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Inter-Regional Workshop

Moving forward within the ICM4ARD Framework

Cairo, 10-11 May 2005

Proceedings

1

Contents 1. Introduction 2. Opening session 3. Session I: Regional Views 4. Session II: Global Views 5. Workshop 6. Recommendations of the Consultation

Annexures Annexure 1.1 Agenda of the Workshop Annexure 1.2 List of Participants to the Workshop Annexure 2 Presentation on a Global Partnership Programme on ICM for ARD Annexure 3.1 Presentation on AARINENA.RAIS Programme of Work and Budget Annexure 3.2 Presentation on APARIS Status and Work Plan for 2005 Annexure 3.3 Presentation on the AgroWeb Central Asia and Caucasus Network Annexure 3.4 Presentation on EARD-InfoSys+ Annexure 3.5 Presentation on CORAF/WECARD Activities Annexure 3.6 Presentation on the ASARECA’s RAIN Network

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Annexure 3.7 Background paper on the RAIN Network: Baseline Study

Annexure 3.8 Background paper on the RAIN Network: Human Resource Capacities

Annexure 3.9 Presentation on FORAGRO and INFOTEC

Annexure 4.1 Presentation on Agriculture Science and Technology Information: the AGRIS Network

Annexure 4.2 Presentation on the CGIAR ICT-KM2 Initiative

Annexure 4.3 Presentation on the Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative

Annexure 4.4 Presentation on Sharing and Exchanging of Agricultural Research and Development Information

Annexure 4.5 Presentation on Cooperation between Infosys and AARINENA – AIS

Annexure 4.6 Presentation on WISARD - Webbased Information Services for ARD

Annexure 5.1 Workshop: group on Development of NAIS

Annexure 5.2 Workshop: group on Sensitization and Awareness of NARS Leaders

Annexure 5.3 Workshop: group on Capacity Development

Annexure 5.4 Workshop: group on Governance of the activities under ICM4ARD framework

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Introduction ________________________________________________________________________ 1. The 2nd Inter-Regional Consultation was held at CLAES, ARC, Cairo, Egypt from the 10th to the 11th of May 2005, to enable RAIS stakeholders of Regional Fora to achieve the following objectives: a) To present and discuss their respective regional Plan of Work and Budget (POW&B)

for 2005 in the area of ICM for ARD and the development of their RAIS b) To take stock of existing initiatives and discuss fresh initiatives from the Regional

Fora in the area of ICM for ARD in order to launch collaborative platforms between and amongst RAIS

c) To define priorities for GFAR financial support for (i) regional activities and (ii)

inter-regional activities within collaborative platforms d) To define a consistent output oriented list of activities and related budget for each of

these collaborative platforms that either GFAR Secretariat can support within its own 2005 POW&B or define complementary proposals, consistent with the ICM4ARD proposals leading to fund raising activities where GFAR Secretariat could play a leading role

2. The agenda of the Consultation is included as Annexure 1.1. The list of participants at the Consultation is included as Annexure 1.2. Opening Session ________________________________________________________________________ 3. The meeting started with a Welcome Address by Dr. Sayed El Azhari, Director of CLAES. Dr. El Azhari hoped that the deliberations of the consultation would be fruitful in furthering the ICM4ARD program. He also wished a pleasant stay in Cairo for the participants. 4. Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan, AARINENA Executive Secretary, in his inaugural speech, outlined the progress of AARINENA.RAIS over the period and the contribution of AARINENA to the furthering of improved access to information in the WANA region. He described the several information sharing networks. 5. Dr. Jean-Francois Giovannetti, ICM Expert at GFAR Secretariat, briefly indicated the development of the ICM4ARD1 proposal as an output of the GLOBal.RAIS project. He recounted the achievements of the GLOBal.RAIS activities that had started in Cairo two years previously. Through a presentation (Annexure 2), he described the architecture of the Workshop and the expected outputs that would further ICM4ARD.

1 Detailed proposal available from GFAR Secretariat

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6. There was a brief discussion on issues raised by the ASARECA and CORAF representatives relating to FARA’s response to the ICM4ARD proposal following Dr. Giovannetti’s presentation. Dr. Maliha of ICARDA stressed that there was a need for ICM in ARD related research which appeared weak in the ICM4ARD project. Session I: Regional Views ________________________________________________________________________ 7. This session was chaired by Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan. Dr. Ahmed Rafea, Chairman of AARINENA.RAIS Steering Committee, initiated the session by presenting the POW&B of AARINENA.RAIS. His presentation is available as Annexure 3.1 8. Dr. Sahdev Singh, representative of APAARI, presented the POW&B of APARIS for the year 2005, including organization of a regional training workshop of national information officers from NARS, publication of a success story on ICT/ICM in ARD and information integration through NARS CDs. He also described the APARIS activities in 2004 which included a Training Program for Information Managers from Non-APAARI member NARS and a detailed report on the status of ICM for agricultural research for development in the Asia-Pacific Region. His presentation is available as Annexure 3.2. 9. The CACAARI.RAIS POW&B was presented by Mr. Arman Manukyan, representative of CACCARI. He described AgroWeb.CAC. His presentation is available as Annexure 3.3. 10. Mr. Marc Bernard presented the activities of EARD Infosys+ in the Year 2004 and the activities being carried out in 2005. The EARD Infosys presentation is available as Annexure 3.4 11. Mr. Dady Demby of CORAF presented the CORAF POW&B activities related to ICM. His presentation is available as Annexure 3.5. Similarly, Ms. Jacqueline Nyagahima presented RAIN activities, the ASARECA network. The RAIN presentation and background documents are available as Annexure 3.6, 3.7 and 3.8. 12. The INFOTEC (Foragro) presentation was made by Ms. Viviana Palmieri. Her presentation is included as Annexure 3.9. 13. Each presentation was followed by a brief discussion where clarification related to the POW&B were sought and provided.

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Session II: Global Views ________________________________________________________________________ 14. This session was chaired by Dr. Jean Francois Giovannetti. Mr. Magdi Latif presented the views of FAO. His presentation is available as Annexure 4.1. The FAO viewpoint was that Institutional and country level information systems are the building blocks of a global ARD related information sharing mechanism and need to be strengthened. 15. The FAO presentation was followed by a presentation of Dr. Nihad Maliha. In his presentation Dr. Nihad Maliha, ICARDA, underscored the networking and capacity development policy of CGIAR in the area of ICM, as well as the importance of making the CGIAR GPGs accessible globally through the ICT-KM Initiatives. He also pointed-out the similarities between the Global-RAIS and the CGIAR ICT-KM2, and assured, on behalf of Ms. Enrica Porcari, The CGIAR willingness to collaborate with GFAR and other stakeholders in the development of the Global-RAIS. His presentation is attached in Annexure 4.2. 16. Mr. Gert-Jan Stads, as IFPRI representative, presented the ASTI Initiative and its potential links to ICM4ARD framework. His presentation is included as Annexure 4.3. Mr. Stads drew the attention of the participants to the need of Science and Technology related indicators as part of research management data. Ms. Viviana Palmieri drew attention to the Agricultural Innovation Indicators that INFOTEC is now collating. 17. Dr. Ajit Maru, Consultant, GFAR presented a summary of the findings of a study where 9 Agricultural Information Systems were evaluated. His presentation is included as Annexure 4.4. There was a brief discussion on the salient issues raised by the study. This discussion underscored the need for a core data set and standards. The full comparative study will be published separately as a GFAR Secretariat report. 18. Dr. Ahmed Rafea presented the Inter-Regional collaborative platform between AARINENA.RAIS and EARD.INFOSYS. This presentation is available as Annexure 4.5. This session was then adjourned to conduct the Workshop and launch specific working groups. 19. Prior to the plenary to discuss Workshop recommendations, this session was initiated by Mr. Koen Beelen, representative of WISARD, who made a presentation on WISARD. His presentation is included as Annexure 4.6.

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Workshop ________________________________________________________________________ 20. The Workshop, as a part of the consultation process, considered the issues that arose from the various presentations made during the two sessions and consolidated them as being around the following topics:

1. Development of NAIS 2. Sensitization and Awareness of NARS Leaders, as a specific component

of Advocacy for ICT Enabled agricultural information systems 3. Capacity Development for ICM from the Regional Fora point of view 4. Governance of the activities under ICM4ARD framework

21. The general direction of GFAR Steering Committee Meeting at Mexico was to encourage inter-regional collaboration among the member Fora. Taking this as a cue, the participants were divided into 4 groups and each group was requested to brainstorm on inter-regional activities related to one of the above topics. 22. The groups discussed the activities for Inter-Regional collaboration and made some recommendations. The presentations related to these activities are available as Annexure 5.1-4. These presentations were discussed in detail at a plenary session. Recommendations of the Consultation ________________________________________________________________________ 23. The following recommendations emerged during the concluding plenary session:

• The POW&B presented by RFs will be consolidated and submitted for consideration by the GFAR Secretariat for possible support at the earliest. This consolidation will include the following:

1. Strengthening AgroWeb CAC as basis for the CACAARI.RAIS, based

on the proposal presented during the Consultation; 2. A Regional Workshop forNational Information Nodal Points (NINPs)

in APAARI Region; 3. Publication of regional ICM success stories by APAARI; 4. Supporting sensitization and awareness building of NARS leaders on

ICT/ICM issues in Sub-Saharan Africa, with possible use of the iNARS discussion platform;

5. Assessment of Information management policies and systems in each country and sub-region of Latin America and the Caribbean;

6. Support to AARINENA. RAIS for the renewal of its Steering Committee.

• The Inter-Regional or global activities for further consolidation and possible

GFAR support were as follows:

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1. Inter-regional Proposal based on AARINENA-RAIS and InfoSys+

pre-proposal for:

i. Initiating Inter-Regional sharing and exchange of experiences, skills and tools between AARINENA-RAIS and InfoSys+, leading to development of NAIS. A complementary WISARD proposal is expected to strengthen this collaborative platform.

ii. Customizing from RUN a web-based platform for electronic publishing. FORAGRO and APAARI underscored their interest to join this collaborative platform.

2. Organizing before the end of 2005 an Inter-regional consultation on

the methodology and tools for capacity development of NAIS/RAIS managers, which will be followed by development of a strategy for action for capacity development for period 2006-2007

3. Further financial support for enabling exchange of resource persons and trainees across regions in addition to the Regional Organizations’ proposals for Capacity development of NAIS and RAIS managers

4. The need for an ICM Coordinating Committee for GFAR Secretariat

was recognized. A draft TOR will be developed by GFAR Secretariat and circulated among participants for suggestions. It will be placed for final consideration of GFAR Steering Committee Meeting, 7 June, Entebbe, Uganda.

