Eastern and Central Africa Programme for Agricultural Policy Analysis
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A Programme of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural
Research in Eastern and Central Africa
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Electronic Newsletter
20 October 2006--Volume 9 Number 20
NEWS
Dr. Denis Kyetere has been confirmed as the Director General of the National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) of Uganda. ECAPAPA congratulates Dr. Kyetere and wishes him well in his duties. His contacts are: Tel: 256 41 320512, e-mail:
On November 1-3, 2006, the Regional Agricultural Information Network (RAIN) of ASARECA will hold a stakeholders’ workshop on development of a postgraduate programme for enhancement of skills in agricultural information and communication management in the ASARECA region. The workshop will be held at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, Entebbe, Uganda. I recognition of the importance of agricultural information and communication management, ECAPAPA devotes this newsletter the proposed postgraduate programme.
ENHANCEMENT OF SKILLS IN AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN THE ASARECA REGION
In 2004, RAIN commissioned a study titled, “Assessment of ICT/ICM Human Resource Capabilities and Related Training Needs in the Context of Agricultural Research for Development in Eastern and Central Africa” (now commonly referred to as the Training Needs Assessment (TNA). The TNA was an in-depth review of the status of human resources in information and communication management (ICM), as well as in information and communication technologies (ICT) in the agricultural sector. The findings of the study led to recommendations and work-plans. It is in this respect that RAIN has initiated a programme to develop a postgraduate programme for enhancement of skills in agricultural information and communication management in the ASARECA region. The proposed programme is expected to address skills gaps in ICT and ICM content to help graduates package agricultural information in such a way that users at various levels can access, understand and utilize this same knowledge. This should finally contribute to the ASARECA mission of promoting economic growth, fighting poverty, reducing hunger and enhancing resources through regional collective action in agricultural research for development. Below are excerpts from the workshop brief and findings of the study intended to prepare participants and other stakeholders to make an input to the proposed study programme.
Introduction
A
S Africa endeavours to achieve the first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that is, reducing the number of poor and hungry people by one-half by the year 2015, it is important to note that for the poor and vulnerable there is always a link between poverty and food insecurity/hunger. Until the poor and vulnerable are assisted with the problem of food insecurity, hunger will continue to block their prospects to invest and develop themselves out of poverty. Food insecurity in Africa, as one of the major causes of hunger and malnutrition, continues to deter economic growth and limit progress in reducing poverty.
Today the fight against poverty will be won or lost in rural areas depending on the type of strategies being adopted. The likelihood of achieving the MDGs without a focus on improving the livelihoods and service delivery of rural dwellers is low. Africa has remained the only region where hunger is on the increase despite the decline in the proportion of the world’s hungry people over the past 20 years from one in every five to one in every six people. Sub-Saharan Africa alone has about 24 percent (204 million) of the total 852 million hungry people in the world today. With over 43 percent (93 million) of the 204 million undernourished people being children of less than 15 years of age. Africa’s food security in the long term appears compromised. This food security situation is aggravated by the high level of poverty (low purchasing power) and HIV/AIDS pandemic (reduced or no family labour to till the land).
Agriculture is often the economic driving force in developing countries. The World Trade Organization (WTO) statistics show that agriculture accounts for over one-third of export earnings for almost 50 developing countries, and for about 40 of them this sector accounts for over half of export earnings. Over 90 percent of the 1.2 billion people living in extreme poverty depend on forests for some part of their livelihoods. Forests are home to at least 80 percent of the worlds remaining terrestrial biodiversity and are a major carbon sink that regulates the global climate. Forests also help to maintain the fertility of the soil, protect watersheds and reduce the risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides.
To reduce poverty and enhance economic growth, human well-being, and development effectiveness there is also need to address the gender disparities and inequalities that are barriers to development. In Africa women represent the majority of the rural poor (up to 70 percent) and play a major role in the survival strategies and the economy of poor rural households.
