborate with all the actors in the sector of agricultural information provision/services for farmers. The two other key words are CUSTOMISATION and LOCALISATION.

Africa Perspective on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development

Sean Paavo of Nokia presents the the Nokia Life Tools for agriculture

Maputo 1-2 April. FARA participated at the W3C workshop in Maputo: Africa Perspective on the Role of Mobile Technologies in Fostering Social Development.

The workshop attended by 100 participants was organised by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), particularly the Mobile Web Initiative, and its Mobile Web for Social Development Interest Group. As the organisers put it:

"There are today more than half of the population living with less than 3$ a day, and lacking all kind of services (health, education, government...). The incredible growth of the mobile penetration rate last few years is providing a new hope. The potential of simple ICT services on mobiles to improve people's income has indeed been largely demonstrated. The aim of this workshop is to explore how to leverage these success stories and create an enabling environment that would drive the appearance of numerous services all over the Developing World."

The following topics were of particular interest:

• Analysis of use-cases / real-world projects on use of mobile phones in development projects, use of the Web in development projects, deployment of public services using mobile devices in developing countries.
• Strengths and weaknesses of SMS technology vs mobile Web vs voice technology
• Regional differences in Asia/Africa/Central Europe/Middle East/South America/etc.
• Challenges of integrating ICTs in rural communities
• Usability and Human-Computer Interfaces (HCI) challenges of mobile browser and mobile content for population without technological background and prior computer experience
• Challenges and potential solutions against illiteracy
• Usage of mobile technologies in emergency responses in rural areas
• Analysis on the way the mobile phones and/or the Web could improve people's lives in Developing Countries (education, healthcare, etc.)
• Role of voice and multimodal technologies/applications
• Challenges of developing and deploying numerous ICT services to rural communities
• Comparison between different potential platforms to support ICT's deployment (mobile phones, low-cost laptop, telecenters, and so on)
• Opportunity and challenges of ICTs in social/human development
• Challenges of sustainability, scalability and replicability
• Challenges and opportunity of integrating mobile phones in specific domains: eGovernment projects (mGovernment), e-health projects, disaster management,....

Fara presented its paper on Innovative Farmer Advisory Services using ICT on 02/04.

Reference
Have a look at the workshop agenda for links to other papers which may be of interest.

First European-African forum on ICT research

For the first time in Europe, sub-Saharan African and European policy-makers were brought together with ICT research organisations to address the development of collaborative projects.

This 2-day event (Brussels March 25-26) was organised by the European Commission (DG INFSO) with the support of the African Union Commission and the EU-FP7 EuroAfrica-ICT project.

This event was a unique opportunity for event attendees to:

• Network with key stakeholders in the field (private and public)
• Identify potential cooperation partners
• Learn more about the “EU-AU Partnership on Science, ICT and Space” (the 8th Partnership) and the EC/AUC Programmes
• Hear about opportunities to enhance African participation in FP7
• Learn more about successful EU-African FP7 cooperation projects and EU-African PPP (Public-Private Partnerships)

Reference:

ITNews Africa 24/03 European, African forum on research cooperation starts this week

Food Security, Environmental Sustainability, and Human Health Forum

The Kansas State University African Studies Center hosted the “African Issues Symposium: Food Security, Environmental Sustainability & Human Health” on March 30 – April 1, 2009. This symposium brougth together prominent international experts on Africa and leaders in the natural and social sciences to address these key issues. In addition, the gathering of scholars from U.S. and international institutions provided a valuable forum for dialogue, for identifying and clarifying key issues and problems, for summarizing and synthesizing current knowledge, and proposing a plan for the future.

The symposium included a series of special invited keynote speakers, contributed oral and poster presentations, and a closing series of panel discussions for summary and synthesis. A published volume of the proceedings of the symposium will be produced.

Reference:

Programme of this event

Event Website of the Kansas University

4th CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting

Hosted by NEPAD Secretariat, the Fourth CAADP Partnership Platform ( CAADP PP) Meeting was convened in Pretoria, South Africa on the 26th and 27th March 2009.

The CAADP PP is a senior level mechanism instituted to facilitate a common understanding on the progress of, and challenges facing, CAADP and to advise on CAADP implementation priorities. The CAADP PP has evolved into a key instrument for peer interaction and sharing among key African Union institutions (including the African Union Commission, NEPAD Secretariat and Regional Economic Communities), continental and regional farmers’ organisations, leading African academic and research institutions, African private sector representatives and CSO representatives with direct stake in the promotion of agriculture in Africa and development partners.

The Meeting was officiated by South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Hon. Lulama Xingwana, and had a record turn out of 210 participants on the first day. The meeting reviewed and discussed the following issues;
· Progress and status in CAADP implementation and support focusing on identifying key lessons and defining strategies and critical measures to be taken to accelerate implementation at country level.
· Operationalisation of the CAADP Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF).
· Progress on the implementation of some CAADP “early actions”.
· Preparations being made for the upcoming African Ministers of Land and Agriculture Conference and the AU Heads of State and Government Summit.
· CAADP links to global deliberations on agriculture, food and nutrition security
· Preliminary outcomes of the CAADP review.

Reference:
Rural Development Donor Platform 03/04 The IVth CAADP Partnership Platform Meeting Concluded
African Press Organisation 27/03 South Africa / African leaders, Development Partners and Civil Society Renew Commitment to Agriculture at the 4th CAADP PP

2009 FARA Secretariat Annual Program Planning and 4th Executive Board meeting

23-28 March. FARA Secretariat Accra. The Annual Program Planning Meeting was divided into 3 sessions i.e. sub-committee meetings, SRO-CSO-FARA retreat and Board Meeting to endorse the Secretariat’s 2009 program.