5. The interest to publish the global AIS study under a GFAR label was

recognized, and GFAR Secretariat was expected to achieve this publication.

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Annexure 1.1

Agenda of the Second Inter-Regional Consultation

Tuesday 10 May 2005 08.15-08.45 Departure from the Hotel and Registration in CLAES

Opening Session Chairman: Prof. Ahmed Rafea

08.45-08.55 Welcome Address (Dr. Sayed El Azhari, Director of CLAES) 08.55-09.05 Official opening of the Workshop (Dr. Ibrahim Hamdan, AARINENA

Executive Secretary) 09.05-09.25 GFAR Secretariat PoW&B for ICM activities in 2005. Architecture of the

workshop and expected outputs. (Jean-François Giovannetti) 09.25-09.30 Comments and proposals in plenary

Session I: Regional Views Chairman: Dr Ibrahim Hamdan

09.30-10.00 AARINENA-RAIS 2005 PoW&B Presentation (Prof. Ahmed Rafea) Discussion 10.00-10.30 APARIS 2005 PoW&B Presentation (Dr. Sahdev Singh, APAARI Representative) Discussion

10.30-11.0 Coffee break and group picture 11.00-11.30 CACAARI-RAIS 2005 PoW&B Presentation (Arman Manukyan, CACAARI Representative) Discussion 11.30-12.00 EARD-InfoSys+ 2005 PoW&B Presentation (Mr. Henning Knipschild) Discussion 12.00-12.30 FARA-RAIS 2005 PoW&B Presentation (Ms. Myra Wopereis-Pura, Jacqueline Nyagahima, Mr Dady

Demby) Discussion 12.30-13.00 INFOTEC Presentation (Ms. Viviana Palmieri) Discussion

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13.00-14.00 Lunch break

Session II: Global Views Chairman: :Dr. Jean-François Giovannetti

14.00-14.10 FAO contribution to activities within the ICM4ARD framework (Magdi Latif)

14.10-14.20 ASTI Initiative led by IFPRI., links with RAIS (Gert-Jan Stads) 14.20-14.45 Study on existing information tools dealing with Institutions / Experts /

activities and research outputs (Ajit Maru) 14.45-15.00 General discussion 15.00-15.20 Presentation of the collaborative platform between AARINENA-RAIS

and InfoSys+ (Prof Ahmed Rafea) 15.20-16.00 General discussion on vision, strategy and main collaborative platforms to

be discussed in the working groups 16.00-16-30 Coffee break and Formation of working groups

Session III: Working Groups

16.30-18.30 Participants will be divided into three to four working groups. The expected working groups are as follows: a) Moving towards a global AIS platform and a GFAR web ring; b) Capacity building with a case study from the CAC region; c) Databases on agricultural technologies with a case study on collaboration from Western Africa and Latin America; d) NARS leaders training programme in ICT/ICM for ARD

19.30 Dinner offered by CLAES Wednesday 11 May 2005

Session III: Working Group (contd.) 8.30-10.00 Parallel working groups

10.00-10.30 Coffee break

10.30-10.50 Report of Working group 1 (15 minutes presentation + 5 minutes discussion)

10.50-11.10 Report of Working group 2 (15 minutes presentation + 5 minutes discussion)

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11.10-11.30 Report of Working group 3 (15 minutes presentation + 5 minutes discussion)

11.30-11.50 Report of Working group 4 (15 minutes presentation + 5 minutes discussion)

11.50- 12.30 General discussion 12.30-13.30 Lunch break 14.00-15.00 Drafting Committees for the various collaborative platforms, programmes,

etc.

15.00-15.20 Coffee break

Closing Session

Chairman: Prof. Ahmed Rafea, AARINENA-RAIS Chair

15.20-15.40 Recommendations 15.40-15.45 Closing speech by the Chair

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Annexure 1.2

List of participants

No. Name Tel., Fax. and Email 1 Mr. Jean-François Giovannetti

GFAR Secretariat Visiting senior Expert

Tel: +39.06.57.05.56.98 Fax: +39.06.57.05.38.98 e.mail 1:jeanfrancois.giovannetti@fao.org e.mail 2: j.giovannetti@cgiar.org Website: www.egfar.org

2 Dr. El-Sayed El-Azhary Director of CLAES

Tel.: 202 3317601, 6704727, 7604727 Fax.:202 7617628 e.mail: sayed@claes.sci.eg

3 Prof. Dr. Ahmad Rafea Chair of AST & string Committee of AARINENA

Tel.: 202 3317601, 6704727, 7604727 Fax.:202 7617628 e.mail: rafea@claes.sci.eg

4 Dr. Ibrahim Y. Hamdan Executive Secretary, AARINENA P.O. Box 851758, Amman, Jordan 11185

Tel: 4725015 e.mail: ihamdan@link.net

5 Dr. Ajit Maru Consultant, GFAR 55, Milan Park, Near Sandesh Press, Vastrapur, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, PIN 380 054

Tel: (00)-91-79-26740023/55225707 Fax: (00)-91-79-26740023 e.mail: amaru_in@yahoo.com; a.maru@isicad.org

6 Mr. Otman Sebbata Head of Information & Documentation Unit, INRA, B.P. 6512 R.I. Rabat-Instituts, Morocco

Tel: +212 37 775530 Fax : 212.37.77.40.03 e.mail: sebbata@awamia.inra.org.ma

7 Dr. Sahdev Singh Program Director for ARD, AIT Extension Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) P.O. Box 4, KLONE LNANG PATHUM THANI, 12120, THAILAND

Tel: (+661) 697-0620 Fax: (+662) 524-5247 e-mail: ssingh@ait.ac.th

8 Mr. MANUKYAN Arman Coordinator, AGROWEB NETWORK 25 Orjonkedge, apt 63 ECHMIADEIN, ARMENIA

tel: +36- 30- 646 4873 fax: +36-1-351- 7029 email: a.manukyan@agrowebcac.org Arman.Manukyan@fao.org

9 Mr. Bernard Marc EIARD, InfoSys Manager ZADI, German Center for Documentation and Information in Agriculture, Villichgasse 17, D-53177 Bonn, Germany

Tel.: +49 228 954 8364 Fax.:+49 228 9548111 Email: mbe@zadi.de; bernard@isicad.org

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10 Mr. Henning KNIPSCHILD EIARD InfoSys Technical Coordinator ZADI - German Center for Documentation and Information in Agriculture Information Centre for Agriculture and Forestry Villichgasse 17, D-53177 Bonn, Germany

Tel.:+49 228 954 8365 Fax.:+49 228 9548111 e.mail: hk@zadi.de

11 Dr Umidjan NAZARKULOV Head of Dept. of Information Technologies and International relations in Tashkent State Agrarian University Universitetskaja 3, Tashkent State Agrarian University Department of Accounting, Finance and Audit Tashkent, Uzbekistan 700140

Tel: +998- 90 185 5652 Fax.: +998- 71- 1696213 email: uz_nazar@web.de

12 Ms. Jacqueline NYAGAHIMA Information Officer, Entebbe, Uganda RAIN/ASARECA, P.O. Box 765 Entebbe, Uganda

Tel: +256-41-321 775 Fax: +256-41-322 593 email: j.nyagahima@asareca.org

13 Mr. Dadi DEMBY Head Information and Communication Department, CORAF/WECARD BP 48 Dakar-RP, Senegal

Tel. (221) 8259618 / 8253963 Fax. (221) 8255569 email: dady.demby@coraf.org

14 Dr. Nicolas Nihad Maliha Manager, Libaraty & Information Systems (LIS) ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria

Tel.:+963 21 2213433 Fax.:+ 963 21 2213490 e.mail: n.maliha@cgiar.org

15 Dr. Giorgi SAGHIRASHVILI Vice President of the Georgian National Association for Animal Production (GNAAP) 4a Marshal Gelovani, Tbilisi, Georgia GEO 0159

Tel.: +995- 99- 93 23 34 Fax.: +995-32 331 609 e-mail: gnaap@hotmail.com

16 Ms. Viviana PALMIERI Administrator INFOTEC, IICA Instituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura Apartado 55-2200, San Isidro de Coronado P.O. Box 10281 - San José, Costa Rica

Tel.: +506-216-0180 Fax.: +506-216 0164 e-mail: viviana.palmieri@infoagro.net; vpalmier@iica.ac

17 Mr. Gert-Jan Stads IFPRI Project Officer ASTI 2033 K Streat NW, Washington, DC 20006 USA

Tel.: +1-202-8626490 e-mail: g.stads@cgiar.org

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18 Mr. Koen Beelen WISARD Manager International Agriculture Center, Wageningen UR P.O. Box 88, 6700AB Wageningen , The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 317495260 Fax.: +31 628260205 e-mail:koen.beelen@wur.nl

19 Mr. Magdi Latif Regional Information Management Officer FAO Regional Office for the Near East, RNE, Cairo, Egypt

Tel.: 00202 3316148, 010 1772187 Fax.: 00202 7485981 e-mail: Magdi.Latif@fao.org website.:www.fao.org

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Annexure 2

Presentation of Dr. Jean-François Giovannetti

Moving Forward within the ICM4ARD Framework Outline of the GFAR Secretariat presentation � What has been achieved and where are we?