Agricultural research and development (R&D) and ICM
The four pillars of food security are availability, stability of supply, access and utilization of food. Agricultural research is vital to all four. While research efforts in Africa are producing agricultural technologies which can make a difference in food and nutrition security in households this has still not made an impact in Sub Saharan Africa.
Information and communication management (ICM) supports food security by facilitating agricultural research through development of suitable information and communication technology (ICT) policies, improving development planning, empowering communities with ICM knowledge, supporting technology diffusion and agricultural marketing, and generally enlightening communities on sound natural resource management practices. Modern ICTs are necessary to satisfy the needs of globalization in agricultural research for development which entails better approaches for managing agricultural information and knowledge. Poor communication of information about emerging technologies such as biotechnology and biosafety, which affect the development and implementation of policies on food security, are issues of grave concern. This is particularly so in sub-Saharan Africa where, even though ICT is evolving fast just like in the developed world, its adoption in agricultural research, education and extension lags behind. As a result, the agricultural sector which is critical to the economies of these countries is worst affected.
Analysis of training programmes in many universities in the region clearly indicates that the graduates are well trained in their respective scientific disciplines but lack adequate capacity in how to integrate ICT in communicating agricultural technologies. On the other hand ICT and communication specialties lack technical capacity to adequately understand, package and communicate the new developments in science.
Tertiary institutions do have a role in contributing to the achievement of the MDGs and in this case MDG-1 through training of the relevant cadre of graduates. Thus, there is need to create increased commitment and involvement in food security and poverty solutions at the individual and institutional level; to give a high profile to solutions that work; and to support the tertiary education sector to better contribute in poverty reduction and food security strategies through improved capacity building programmes.
Global response to north-south digital divide
The potential role of ICT and ICM in improving effectiveness of agricultural productivity has given rise to wide-ranging initiatives to address the digital divide between developed and developing countries. For example, concerns over the slow development and adoption of modern communication and information technology, and limited access to scientific and technological information (STI) in developing countries as compared to the developed countries, a phenomenon referred to as the ‘digital divide’, were the principal subject of the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva, Switzerland and Tunis, Tunisia in December 2003 and November 2005, respectively.
The Tunisia meetings have lead to many global and regional initiatives to mainstream the role of ICT in development. At the global level, some of the on-going development interventions, just to mention a few, include:
· The Global Forum for Agricultural Research (GFAR) contributes to bridge the ICT adoption gap through a global alliance of regional agricultural information systems, also known as GLOBAL RAIS. GFAR has held several workshops that discussed initiatives for linking research and rural innovation to sustainable development. At the regional and sub regional levels, the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) has promoted the development of a regional strategy through workshops held in April 2004, with the objective of analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of national agricultural information systems in the region with the aim of using the outputs to develop a regional strategy.
In Eastern and Central Africa, the Regional Agricultural Information Network (RAIN) is spearheading the enhancement of ICT/ICM capabilities of national agricultural research systems (NARS).
· The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP), whose secretariat is in Oxford UK, has emerged as a key player in enhancing the availability of research information in developing countries. The key strategy of INASP is to champion the establishment of networks and projects that make access to research information cheap or free for institutions and scholars in the developing world. One such initiative is the Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI), whose secretariat is based at the University of Nairobi. The INASP directory of Free and Open Access Online Resources also lists and international STI databanks which have been established to enhance access to research and educational information.
· The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Co-operation (CTA) is an international agency advancing agricultural and rural development in the African Caribbean and Pacific countries in co-operation with the EU. CTA has pioneered the development and provision of ICT-based products and services for agricultural and rural development, with the main focus on promoting the transfer, exchange and sharing of scientific and technical information. One such service is the research and publication of ICT update on ICTs relevant to agricultural and rural development.
Various development partners have supported the ICM for research and development initiatives of global and regional organizations. Examples include the Africa-Link project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for enhancing internet connectivity in developing countries, and for which ASARECA/RAIN was a major implementing agency. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been a major force behind the initiatives of GFAR and its regional subsidiaries.