The subcommittee meetings (23-25 March) were further subdivided into programs, Audit and finance and nominations. It reviewed the previous’ years outputs and expenditures against planned activities and budget, highlighting key challenges and lessons learnt. The 2009 annual workplan was also discussed and presented for approval to the Board.

The SRO-CSO-FARA retreat on 26 March, looked at the activities in the subregional organizations and civil society organizations. Discussions identified areas that require continental interventions and support. It looked into the current challenges and lessons learnt while implementing the regional initiatives and improving accountability, ownership and sustainability.

Solutions and the way forward were proposed for endorsement by the Board. The Board meeting held on 27-28 March reviewed the Secretariat’s 2008 achievements and expenditure against its planned activities and budget. It reviewed and approved the Secretariat 2009 workplan based on the recommendations of the subcommittee meetings and SRO-CSO-FARA retreat.

Dr. Monty Jones receives degree of Doctor Honorus Causa at the university of Gent/Belgium

The Chancellor of the Ghent University Prof. Dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge

 gives the degree of Doctor Honorus Causa to Dr. Monty Patrick Jones.

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Extract from the ceremony on 20th of March at the Gent University in Belgium. The laudatio about Dr. Monty Jones is presented by Prof. Dr. Patrick Van Damme from the Faculty of Bio-sciences.

Meeting with the professors of the Faculty of 

Bio-sciences of the University of Ghent

 

Lecture of Dr. Jones on Regional agricultural Research in Africa which 250 people attended on 18th of March.

SIST Meeting

3-10 March 2009. The Système d’Information Scientifique et Recherche (SIST) network of scientists and persons in communication held a week long meeting in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting was organized to draw up the final workplan for the various SIST networks and train network representatives in web content management, effective web-browsing and web-design.

FARA belongs to the SIST-BVB, the Plant Biotechnology and Biosafety network of SIST, and participated in its workshop. The SIST-BVB workplan covered a review of the communication plan to improve sensitization of the scientific community on SIST-BVB issues, an update on biotech information on Africa and the hosting of the SIST server to be transferred from France to the UCAD (University of Cheik Anta Diop in Dakar).

Background: SIST
SIST is the Scientific and Technical Information System set up by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported by CIRAD to collate and disseminate web-based information to members of specific networks in science and technology in universities and research institutes in Africa. Support has been provided for the 2006-2009 period.

The 5 SIST networks are: integrated management of water resources; epizootic diseases, emerging and re-emerging diseases in animals; plant biotechnology and biosafety (biotechnologies vegetales et biosecurité- bvb); information and communication technologies in education and research; and promotion of cultural heritage in digital formats.

LK Data Management Workshop

16-20 February 2009. A meeting of the Lake Kivu Project Learning Site (LK PLS) of the Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA CP) took place in Ruhengeri, Rwanda. The meeting set out to achieve the following:

• Give an update on progress within the SSA CP at the LK PLS, the various task forces (TFs) and at the Project Coordination Unit (PCU); and
• Provide participants with skills needed to manage and analyze the data collected from the baseline surveys within the different countries:
• Share a better understanding of tools & methods;
• Get started on data cleaning;
• Prepare for data future analysis workshops;
• Prepare the Monitoring and Evaluation forms for data collection;
• Get started on a Training Manual; and
• Provide a data clinic service.

Discussions on the first day centered on updates from the PLS, FARA and updates on the baseline surveys from the three taskforces. Participants spent days 2 – 4 learning how to use the Quefax tool practically. On the last day, Prof. Sakary Nokoe, the CRST member responsible for biometrics introduced participants to data analysis and the various techniques and methods required to analyse the data collected in the baseline survey.

Data Cleaning workshop of the KKM PLS of the SSA CP

10-12 February 2009. IITA, Kano Station, Nigeria. The workshop for the Kano-Katsina-Maradi Pilot Learning Site (KKM PLS) of the Sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA CP) was conducted to provide the much needed data management skills for the entry and handling of the SSA CP baseline data that was collected by task forces across the pilot learning sites. This is in response to the need to pull data from various locations and research subject areas together for PLS and programme wide analysis.
Other specific objectives of the workshop were:

• To enhance a better understanding of the recommended tools & methods;
• To get started on data cleaning exercise;
• To prepare data for analysis and writing workshops;
• To prepare the Monitoring and Evaluation forms for data collection;
• To get started on a data management training manual development; and
  
• To provide a data clinic service.

For more information on the KKM PLS:
Quarterly Technical Report of the Implementation Phase, July 1 - September 30, 2008

Austrailian Ambassador Visits FARA

10 March 2009. FARA Headquarters, Accra, Ghana. The Australian Ambassador to Ghana, William Williams visited FARA and met with the Executive Directory, Dr. Monty Jones, to discuss possibilities of support.

The Ambassador William Williams with Dr. Monty Jones ED FARA, Emmanuel Tambi director NSF 3, Adewale Adekunle director NSF 5, Samira director NSF 1

New GFAR website is officially online

The new GFAR website is officially online! Please visit www.egfar.org to discover how easy it is to be a part of shaping the future of agricultural research for development. The web space features the new look of GFAR, while building on its role as a Global Forum for all those who care about the future of agriculture.