� Next steps: Objectives and Expected outcomes of this Meeting

� Means to move forward 1. What has been achieved and where are we? In the area of ICM, GFAR Secretariat has an operational mandate given by the GFAR Stakeholders: � To develop EGFAR as a communication tool enhancing dialogue within and

amongst the various stakeholders � To support Regional Fora in the development of their information systems (RAIS) Regional Agricultural Information Systems, RAIS: 1. 1999, first GFAR Consultation in Rome 2. 1999-2000: Development of APARIS, EARD INFOSYS and INFOTEC 3. AARINENA.RAIS Prototype Proposal in 2000 4. ASARECA Regional 5. Agricultural Information Network (RAIN)

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ICM4ARD Purpose: a shared vision To strengthen ICT enabled national agricultural information systems, which form the basic blocks for sharing and exchanging agricultural information regionally and globally, Rome inter-regional consultation : 4 Issues for GFAR Intervention 1. Strengthening Advocacy Role of NARS Leaders for appropriate policies, strategies

and attracting investment and resources in ICT enabled NAIS 2. Developing Capacity in NAIS and their RAIS 3. Integrating agricultural information systems globally 4. Developing relevant governance structures for sharing and exchange of agricultural

information globally

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ICM4ARD Expectations � Improved Capacity in NARS, SRO/RO, GFAR leaders for advocating development

of ICT enabled AIS at their respective levels. � Capacity Development of ICT managers and staff of NAIS, S.RAIS and RAIS in

further developing NAIS and RAIS � Integrated of and equitable access to National, Regional and Global Agricultural

Information through EGFAR Web Ring � New Governance structures for ICT enabled information systems at regional and

global levels ICM4ARD Activities : Advocacy � Generating Reports on ICT enabled AIS at National and Regional Level � Sensitization and Awareness of NARS Leaders on Advocacy Issues � Bimonthly electronic bulletin through EGFAR Website � Publication of Featured Articles in Reputed Journal � Development of African Federation for Information and Communication Technology

in Agriculture ICM4ARD Activities : Capacity Development Face-to-Face Workshops and Open and Distance Learning Courses on: � NAIS Implementation and Management; � Projects, Institutions, Experts and Research Outputs Databases; � Distributed Database Management. ICM4ARD Activities : Integration of Agricultural Information Systems � Setting up of GLOBAL.RAIS Web Ring

o Database Development o Gateway development o Search Engine Development

� Establishment of Knowledge Network and Community of Practice o share information, experience and knowledge electronically through i-NARS o and periodically through face-to-face means related to management of ICT

enabled AIS at National, Regional and Global levels. ICM4ARD Activities : Governance of Global Agricultural Information Systems � GFAR ICT/ICM Task Force (EGFAR Advisory Group)

The GFAR ICT/ICM Task Force will technically support the GFAR Secretariat in the following of the Global-RAIS programme

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� Strengthening of RO/SRO RAIS Steering Committees Allocation of full time staff is critical to the function of the RAIS and S-RAIS

ICM4ARD Proposed Budget

1. Advocacy activities 803,000 $

2. Capacity Development 1,797,800 $

3. Integration (Webring) 200,000 $

4. Governance 1,162,200 $

TOTAL 3,963,000 $

2. Next Steps: Objectives and Expected outcomes of the Cairo Meeting ICM4ARD as a framework for action � To split ICM4ARD in a set of consistent components led by Regional Fora, and

facilitated by GFAR Secretariat � To set priorities and support the prioritized components through already available

funding (GFAR & RFs) � To achieved true synergism through inter-regional collaborative platforms � To exchange on yearly PoW&B of the various RAIS � To develop easier fund raising activities for each of this component integrated within

the ICM4ARD framework Objectives of the Meeting � To further discuss on their respective regional Plan of Work and Budget (PoW&B)

for 2005 in the area of ICM for ARD and the development of their RAIS; � To take stock on existing initiatives involving all principal stakeholders, and to

stimulate other initiatives in order to launch collaborative platforms between and amongst RAIS;

� To define priorities for GFAR financial support accordingly to (i) regional activities or (ii) inter-regional activities within collaborative platforms;

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� To define a consistent output oriented list of activities and related budget for each of these collaborative platforms that either GFAR Secretariat can support within its own 2005 PoW&B or define complementary proposals, consistent with the ICM4ARD proposals leading to fund raising activities where GFAR Secretariat could play a leading role.

Expected outcomes of the Meeting � Shared vision on the 2005 activities conducted by the various RFs in the area of ICM

for ARD; � GFAR Secretariat (and FAO) support to RAIS initiatives defined through a bottom up

process; � Collaborative platforms and their related action plan well defined, and follow up

mechanisms of these collaborative platforms defined and/or put in place in the 2005 within the GFAR Secretariat budget.

3. Means to move forward GFAR Secretariat 2005 PoW in ICM BP Objective 1 To improve access to and regularly update the GFAR website EGFAR (www.egfar.org) 1.1. a) Informative, regularly and widely consulted EGFAR b) Knowledge and information generated by GFAR stakeholders owned and used by them, and shared with other external actors 1.1.1. Tap on ICM expertise in both global and regional levels for inputs on technical tools, content monitoring and follow-up activities1. Set-up an EGFAR Advisory Group (EAG) 1.1.2. Facilitate ownership and utilization of EGFAR as a tool for information exchange and knowledge sharing by all GFAR stakeholders1. Update regularly and maintain EGFAR, and improve its user friendliness 1.1.3. Improve the reach of EGFAR1. Carry out electronic-forums discussion in support of GFAR’ s advocacy role in the area of Agricultural Research Partnerships BP Objective 2 To establish a global MIS on ARD, Stakeholders, their expertise and activities 2.1 A functional regional MIS is established 4.2.1.1. Take advantage of existing initiatives and strengths of other groups, programmes and organisations1. Support specific initiatives led by RAIS of the Regional Fora, 4.2.1.2. Develop a bottom-up approach and a related Plan of Work and Budget (POW&B)1. Support specific regional consultations in the area of ICM leading to the definition of a POW&B

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2.2. A functional inter-regional MIS established 4.2.2.1. Link the various levels (national to global) and Launch the EGFAR web ring mechanism and the gateway function for EGFAR and the RAIS, through a multi-host database search engine GFAR Budget Summary 2005 GFAR Budget 2005 for ICM activities Management Information Systems

220,000

EGFAR Advisory Group establishment

20,000

EGFAR management, improvement and re-engineering

40,000

Support to RAIS and activities within the ICM4ARD framework (workshop and consultancies)

100,000

GFAR Annual Report (2004) and other publications

50,000

Production of brochures and posters

10,000

DURAS Budget for ICM activities ICT enabled tools for GFAR Stakeholders

420,000

Technical support for EGFAR EGFAR and its web ring

120,000

Technical support to RAIS

170,000

Support to RAIS and activities and database management

70,000

Equipment of RAIS 10,000

Miscellaneous and GFAR overheads

50,000

Item USDIncome 2005Monetary contributions 1,672,500Carry-over from 2004 1,112,274Total income 2,784,774Budget 2005Staff and operating cost of Secretariat 1,105,000Inter-regional collaboration 265,000Collaborative Research Partnerships 199,000Advocacy and Public Awareness 110,000Management Information Systems 220,000Total operational budget 1,899,000Reserve (income minus operations) 885,774

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Other expected support for ICM activities Other expected financial support for ICM activities

900,000

EC/DG Research: SSA 200,000

IDRC 500,000

EC/DG AIDCO 200,000

Shared activities with CTA

For sure

World Bank and Other donors

?

CONCLUSION � ICM4ARD Framework for action � Principle of Additionallity � Inter-regional co-operation � Practically oriented decision making process

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Annexure 3.1

Presentation of Dr. Ahmed Rafea

Proposal for Regional Agricultural Research Information System for West Asia and North Africa POW&B of AARINENA.RAIS

Agenda � Introduction � Objectives � Outputs � Plan of Work � Technical Development Activities � Human Capacity Development � Governance � Governments Contribution � Concluding Remarks Introduction � ICT steering Committee was formed in Feb. 2003

o Agree on a set of Collaborative Programs � First meeting was held in ICARDA Aleppo in Sept. 2003

o Prepare a proposal for a project on WANA/RAIS o Collect data on the NAIS and on Human Capacity

� Second Meeting was held in Tehran in Sept. 2004 o Approve the Proposal on WANA/RAIS Project o Approve a training plan to be sponsored by FAO and AOAD.

� The development of WANA/RAIS is approved to be on two phases: o First phase:

� Develop a set of tools that facilitate the development of NARIS � Develop an Electronic Community at the regional level

o Second Phase: � Implement the NARIS in 5 countries in each sub region � Develop a portal at the regional level to access the distributed database

at the national level

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Objectives � The first phase has two objectives.

o strengthening ICT human resource capacity of agricultural research institutions.

o enhancing communication among researchers at the regional level. � The second phase has two objectives.

o implementing NARIS in all research institutions members of AARINENA. o building a Gateway function that has multi-host database search engine.

Outputs � The current proposal addresses the first phase of this plan. � The three main outputs of the first objective are:

o Establishing a methodology for developing the information management modules,

o Developing software tools to be used by different NARS’ s to build the NARIS’ s, and

o Training 20 persons from 5 countries in at least three sub regions on using the methodology and tools.

� The two main outputs of the second objective is o Developing an Electronic Community System (ECS) at the regional level,

and o The activation of the ECS using three to four current research network in

the region. Plan of Work � The project will be led by one of the leading countries in ICT in the region. � The current available tools and methodologies in the NARS’ s , and Regional and

International centers for information management and electronic community development must be examined.(Done)

� The project is based on developing a complete methodology and tools to enable NARS’ s to build their own NARIS’ s.

� The tools must be very user friendly and training must be very effective. � The developed training material could be availed through the AARINENA web site. � The tools developed must be thoroughly tested. The main test is its success in

building the NARIS in the country that has the Institute that will lead the project. � Plan of Work(3) � The training workshop will also serve as a good test of the tools. Final adjustment

could be done after the workshop. � As for the ECS, encouraging three to four research networks in the region to use this

ECS will be considered the main test to measure the success of this system

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Technical Development Activities � Prepare A detailed requirement specification document of the NARIS approved by 5

countries from at least 3 sub regions � Conduct a study on the different tools used in the region for information management

(Done) � Determine the Classification and indexing Scheme in cooperation with NARS’ s and

Regional and International Centers � Prepare a detailed design document of the NARIS. � Specify requirements, design , implement the tool, and test it against specifications � Study existing software suitable for implementing the EC system � Prepare a requirement specification document freo the ECS and get the approval of 5

countries from at least 3 sub regions � Design the ECS, produce the Alpha version of the system, test the alpha version, and

produce the Beta version Human Capacity Development Activities � Prepare a training document on the Methodology and tools � Conduct a training workshop for 20 persons from the 5 countries � Prepare a training document on the usage of the ECS � conduct a training workshop for 20 scientists, from three research networks � Activate the Electronic Research Networks Governance � The project would be managed by one of the leading NARS’ s through a secretariat

located in the host institution. � The Secretariat would consist of a RAIS coordinator, to be financed by the project,

who would work with focal points appointed by AARINENA members and other collaborating organizations,

� The ICT Steering Committee will work as a project task force to supervise, monitor, and evaluate the project activities and outputs.

� A representative of the donor and the RAIS coordinator are to join project task force. � The AARINENA Executive Committee will select the leading NARS that will

implement this project, and the Project Coordinator based on the recommendation of the ICT steering committee.