Efforts by ASARECA/RAIN
RAIN is a network of agricultural information organizations and professionals in the ASARECA countries. Its mission is to promote the provision and sustainable management of client-oriented agricultural information. Particular emphasis is on strengthening regional capacities to access, generate, exchange, package, disseminate and use this information for agricultural research and development in ways that contribute to ASARECA’s goals and objectives. RAIN’s purpose as defined in the new ASARECA logframe is “enhanced contribution of information and communication to the improved sustainable productivity, value added and competitiveness of the regional agricultural system.”
RAIN started its operations in 2003. One of its first challenges was to decide where it should focus its operations, if it was to add value in the area of ICT/ICM under the wider framework of ASARECA. The first activity that RAIN embarked on was to undertake a priority-setting exercise. During this exercise and other follow-up consultations, it was unanimously agreed that enhancing skills in ICT/ICM in the eastern and central Africa region was the most important problem-solving area that RAIN should focus on. In June 2004, RAIN embarked on a planning process that has, through studies and wide consultations with stakeholders, led to the development of the proposed postgraduate programme for enhancement of skills in agricultural information and communication management (AICM) in the ASARECA region.
ICM as an emerging profession
Following the global awakening in appreciation of the role of ICM in development there is a global concern to recognize ICM as a new and emerging profession. To this end there is a growing trend towards developing training programmes at universities in the area of ICM and its application to various sectors. For example, the School of Journalism at University of Nairobi, in collaboration with the African Network for Strategic Communication (AfricomNet) and the Johns Hopkins University have developed an MSc programme on information and communication management for health focussing on HIV/AIDS; they recognise the need for the development of a similar course focussing on agriculture; Addis Ababa University has an MSc programme on information science with sectoral applications in agriculture, health and business; Makerere University also has an MSc programme on information science geared towards management of services in health, agriculture and law; while the University of Singapore has developed a similar programme focusing on trade.
Why intervention at postgraduate level
From the TNA study and subsequent consultations with partners, RAIN has established the following:
a) That there is absence and/or shortage of AICM skills among agricultural professionals of all cadres in the ASARECA region. More specifically, agricultural researchers, educators and technologists in NARS lack sufficient skills that would make them self-sufficient in meeting their basic information needs for technology generation and dissemination;
b) That the following skills, among many others, were the most lacking among NARS researchers, academicians and ICT/ICM support staff, and in which training is required at both the long-term and short-term levels: development of digitized/electronic content; using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques; development and management of databases; editing of scientific manuscripts; graphic design and desktop publishing; management of research data; using the internet for receiving and disseminating information; and managing ICT/ICM technology and networks;
c) That the inadequate ICT/ICM skills observed among agricultural researchers and practitioners is, likely, the result of inadequate ICT/ICM content in the courses offered under the various postgraduate programmes at universities within the region, which are focused on the respective disciplines. If graduates of such courses are expected to become effective change agents then they must be packaged with agricultural knowledge management and communication skills that they need to bring about change;
d) That postgraduate programmes focusing entirely on agricultural information and communication management may be lacking, while existing programmes tend to follow the traditional extension methods for technology transfer;
e) That established agricultural researchers and academicians who lack the ICT/ICM skills are not likely to opt for or benefit from long-term training in ICT/ICM. It is, therefore, more appropriate to address the need for such skills in the early stages of professional development, hence, the focus on postgraduate student level;
f) That training at the MSc level would have greater impact for three reasons: first, it is an appropriate entry point for agricultural professionals that wish to pursue research and academics as well as those who are more inclined towards careers in industry, second, the MSc level would facilitate admission of candidates with diverse undergraduate training backgrounds in a manner comparable to the master of business administration (MBA) programmes. This would widen the profile of beneficiaries to include those from non-agricultural fields, such as journalists and anthropologists, and third, the MSc level would generate a high turnover of graduates, thereby providing the necessary critical mass of trained professionals more quickly.
Need for mid- career training