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Governments Contributions � Professional staff will be provided as required for technical advice, consultation and

training. � Relevant information will be made available for the RAIS/WANA information

system. � The government will also ensure adequate infrastructure exists at the sites for the

project (5 (countries) x $500/month x 18= $45,000). � The AARINENA RAIS secretariat in Tehran provide the hosting of the AARINENA

web site and its management ($1000x18= $18,000) � The leading NARS that will implement the project will provide the office spaces for

consultants, RAIS coordinator, and equipment, the connectivity to the Internet, and other needed services ($2000 x 18 =$36,000).

� The in-kind contribution of the AARINENA through its member organizations is estimated to be $99,000

Budget Concluding Remarks � Advocacy activities can be added to the current proposal to mobilize resources in the

five countries and get the commitments of the engaged institutions � AARINENA is willing to cooperate with International and other Regional For a that

have the same vision � The second phase could be added to the current proposal if funding is available � FAO and AOAD started a program for Human capacity building in the region. � The first training workshop was conducted in CLAES in Feb. 2005 � The approach for training that has been agreed upon in Tehran meeting is to focus on

useful s/w tools that can be used by IT persons in the national information centers � The awareness courses are to be delivered for top management

Consultants from the Region (36 m/m) 36,000 RAIS Coordinator (18 m/m) 18,000 Support Staff 9,000 sub-total Personnel 63,000 Workshop and Training 75,000 Official Travel 10,000 Operating Expenses 2,000 Material and Supplies 2,000 Equipment 8,000 Miscellaneous 5,000 Grand Total 165,000

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Annexure 3.2

Presentation of Dr. Sahdev Singh

Asia Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS): Status and Work Plan for 2005

Outline � APARIS Activities in 2004 � Work Plan for 2005 � Concluding Remarks Challenges � Commitment of member NARS � Involvement of NINPs � Capacity (Digital Divide Issue) � Sources of Funding � Expansion of User Base (students & farmers)

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2004 APARIS Activities

Themes: � Capacity Building for ICT/ICM in ARD � Advocacy for ICT/ICM in ARD � Integration of Information Resources Capacity Building � Training of NINPs from non-member NARS -- Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bhutan,

Vietnam, Mongolia, East Timor � National Workshop on “Linking Farmers with Researchers through ICT” in India Advocacy � Publication of a Regional Report Status of ICT/ICM in ARD for Asia-Pacific Region

and A Brief Presentation of Report in the APAARI General Assembly in December 2004.

� APARIS Steering Committee Meeting to Formalize the APARIS Work Plan 2005-2007.

� APAARI Participation in AFITA/WCCA 2004 and AAACU Biennial Convention on Distance Education.

Integration of Information Resources � Development of Web site for Asia-Pacific Consortium on Agricultural Biotechnology

(APCoAB) � APAARI on CD (An Off-line version of APAARI Web Site, including 20 Success

Stories, Reports, Newsletters, Proceedings)

2005 APARIS Activities Capacity Building � A Regional Workshop of NINPs to Assess the Progress of National Agricultural

Information Systems (NAIS) and Develop a Collaborative Action Plan. � Estimated Budget: USD25,000.

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Advocacy � Publication of a Success Story on ICT/ICM in Agriculture Sector: The success story

will identify and elaborate three case studies, one each from the three sub-regions of APAARI (South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific).

� Estimated Budget: USD3,000. Integration of Information Resources � NARS leaders will be requested to formally exchange CDs of their NARS in a

session/ceremony during APAARI General Meeting. The CD (based on the same concept as APAARI on CD) should contain a database of NARS institutes, scientists, and/or projects.

� Estimated Budget: USD2,000. APARIS – Existing and Planned Cooperation/Collaborations � GFAR, FAO, CG Centers, UN-ESCAP, AIT and ADBI/ADB � SDLEARN: Sustainable Development e-Learning Network � AAACU � APAN: Asia-Pacific Advanced Network � Others

o Stronger NARS (examples: JIRCAS, ACIAR, RDA) o regional and sub-regional forums (SEARCA, SAIC, SPC) o private sector and foundations o NGO’ s

Concluding Remarks � Why ICT/ICM matters? � APAARI Members as Knowledge Developers � Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System as a Vehicle to Deliver

Knowledge to the End-users

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Annexure 3.3

Presentation of Mr. Arman Manukyan

AgroWeb Central Asia and Caucasus Network (AWCAC) Basis for CAC-RAIS 2005 Plan of Work and Budget

Why AgroWeb CAC?

The official representatives from the CAC region (Tashkent, 2004) endorsed AgroWeb Network as a basis for RAIS, which enables � the management of national information resources in agricultural research for

development, � provides a gateway function from the regional level, facilitating access to national

resources and hence strengthened further by contributions from each NARS. What is AgroWeb CAC?

AgroWeb CAC � is a collaborative network, in view of the lack of web based information about

agricultural topics in the region; � was established and is maintained by representatives of participating countries; � facilitated by the regional chapter of the International Association of Agricultural

Information Specialists (IAALD) and by the Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations (FAO).

AgroWeb Objectives

AgroWeb Network aims to facilitate the generation, collection and provision of agriculture-related information, knowledge and best practice through:

� monitoring information about and related links to agricultural institutions; � providing the necessary environment for networking activities among different

thematic groups (Communities); � promoting national and international events related to the objectives of AgroWeb; � undertaking capacity development activities and promoting inter-institutional

cooperation by: o development of communication schemes at regional, sub-regional,

national, intra-national levels and enhancement of collaboration both among participating institutions and other organizations involved in development activities;

o development and promotion of common standards and guidelines for information management.

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AgroWeb Network

Countries involved

� Central Asia* o Kazakhstan o Kyrgyzstan o Uzbekistan

� Caucasus o Armenia o Azerbaijan o Georgia

Structure of the AgroWeb � Specialized Networks (“Communities”)

o Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) o Veterinary Medicine o Forestry o Food and Nutrition o Fishery and Aquaculture o Information Centers and Libraries o Etc.

� National AgroWeb Portals (NAWPs)

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What are NAWPs

� NAWPs o have been established as portals for the countries in the region; o are providing access to information of national relevance, from

international and regional sources, as well as about the relevant institutions in a standard format and structure;

o are serving as a platform for “Communities”; � The next steps include:

o the integration of various agriculture related databases to the network; o launching the appropriate search mechanisms amongst NAWPs; o development of Russian version of AgroWeb Regional Portal; o launching AgroWeb portals at intra-national level (example - Armenia

http://arm.agrowebcac.org/marz); o Active involvement of Farmers’ Organizations with the web representation

of their member farms (example – Georgia http://www.agrowebcac.org/farms/gnaap)

� The structure and management of NAWPs is fitting to the priorities defined by the representatives of respective countries (Tashkent, 2004).

Main Networking Principles � Decentralization (combination of vertical and horizontal networking); � Expert’s visibility in the web and responsibility for content provided; � Promotion of a sense of ownership � Common standards but not uniformity; � Multi-dimensional coverage of agriculture-related information; � Community in practice and bottom-up approach. 2005 Plan of Work and Budget � …before starting

o Strong national and sub-national information systems are pre-requisites for a regional or global system, and yet so few exist. There is a need to develop MIS to operate in a fully decentralized and distributed mode, to maximise ownership at national and sub-national level.

1) advocacy, 2) capacity development, 3) technical integration, 4) supporting the governance structure.

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Advocacy

1.1 Establishment of task forces at regional and sub-regional levels based on AgroWeb CAC structure and integration of NAWPs into coordination and updating processes. � The regional level task force will be consisted of representatives of GFAR,

AWCAC and FAO (possibly HQ, RNE and SEUR offices). � The sub-regional task forces will be consisted of the representatives of

respective NAWP managers and National Coordinators for specialized Networks (Communities).

1.2 Organization of sensitization and awareness workshops for NARS, SRO and RO leaders as well as for national level policy makers and managers. � In this respect the strong support and active involvement of GFAR Secretariat

and FAO, as well as the other RAIS managers is expected in a form of providing the resource persons and sharing their valuable experiences in with the target audience.

1.3 Facilitation of access to advocacy related information for above mentioned stakeholders. � Development of appropriate information resources about the added value of

effective NAIS and RAIS. � Creation of the promotional CD about the basis for CAC-RAIS and its

operational principles. � Dissemination of the above mentioned information and ensuring of two way

communication with the advocacy targets. Capacity Development

2.1 Need assessment studies for NAWPs for taking the role of NAIS � Studies will be undertaken in all 8 countries of the region. � The regional Status Report for need assessment for Capacity development.

2.2 Two face-to-face workshops for NAWPs (for NAWP managers, National Coordinators of Specialized Networks (Communities) and technical experts). � Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and

Uzbekistan). � Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia).

Technical Integration

3.1 Technical support to NAWPs. 3.2 Implementation of common standards for data collection, storage and

dissemination, as well as standardization of searching mechanisms and other relevant tools. � Under the guidance of GFAR Secretariat the possibilities of implementation

of tolls and methodologies developed by other partner organizations (FAO,

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EIARD-Infosys, CSAL-Moscow, etc.) will be studied. � The strategy for technical cooperation with other key players in the field of

agricultural information will be developed. 3.3 Enhancement of AgroWeb CAC as a Gateway/Portal to the information at

national level and from inter-regional sources. � Provision of enlarged access to Global and regional ARD information

(AGORA, AGRIS, etc.). � Online learning resources (through the AgroEdu Network in the structure of

AgroWeb, GFAR distance learning resources, by translation of iMARK modules of relevance to CAC region, etc.)

� Development of (i) the Experts database for CAC region, (ii) Russian language platform and (iii) question-answer services.

Supporting the governance structure

4.1 Salary for personnel • CAC-RAIS coordinator • 2 sub-regional consultants • Support staff

4.2 Travel grants 4.3 Equipment 4.4 Software 4.5 Operating expenses 4.6 Miscellaneous

2005 Plan of Work and Budget Detailed budget and more information is available in “CAC-RAIS Project Proposal” document.

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Annexure 3.4

Presentation of Mr. Marc Bernard

Moving forward within the ICM4ARD Framework

Features of EARD-InfoSys+

1. Relational database that links people, projects, organizations, news, events and funding opportunities.

2. ALERT 3. A Strategy of Decentralised Content Management and Collaborative Editing 4. Additional features

� Group organizer -> to support decentralised organisations � E-Journals -> to give people a voice

Linking information Hierarchical datasets like Faculty of Agriculture have got "parent" data (e.g. University of Bonn) and "child"-data (e.g. Institute of ...)

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5 ways to access information

E-Mail ALERT

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Assure Data Input and Updating A Strategy of Decentralised Content Management and Collaborative Editing � ALERT : Promote registration and data entry in collaboration with the National

Nodes � Free Data Entry: All users are free to enter data to speed up data entry and favor

ownership by the research community. � Restricted Update and Delete: Only National Nodes (NN) (authorized persons)

have the right to update and delete records. � Comments: Comments can be added to each record to add information or to request

modifications � ALERT to NN on new entries: NN get an ALERT mail with newly added data and

comments that are related to her/his country. This drastically reduces the time for keeping data up to date since searching for errors becomes obsolete

Linking to other RAIS: FARA website Integrating information systems and linking other media: www.isicad.org/wsis Supply driven versus demand driven Flow of funds and information turn NEED into DEMAND

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Les composants du système

Approche: Développement Participative et Itérative

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Perspectives � ERA-ARD: creation of a tool to support management of trans-national programmes � GFAR: linking to other RAIS � Support of the Joint Media Network.

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Annexure 3.5

Presentation of Mr. Dady Demby

CORAF/WECARD Activities 2005 (POW&B)

Ref. Activity Partner Likely funding source

Est. budget2 (€) / $

Result 1: Regional capacity in information and communication management enhanced 1 Governance 1.1 Strengthening of SROs-RAIS Cell GFAR, FARA 20 000 $ 1.2

Strategic partnerships

1.2.1. Participation in meetings

EDF 2 850 000 CFA*

1.2.2. Membership up of EGFAR Webring GFAR, FARA 6000 $ Result 2: NARS information management capacities developed 2.1 NARS stakeholders ICT/ICM human

resource capacities and training and information needs assessment

GFAR, FARA 18,500 $

2.2 Face-to-face workshop on NAIS Development and management

GFAR 35,000 $

2.3 Research proposal writing workshop CTA, EDF

8 250 000 CFA * 21 758 000 CFA *

2.4 Scientific writing workshop CTA 22 455 096 CFA * 2.5 National focal point strengthening EDF 4 900 000 CFA * 2.6 Face-to-Face Workshop on Projects,

Results, Institutions, Experts and NAIS-AGRIS Databases

GFAR, FARA EDF

30 000 $ 12 281 000 CFA

2.7 ODL (open & distance learning) course on NAIS Development and management

GFAR 18,000$

2.8 Support to NARS for NAIS implementation

EDF GFAR

12 200 000 CFA* 35 000$

Result 3: NARS stakeholders and leaders sensitized on ICM issues and tools 3.1 Sensitization and Awareness of NARS

Leaders on Advocacy Issues GFAR, FARA 28 000$

3.2 NARS stakeholders sensitization Workshop on ICM tools

CTA 15 933 346 CFA

3.3 Production of stakeholders sensitization tools (posters, flyers, etc.)

GFAR, FARA

15 000$

2 EDF/CTA funding in CFA; USAID, GFAR/FARA in $

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EDF 1 992 500 CFA * Result 4: Agricultural research results capitalized 4.1 Implement sub-regional agricultural

research results Database NARS, Infosys+, FAO, GFAR, ASARECA, etc.

USAID 167 361$*

Result 5: Publications 5.1 Coraf Action Newsletter EDF 29 020 900 CFA * 5.2 Scientific Journal EDF 21 200 000 CFA * 5.3 Production of a CD-ROM on Coraf Action

Newsletter CTA CTA 3 711 250

New Initiative: SAKSS * Funds secured

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Annexure 3.6

Presentation of Ms. Jacqueline Nyagahima

ASARECA’s Regional Agricultural Information Network RAIN

Introduction � Established in 2003, RAIN is one of 17 regional networks of the Association for

Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa – ASARECA � ASARECA was established in 1994 by the National Agricultural Research Institutes

in 10 ECA countries - Burundi, DR Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.

� ASARECA has four (4) Intermediate Results constitute the pillars in its Consolidated Conceptual Framework (CCF)

� Demand driven technologies/innovations utilized � Enabling regional policy environment for agricultural transformation facilitated � Performance driven institutional arrangements promoted � Enhanced utilization of information for research and development

The 4th pillar is the Purpose of RAIN. What is RAIN? � Network of agricultural information organisations and professionals in the ECA

region. � Forum in which supporters, producers, and consumers of agricultural information in

the region come together. � The mechanism through which common regional information policies and standards

are developed. � A partner in implementation of regional information activities Mission

To promote the provision and sustainable management of client-oriented agricultural information throughout the Eastern and Central Africa (ECA) region. Its particular emphasis is on the strengthening of regional capacities to access, generate, exchange, package, disseminate, and utilize this information to further economic growth and social welfare.

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Expected Results

To accomplish its purpose RAIN will endeavor to achieve four results. � Regional capacity in information and communication management enhanced � Mechanisms for the regional harmonization of information developed and applied � Regional information to support agricultural research and development generated � Improved access to information for research and development Partners � National agricultural research institutes and universities in the member countries. � Training organisations both within the region and outside. � International, regional, and sub-regional organisations experienced in ICM (e.g.,

CTA, FAO, FARA, GFAR) � International Agricultural Research Centers � Publishers and other information providers. � Public and private sector ICM and IT specialists. Current Key Activities � Setting up of National Agricultural Information Networks in 9 ASARECA Countries � Setting up Email and Internet connectivity for NARs in the ECA region � Skills training in ICM/ICT- WebAgris & IMARK modules with FAO. Regional,

National (Kenya, Tanzania) � ASARECA & RAIN Websites set up Current Key Activities � Forming networking/partnerships among key information organizations nationally,

regionally & globally (national networks, FARA, GFAR, CTA, INASP, IAALD) � Setting up a Directory Individuals & Institutions in the region on the ASARECA

Website � Publicity (Brochures, Posters, Information Pack) � Completion of 2 important studies - Training Needs Assessment, Baseline Study Training Needs Assessment (TNA) � ICM/ICT in the agricultural research for development sector � To determine the way forward to addressing the key constraint “Insufficient skills in

Information Technology and insufficient exposure to skills required for good Information Management.”

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TNA – Recommendations � Follow-up on ICT/ICM developments: in the ASARECA sub-region, and also in the

overall context of GLOBAL RAIS. � Awareness-building: ICT/ICM strategies at institutional, national and sub-regional

levels � Partnerships: individuals and institutions - provide a forum for exchange of

information on ICT/ICM � Regional ICT/ICM databases: of ICT professionals, institutions, and facilities;

provision of advisory services to partners � Database on development partners: willing to promote capacity building in ICT/ICM;

facilitate access by NARS to, these partners. � ODL: RAIN should explore ODL as an alternative for providing training in ICT/ICM

in the ASARECA sub-region � Needs: develop curricula for various staff categories; � Resources: identify specific training opportunities and commitment for training using

existing resources. Baseline Study

RAIN Purpose – Enhanced Utilization of information for agricultural research & development � Study Objective: set a starting point for RAIN activities � Data collected should act as benchmarks against which future progress of the

network will be measured Our Plans � Strengthen capacity & influence targeted training � Catalyzing national agric. information policies & strategies � regional policies and

strategies � Contribute to national ICT policies � Work with researchers to improve information dissemination � Motivate (encourage, induce) generation of scientific information � Develop/adapt information management standards � Catalyze networking/partnerships among key information professionals and

organizations to promote information sharing nationally, regionally & globally � Market agricultural information products & services to ensure sustainability

(www.asareca.org/rain - Strategic Plan, 5-Year Work Plan)

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Funding & Sustainability

EU-EDF provides core funding

€1.3M (2003-2007)

Other sources � AfDB � CTA � FAO - WAICENT Outreach Programme � USAID/REDSO � FARA/ GFAR

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Annexure 3.7

RAIN background paper

Report on the Baseline Study of Agricultural Information in the Eastern and Central Africa Region

Executive Summary By Byron Mook, Hilda Munyua and Paul Nampala

Executive summary The Regional Agricultural Information Network (RAIN) is an association of agricultural information organizations and professionals in ten countries in Eastern and Central Africa (ECA). It operates in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The network was established in 2003, and is one of the 17 networks and programmes of the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA). The primary goal of ASARECA is to enable agricultural research in the ECA sub-region to play a leading role in promoting market/income generation oriented agriculture. RAIN contributes to this goal by enhancing utilization of information for regional agricultural research and development. This will be achieved under four priority themes namely:

� To enhance regional capacities for information and communication management. � To establish mechanisms for the regional harmonization of agricultural information. � To generate new information to support agricultural research and development. � To improve access to information for agricultural research for development.

The network has carried out a number of activities including a priority setting exercise, stakeholder meetings and formulation of a strategic plan. It hopes to attain its objectives through 15 activities as outlined in its work programme (RAIN Five – Year work programme, 2004). The prime action identified among the others is to undertake inventories of existing agricultural related scientific and technical information (STI). One important activity to be undertaken is the development of inventories of current agricultural STI. This activity will set benchmarks against which all future progress and impacts can be measured. This was envisaged as critical for RAIN because monitoring and evaluation of the achievements arising from implementation of all other activities and the objectively verifiable indicators on its logical framework, necessitates reference point or baseline information (Benchmarks). It is against these benchmarks that all future progress and or impacts will be measured.

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The RAIN Coordination office has, therefore, commissioned a baseline study to collect data that will act as a benchmark against which future progress can be measured. The study also sought to collect information that should help develop an inventory of existing agricultural information resources in the region. A questionnaire instrument was developed in consultation with various stakeholders in the ECA region and was used to gather the required information. Additionally, information was also collected through direct observations and face-face interviews. The data that were collected broadly covered the following aspects:

� Attitudinal indicators (collected via interviews and/or questionnaires). � Behavioral indicators (collected via interviews and/or questionnaires, or ideally

via observations). � Factual indicators also collected via interviews and/or questionnaires, or ideally via

observations). Arising from the findings of the study, it is clear from the various stakeholders that enhanced utilization of agricultural information is critical for R4D. The agricultural information (AI) needs and content were variously influenced by the discipline of the respondents, nature of responsibility and education level. The respondents indicated that they acquire information to meet their needs from a combination of formal and informal sources (including libraries, Government archives, Internet, own collections, colleagues and DPs, key informants among others) and are willing to spend their resources to access information. The later, however, is not sustainable due to the limited resource base. It was also clear that most of the constraints that enhance utilization of AI are not country specific but are apparent in each of the ECA countries. Thus, the relevance of regional approaches to enhance utilization of agricultural STI. The reasons cited for seeking information include broadening scientific knowledge, writing proposals, writing policy papers, writing lecture and /or training notes, writing papers and preparing training notes. The respondents, however, indicated that some of the information that they seek for is sometimes extremely difficult to get or is in some cases not available. Additionally, when available, some of the information especially national statistics (e.g., agricultural production data) were not reliable. The frequency of access to AI was rated to be regular and was considered to be dependent on various factors such as budget available, season/crop cycle, workload and type of work to be done. The proportion of time devoted to seeking AI was on average less than 30%, which is reasonable especially considering the other tasks to be undertaken apart from information seeking. The first access point when looking for information was variable depending on the respondents and the STI resources available. Due to the several challenges faced by users while searching for information, the rate for success of finding information required was less than 50%. Exchange of AI among stakeholders is poor because of a ‘poor sharing and publication culture’ , poor packaging and inadequate writing skills. This is apparent for both within

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countries and within the region. There is need to overcome these constraints in order to promote a culture of AI sharing among stakeholders within and outside the ECA region. Results of the study also reveal that there are several STI agricultural related resources namely journals (print and electronic), databases, books, theses, reports and grey literature. Surprisingly, however, there is no mechanism in most of the countries to establish inventories and utilization of the various existing STI resources (e.g., journal titles available). The means by which these STI resources are identified depends on resources available in the various institutions in the ECA region. There is limited sharing of resources within the ECA countries and besides, even within a given country sharing between national institution is also very limited. Additionally, while several services to facilitate access of AI exist, a lot remains to be done in creating awareness and training to scientists in order to enhance their effectiveness. From the study findings, the following recommendations are proposed. Recommendation 1 –STI and management information Library budgets in agricultural institutions in ECA have declined to a level where libraries can no longer be effective. Managers of agricultural institutions should accord agricultural information the importance it deserves by allocating a commensurate budget for STI albeit the funding challenges. Information professionals in the ECA region should also work closely with RAIN and take advantage of existing electronic journals and acquire relevant and current, including management information. Recommendation 2 - Acquisition of national publications The NARS should develop policies that ensure copies of all government and key national publications are deposited with selected libraries to ensure researchers have access to current and up-to-date information. Recommendation 3 – User studies and national inventories There is a need to conduct national inventory studies. RAIN could consider supporting development and maintenance of STI inventories within the ECA for more accurate figures of STI holdings and gaps within the region. Recommendation 4 – Access to agricultural related STI Information professionals should prepare subject category guides for navigation to locate information of interest to users and simple guides on how to access STI. RAIN could work with partners to develop a portal for accessing agricultural information. Recommendation 5 – Awareness creation

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There is a need to create awareness of existing information resources (locally, regionally and internationally) in order to increase uptake of agricultural information by scientists in the ECA region. Information professionals should prepare promotional materials highlighting services and products available to researchers. Recommendation 6 – Information services RAIN and NARS could to explore possibilities for availing current awareness services to researchers through ‘push strategies’ that send relevant information of interest to researchers. Recommendation 7 – Human resources capacity building It is recommended that information and professionals and scientists receive training in new areas of information and communication management at all levels, to keep pace with ICM advancements and a gender balance be maintained. Scientists and information professionals should also work more in retrieving information and ensuring efficiency and precision in information retrieved Recommendation 8 – Exchange of information in the ECA region RAIN could support activities such as development of a regional meta-data of STI resources, a joint (regional) journals catalogue, subject guides on how to access STI. These would improve access to current journal information. RAIN could also consider working with partners to develop a portal for accessing agricultural information. Recommendation 9 – Promote a publishing culture National institutions should institute strategies that motivate and encourage scientists to be more active in publishing their research findings. Training in scientific writing would be one approach. Information professionals should also point out the African Journals Online (AJOL) for a listing of local journals they could access and publish in.

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Annexure 3.8

RAIN background paper

Assessment of ICT/ICM Human Resource Capacities and Related Training Needs in the Context of

Agricultural Research for Development in Eastern and Central Africa

Executive Summary Rainer Zachmann, Vitalis O. Musewe, Sylvester D. Baguma

In SSA, agriculture accounts for 70% of employment and is vital for the livelihood of the rural poor. Agricultural R&D, therefore, must be placed at the centre of economic policies. Modern ICTs and appropriate ICM are necessary to support these policies. Information technologies are evolving quickly, and many small and large initiatives are in progress. However, human capacities are lagging behind. Hence, RAIN, one of ASARECA’ s networks, proposed to undertake the present assessment, funded through a grant provided by CTA. The assessment began at the end of June 2004 with an inception meeting between the consultants and RAIN and ASARECA staff, and continued over seven months (a total of ten months were planned, including editing, translating and distributing the report). Through visits, interviews, questionnaire surveys, and desk studies, the consultants examined institutional ICT/ICM policies, human resources, and training needs at NARS and related institutions within the ASARECA sub-region. The analysis and interpretation of data combine the findings from the three activities. We found a general lack of institutional ICT/ICM policies which, in turn, affect human resource policies, commitment to ICT/ICM by managers, initiation and execution of ICT/ICM projects, establishment and management of ICT/ICM units, and status of ICT/ICM staffing. Also under "Management of information and communications technologies", we noticed the effect of missing policies. We found deficiencies in access to STI, mainly due to lack of skills, poor Internet connectivity and low awareness by management of the need for accessing STI. There were deficiencies in skills for accessing STI; managing content, data, and information; disseminating information, communicating; and managing technologies. These deficiencies lead to a wide diversity of training needs throughout all staff categories from technical and administrative support up to senior management. Training is needed at various competency levels, especially at short-term, but also at diploma, graduate, and postgraduate levels. Fortunately, during our country visits, we noticed that

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most training needs could be satisfied with resources available locally, in-house, in the country, or in the ASARECA sub-region. The questionnaire survey confirmed the availability of local training resources with respect to content and logistics. Under "General constraints and expectations", we confirmed low awareness of the importance of ICT/ICM among NARS managers, leading to the deficiencies described above. We found high expectations on how RAIN could intervene with regard to constraints and solutions. Our conclusions and recommendations stress the need for RAIN to continuously follow up and participate pro-actively in the global evolution of ICT/ICM. For solving deficiencies, the starting point is awareness-building at institutional, national and regional levels. For certain recommendations, we suggest specific action plans. We give profiles of resource institutions for training within and outside the ASARECA sub-region. Recommendations The following recommendations result from the findings of the study (Section 3) and the corresponding conclusions (Section 4). Specific recommendations are followed up by Action plans (Section 5). Recommendation 1 - Follow-up on ICT/ICM developments: To keep updated, RAIN should continuously follow up and participate pro-actively on the evolution of ICT/ICM, primarily in the ASARECA sub-region, and also in the overall context of GLOBAL RAIS. The rapid evolution of ICT, ICM, knowledge management, ODL, open operating systems and related areas goes beyond the present capacities of RAIN. Specialised capacity should be built into RAIN through sharing of human resources with other sub-regional organisations, in addition to in-house capacity, consultancies, and other mechanisms. Recommendation 2 - Awareness-building: RAIN should assist in awareness-building on ICT/ICM strategies at institutional, national and sub-regional levels. In particular, RAIN should focus on the commitment of NARS to developing appropriate ICT/ICM and human resource policies, allocating adequate resources, creating suitable facilities and work environments, and acquiring, developing and retaining human resources. See Action plan 1. Recommendation 3 - Partnerships: RAIN should facilitate partnerships among individuals and institutions and, through the Network, provide a forum for exchange of information on ICT/ICM. See Action plan 2. Recommendation 4 - Regional ICT/ICM databases: RAIN should create and maintain a database of ICT professionals, institutions, and facilities, and foster the provision of advisory services as may be required by partners. See Action plan 2.

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Recommendation 5 - Database on development partners: RAIN should maintain a database of development partners who are willing to promote capacity building in ICT/ICM. RAIN should create rapport with, and facilitate access by NARS to, these partners. See Action plan 2. Recommendation 6 - ODL: RAIN should explore ODL as an alternative for providing training in ICT/ICM in the ASARECA sub-region. See Action plan 5.

Recommendation 7 - Internet connectivity: To allow skills improvement and human capacity building, RAIN should continue with the sub-regional programme initiated by the AfricaLink project for enhancing Internet connectivity within the ASARECA sub-region. The programme should aim at networking research and training institutions at sub-regional level in order to boost and expand national initiatives, such as KENET and ConnectED in Uganda. See Action plan 6. Recommendation 8 – Training needs: From data presented in Section 3.3 (Tables 3.3.2, - 3.3.7) and Section 3.4 (Table 3.4.2), RAIN should identify candidates that require higher-level training and their preferred areas of specialisation. On the short-term level, RAIN should develop training curricula for individual staff categories; possibly combining several related training areas. For example, training curricula could combine scientific and technical writing, or desktop publishing and graphic design. See Action plans 3, 4 and 5. Recommendation 9 - Training resources: RAIN should follow up on training resources reported in Annex 6.4.8, and identify specific training opportunities and commitment for training. Not every institution must conduct all training. RAIN should assist in building expertise in specific training areas at specific institutions (Centres of Excellence). RAIN should assist in logistical and financial sustainability and continuity of training. RAIN should encourage in-house training wherever possible in basic areas, such as basic computer skills, office applications, computer maintenance and troubleshooting. See Action plan 7. Recommendation 10 - Expectations for RAIN: RAIN should show publicly that it follows up on the expectations, and periodically seek feedback on satisfaction from its constituency.

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Annexure 3.9

Presentation of Ms. Viviana Palmieri

INFOTEC Strategic Vision for INFOTEC � Service oriented, demand driven, inclusive of all FORAGRO stakeholders. � Objective: Ag S&T information flow:

o Provide up to date information o Facilitate information sharing o Enable communication tools

� Current opportunities o [Sub] Regional Platforms (PROCISUR PTR-AO) o Renewed backing for IM and INFOTEC from FORAGRO stakeholders

(Panama, April 2005) o Collaborative efforts with other RAIS and GFAR

FORAGRO - INFOTEC POW 2005

� FORAGRO Action plan o 2005 activities incorporated into IICA POW o 2006-2007 Action Plan for November EC meeting

� Activities in 2005 POW (within IICA) o Core activities o Activities dependant on partnerships / external support

� FORAGRO within ICM4ARD (2005) o Advocacy o Capacity building o Integration o Governance

FORAGRO Action plan

� Activities incorporated into IICA POWs 2003-2005 were mandated by FORAGRO to:

o Provide up to date information to all stakeholders o Facilitate information sharing through a platform that promotes

participation o Enable communication tools (lists, e-discussions, email bulletins) o Provide information to support policy and institutional development

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capacities to strengthen national and regional IS � 2006-2007 Action Plan for November EC meeting

o Design a POW proposal based on new needs and demands derived from IM being explicitly included as a priority action in the Panama Declaration.

Activities in 2005 POW (IICA) � INFOTEC system in constant operation for information sharing:

o Up-to-date information on Ag S&T, responding to demands, with 50 e-bulletins during the year

o Guidelines for sharing information through INFOTEC. o [Sub] Regional subsystems available for PROCIs (on demand), sharing

databases and programs, but with independent administration o E-lists and/or electronic fora in operation according to communication needs

for different networks. � Support for IM available for national and regional stakeholders

o Assessment of information policies and IS/IM efforts in each country and sub-region. (Partnerships with FAO RLC and/or others)

o Tools for IM advocacy directed to NARS managers (iMark module) o Capacity building for IM managers in LAC (GFAR/ICM4ARD)

� Ag S&T indicators for policy/technical decision makers o Updated S&T indicators available through INFOTEC o Workshop to design system of indicators for innovation in agriculture (with

CYTED) FORAGRO proposal for ICM4ARD (2005) � Advocacy:

o Diagnosis of ICT enabled AIS at different levels within the Region o Sensitization and Awareness of NARS Leaders on ICT and IM Issues.

� Capacity building o Diagnosis of existing needs and tools o Capacity building on AIS development and management (define good

practices, prepare materials, organize courses) � Integration

o Participation in the Global.RAIS Knowledge Network and COP o Development of a set of proposed standards and good practices for online IM o Participation in the EGFAR Web Ring

� Governance o Strengthening of the INFOTEC management capacities

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FORAGRO activities for Year 1 in ICM4ARD proposal � Advocacy:

o Generating reports on Status of ICT enabled agricultural information systems at NAIS, SR.RAIS and RAIS with needs assessment of actors, and development of a strategic vision

o Sensitization and Awareness of NARS Leaders on Advocacy Issues � Capacity building

o Face-to-Face Workshop on NAIS Development and Management o ODL Course on NAIS Development and Management

� Integration o Setting up of GLOBAL.RAIS Webring (GFAR and ROs)

� Governance o Strengthening of the FORAGRO RAIS Steering Committee

Ideas for collaborative programs � Development of a strategy for ICT4ARD advocacy � Development of IS impact indicators (methodology) � Joint development or sharing of elements for:

o E-learning platforms and contents o IS promotion o Better communication tools and services

� ICT4ARD “specialist” exchange between regions for training � Fund raising � Innovative approaches for information sharing between regions � Enhancement of Technology Marketplace

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Annexure 4.1

Presentation of Mr. Magdi Latif

Agriculture Science and Technology Information: the AGRIS Network

Principal Challenge Agricultural Research Organizations � Core competencies in R&D � Imperative

o to acquire information; and o to communicate outputs

� Opportunities in the New Technologies Many AROs are not properly equipped Key Objectives � Information Content - in digital format, for agriculture and rural development � Innovative Mechanisms and Processes for information digitization, standardization,

and exchange � Networks amongst key stakeholders Key Constraints � Institutional Capacities – lack of commitment, resources, tools, and appropriate

organizational structures � Human Capacities – lack of awareness and skills � Partnerships – need for improved collaboration on priorities issues, including tools

and standards Institutional Capacities Investing in Information � Institutional structures � People � Content � Technology Minimize impact of change –

� learn lessons from others � use existing technologies

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Who are the stakeholders? � Information professionals � Scientists and Academics � Government policy-makers and their advisers � Regional & International institutions Priority Areas � Document management and e-publishing � Resources/Activities Information � Networking and communication systems AGRIS Network Institutions, Data, Applications, Tools, Standards, and Training www.fao.org/agris New AGRIS Vision (COAIM 2002) � decentralized approach � greater diversity of participating organizations � strengthened role in capacity building � focus on full text documents � greater availability of associated information about activities/organizations/people � set of web-enabled

o Standards: AGMES & AGRIS Application Profile o Tools: WebAGRIS & AGROVOC

Adapting the approach � Migration to new generation of non-proprietary tools (portable, simple, robust) � Development and adoption of standards through Clearinghouse Mechanism

(facilitated by FAO)

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Human Capacity Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK) partnership-based e-learning initiative � Modules - a series of computer-based distance learning curricula and resources � On-line Community - a "virtual" community on the Internet for contributors and

learners IMARK Modules Published

� Management of Electronic Documents (En, Fr, Sp) � Digitization and Digital Libraries (En & Sp)

Mid-2005 � Investing in Agricultural Information � Building Electronic Communities

IMARK supporting AGRIS � Blended learning – face-to-face & distance � Institutional networks – e.g. RAIS � (Sub-)Regional Training Courses (2002-2005)

o Latin America & Caribbean o Asia & Pacific o Africa (Eastern/Central) o Near East & North Africa o Eastern & Central Europe

� National Training Courses Building Partnerships to Build Capacity � National/Regional

� NARS � AARINENA � FARA � FORAGRO � APAARI � etc….

� International

� FAO � GFAR

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� CGIAR � Bilateral donors � EC � World Bank � etc…

Summary

� Need to strengthen NARS � Locally-adaptable approach � Shared standards

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Annexure 4.2

Presentation of Dr. Nihad Maliha

CCGGIIAARR IICCTT--KKMM22 IInniittiiaattiivvee PPaarrttnneerrsshhiipp wwiitthh GGLLOOBBAALL..RRAAIISS

System-wide strategy on the future of information activities in the CGIAR Objectives: � to increase the CGIAR's efficiency, as a system, in the provision of information

services; � to help the CGIAR function as a unified system; and � to facilitate the CGIAR's evolution from a center-based to a center- and program-

based operation. The strategy calls for: � a common electronic communications network; � networked information systems and databases; � building information partnerships; � the use of common technical standards for information products; � joint acquisition of inputs and production of outputs; and � high system-wide standards for staffing and human resource development policies. ICT-KM Program: The Vision In the next five years, the CGIAR will: � Transform the way it works, incorporating new ICT and KM practices to preserve, � Produce, and improve access to the agricultural global public goods needed by the

poor in developing countries; � Be a leading knowledge broker, bringing together all actors in an open, inclusive

community for global public goods research for development. As a result of increased capacities in these areas, the CGIAR will not only better serve its constituencies but also be more attractive to all partners. ICT-KM Program: The Thrusts Three main thrust areas have been identified:

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ICT for Tomorrow’s Science High-performance informatics and improved connectivity within the CGIAR and with its partners will allow them to benefit from new information-intensive methods. Content for Development Robust technologies and innovative approaches will be implemented to capture and integrate knowledge assets, giving users rapid access to the information they want, when and in the form they want it. This will support novel learning approaches and broad access to the research generated by the global agricultural research community. A CGIAR Without Boundaries Knowledge Management approaches will be used to strengthen collaboration within the CGIAR and with an open global community of researchers, policy makers & development partners. Guiding Principles for the Program Keeping in mind efficiencies and cost effectiveness, the program will be guided by principles such as: � Integration: Develop a common and technically advanced environment across all

centers which empowers researchers, managers and staff at large to achieve new research and business goals requiring high levels of collaboration across centers and with other institutes

� Innovation: Promote novel approaches to research, training and administrative practices made possible by advances in ICT and KM which improve effectiveness, efficiency and scope of CGIAR core activities

� Linkages: Enable successful linkage between diverse, distributed human and information resources to capture the added value of collaboration in exploiting new techniques spanning from comparative biology to distance education

� Learning: facilitate the corporate learning and provide a platform for becoming a leading provider of educational content

ICT-KM 2 - Global Public Goods: From Data and Information to Food A CGIAR vision for sharing global public goods and knowledge. We see the CGIAR managing and sustaining the critical information systems it holds as Global Public Goods (GPGs), through integrated and collaborative approaches among CGIAR Centers and national, regional and international partners. We envisage a collaborative approach to maximizing the value and use of these GPGs, all in support of more effective action towards solving problems related to agricultural development, reducing poverty and alleviating hunger.

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GFAR user study The findings of the recent GFAR “user needs” consultation hint at the kind of CGIAR public goods that can help NARS improve agricultural and rural development. There is a need to: � Strengthen the capacity of NARS leaders to advocate and articulate appropriate

policies and strategies, and attract more resources and greater investment for further development of ICT-enabled National Agricultural Information Systems.

� Develop capacity to enable professionals to create, manage and share information to drive agricultural innovation and development. This includes scientific, technology-related information (for research and research management and for extension outreach) and market information.

� Increase the integration of national and regional agricultural information systems and provide easier access to them (especially websites) to create an information management and knowledge sharing network.

� Establish appropriate governance structures for global, regional and sub-regional structures of GFAR, AARINENA, APAARI, CACAARI, FARA, ASARECA, CORAF, SADC and FORAGRO.

� Promote & support more equitable access, sharing & exchange of agricultural information.

The CGIAR ICT-KM2 has the same concerns as the Global-RAIS project – � sharing of GPGs related to R&D � recognize that NARS and their information systems are vital to exchange and sharing

of R&D information and knowledge CGIAR through its ICT-KM2 will cooperate with the Global-RAIS project through: � Supporting the further development of NARS Information Systems � Capacity Development � Cooperation in setting up standards, tools, etc. � Sharing and exchange of GPGs with Global-RAIS

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Annexure 4.3

Presentation of Mr. Gert-Jan Stads

Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative

Status of Agricultural R&D Worldwide 1) Public Agricultural Research Regional Public Expenditure Patterns, 1976 and 1995

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Regional Growth Rates, 1991-96

2) Private Agricultural Research Public and Private Agricultural R&D Spending, circa 1995

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Agricultural Research Intensities Public Agricultural Research Intensities, 1976-95

Total Agricultural Research Intensities, 1995

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Conclusions Recent Survey Round Sub-Saharan Africa (2000-03) � Growth rates in African agricultural R&D spending have been decreasing, donor

dependency is still high, and government sector remains main provider � Large differences among countries in growth rates and other indicators (such as

intensity ratios and expenditures per researcher) exist � More resources for African agricultural R&D are needed � In addition, better targeting and usage of the available resources is critical. ASTI Initiative: The Objective To provide internationally comparable information on the investment and institutional environment surrounding agricultural R&D, thereby informing and improving research policy decisions around the world. Strengths of the ASTI Initiative � Provides information on trends in public and private agricultural R&D investments,

institutional structures, and funding sources at the national, (sub-) regional, and global levels

� Reports facts � Network approach: strong links with NARS, regional, and other organizations Achievements 2001-04 � Update global status of agricultural R&D � Alliances with regional and international entities established (not always successful) � New ASTI website online � Survey round in sub-Saharan Africa:

o 26 country briefs (co-authored and co-published with local partners) o Datasets and publications available on ASTI website o Input into IFPRI’ s 2020 conference and IAC study o Regional synthesis report (spring 2005)

� Initiation of survey rounds in North Africa and Asia-Pacific (will follow the same approach as in SSA)

Implementation of ASTI Initiative � Methodology � Institutional survey tools

o Government and nonprofit agencies o Higher-education agencies

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o Business enterprises � Type of data being collected

o Institutional information (type, addresses, affiliation) o Human resources (degrees, gender, support) o Financial resources (cost categories, funding sources) o Research focus (commodity, thematic)

� Collaborators and users o NARS o Other Future Harvest centers o Regional organizations o International organizations

� Outputs o Country briefs o Regional synthesis paper (fall 2004) o ASTI website www.asti.cgiar.org

(publications,databases) http://www.ASTI.cgiar.org � Country-level agricultural R&D expenditure and researcher data by institutional

classification � Profiles of institutional structure of agricultural R&D � Downloadable country, regional, and global reports � Links to homepages of agricultural R&D agencies the world over ASTI Data � Institutional data � Human resources � Financial resources � Research focus Institutional Data � Address details � Organization affiliation � FTE share � Organizational history � Organizational units � Physical infrastructure

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Human Resources � Time series data on degree levels of research staff � Female research staff � Time series data on support staff (tech, admin, other) Financial Resources � Time series data on research expenditures by cost category (salaries, operating costs,

capital costs) � Sources of research funding (government, donors, own resources, etc.) Research Focus � Number of researchers assigned to formal research programs � Commodity focus in % � Thematic focus in % Links with RAIS � ASTI is global public good � Information sharing � Incorporate in NAIS/RAIS database HOW? AROW � Agricultural Research Organizations on the Web � http://www.isnar.cgiar.org/arow � Updated until early 2004 � Future?

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Annexure 4.4

Presentation of Dr. Ajit Maru

Furthering Sharing and Exchanging of Agricultural Research and Development Information

Overview � Background � Study � Summary of the Nine Systems � Conclusions � Lessons Learned � Suggestions Background � Inter-regional meeting at Rome – June 2004

o Significant inequality in availability, access and ability to use agricultural related information by GFAR stakeholders.

o Revealed the huge potential available in enhancing information systems and services for ARD through collaborative platforms and cooperative programs that can be utilized for developing a more harmonized global agricultural information system

� Meeting at Bonn in February, 2005 where“Framework for the Collaborative Programmes” discussed

� NAIS concept articulated � The NAIS as a concept

o NAIS building block of a global agricultural information and knowledge system

o An information system at the National/Country level that includes a Management Information System (MIS)

o MIS defined as providing information on: � Research Institutes � Experts � Projects � Project Outputs - (Outcomes, Impacts)?

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Conceptual desing of MIS

Perspectives of Making MIS Operational National/Country � Work and Data Flow � ‘NAIS” Toolkits Regional � Harmonization/Integration � Standards “Wrappers”

Support Regional Governance

Global � Harmonization/Governance � Access to Information

“Search Engines” Defining Systems An information system includes several interrelated and connected sub-systems and components such as: � A network of people and actors who contribute to the functioning of the system, � Services that fulfil some needs of the systems clients and users, � Applications and tools such as database management systems, validation tools,

“middleware” that connects databases from different sources,

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� Data and information content � Infrastructure such as computer and network hardware, software, skills needed to

operate and manage the information system and connectivity � The information system operates within an “environment’ which has policy

frameworks, standards, rules, regulations and norms and structures that supports the system.

� The system operates through a series of processes that contributes to the flow and transformation of data to information.

Framework

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Background Several Systems related to “ ARD MIS” exist. Most prominent are: � AGRIS, WebAGRIS, CARIS, EIMS of FAO � EARD INFOSYS+ � INFORM and AROW � NARIMS � SIST � WISARD � “ Others” Study of Systems � Initial set of criteria:

o Information services provided by the nine systems o Clients of the information services of the above systems o Clients’ needs for information from the services o ICT applications that support the services o Details of content management and tools used for it o Infrastructure needed for the operation of the system o Cost of the system o Outcomes and impact of the system

� Information elicited through questionnaires, interviews, follow-up on draft document Purpose of the ARD System � More efficiency, in terms of human and financial resources used � Greater cohesion in research activities � Improve allocation of resources by government, development and non-government

organizations � Bring a variety of perspectives for research and development within and across

commodities, disciplines and national, regional and global research systems � Enable identification and access to specific expertise, knowledge and skills related a

particular problem. � Enable better access to research outputs, especially publications, and bring greater

cohesion to information related to research and development issues � Enable building linkages and partnerships within and between Institutions across the

same country, with the region and across the globe Clients � Researchers / Scientists � Research and Development Policy Makers � Research and Development Managers

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� Teachers � Students � Government Organizations � National and International Development Agencies � Non-Government Organization, Civil Society Organization, Community Based

Organizations and Farmer Organizations � Individual Farmers Clients’ Needs “ Who is doing what where, what were the results and output from the activities and, how can the information, knowledge, skills or technology emerging from the project be accessed?” Information Services provided Two types of services � Information on:

o Institutions o Experts o Research Projects o Project Outputs

� Publications � Outputs

� Support Summary � AGRIS and CARIS have decentralized data input but centralized data processing. Its

output is available on the Internet and CD-ROM. Its application is on a proprietary system. It is well documented.

� WebAGRIS is fully decentralized. Its output is on the Web. It operates on Windows OS. The application is free. It is portable and supported by FAO.

� EIMS is a proprietary content management system that is made available from FAO. � SIST is decentralized. It operates on Linux and is open source. It will be supported by

SIST. � NARIMS is at the moment centralized. It operates on Windows and MS SQL. It plans

to use components of FAO EIMS. � INFORM is proprietary. It operates on Windows and MS Access. It is portable. It is

now not supported. AROW Content Management Software is portable. It is not supported

� EARD Infosys+ has decentralized data input and can have independent management. Its output is available on the Web. It operates on Linux and the application uses open

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source software. Infosys+ and NodeXML are open source. Documentation of the system is weak. It is supported.

� WISARD has decentralized data input and processing. It operates on Windows 2000 server, IIS and SQL Server 2000. Its output is available on the web. Documentation of the system is available. It is supported.

Lessons Learned � Strong national and sub-national information systems are pre-requisites for a regional

or global system, and yet so few exist. � The need for flexibility that enables Institutions and the NARS to adapt their own

MIS system, based on a core set of elements and data structures in the MIS that are shared across Institutions or countries that are participating in the regional and inter-regional/global network.

� The systems should be based on web-enabled applications and tools wherever possible.

� Some aspects of the MIS will differ at the Institution, National and Regional levels. � System design at national level should take into account issues of applications, tools

and content management based on international standards, considerations of intellectual property rights, data security, quality assurance etc

� All the necessary non-proprietary applications and tools are available within the various systems included in this study.

� Most of the international systems provide two types of services: firstly those related to information content, and secondly those related to building capacities of their institutional partners to operate and manage their own information systems.

� Adequate funding for the MIS at the regional and Inter-regional level is critical. Conclusions � Clear identification of clients and their requirements � Appropriate design of the services that will address those client requirements ,

primarily that of a system that provides access to integrated information on ARD-related Institutions, Experts in ARD, Research Projects and Research outputs (as also outcomes and impact) in terms of technologies, and published documents.

� Locally adapted approach to the institutional architecture and design of the system, especially the level of centralization or decentralization of content management and provision of information services.

� Coherence mechanisms, including the use of international standards, that lead to the compatibility of the information systems and their services

� High priority attributed to quality control of the data � Low and sustainable cost of the information system � Availability of international standards and tools that support the development,

implementation and maintenance of the system

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� Human resources development to develop and operate the system and use information from it properly

� Availability of connectivity, especially web access, for as many of the clients as possible

� NARIMS � Infosys + � WISARD Suggestions for Discussion � A core data set, in the form of a common data dictionary, for data on Institutions,

Experts, Research Projects and Research Outputs � Standards for:

o Terms to be used in the database. A subset of AGROVOC can be developed and used for the purpose

o Meta-data of the dataset o Unique identifiers for Institutions, Experts and Research projects that will

enable a relational database to be developed � Methods, including technology, that will enable sharing and exchanging the data from

decentralized, distributed MISs at National, Regional and Global level � Governance mechanisms for the sharing and exchange of the MIS data at National,

Regional and Global level. Task forces around standards and regional and GFAR level ICM steering committees that operates through mechanisms, such as Request for Comments (RFCs) to establish common approaches for managing the sharing and exchange of data that govern the Internet are suggested.

� Capacity development needs of NARS and Regional Organizations to initiate and further develop their MIS to share and exchange the common data set.

� Contributions, such as support to Institutions and National systems from each of the ARD Information systems, for applications and tools needed to develop their MIS. It is further suggested that the EGFAR website include a Directory where further technical details and support of each application and tool available for ARD Information System are available.

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Annexure 4.5

Presentation of Dr. Ahmed Rafea

Cooperation between Infosys and AARINENA Toward the Development of Agriculture Information System (AIS)

Agenda � Introduction � Justifications for Cooperation � Objectives � Outputs and Activities � Budget � Governance � Conclusion Introduction � The broad lines of this proposal was identified in a meeting held in Bonn and

attended by Representatives from GFAR, EARD, and AARINENA � Infosys has already established a Regional Information System for Agriculture

Research in Europe � AARINENA intends to establish and develop a Regional Agricultural Information

System (RAIS) for the WANA Region and actions have been taken toward this goal. � The project proposal approved by AARINENA ICT steering committee was

considered while preparing this proposal � The main motivation of this cooperation proposal is to exchange expertise between

Regional For a and to investigate technical issues before going deeply in the s/w development process

Justifications for Cooperation There is a great similarity between the work that is currently being done in CLAES sponsored by FAO for developing a National Agricultural Research Information Management System (NARIMS) and Infosys+. A comparison between the NARIMS and the InfoSys+ systems showed some differences such as: � (InfoSys+) is an open system where any end-user can enter and manage his/her own

record, while NARIMS as the main component at the National level that will be the basic building block of AARINENA RAIS is a controlled system, in which the entry and management of the data are centralized.

� AARINENA/RAIS as agreed upon by the ICT Steering committee is to be decentralized and to retrieve the information at the regional level (Gateway function)

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through a wrapper program to be running on the NARIS, i.e. the NARIS will work as a web service.

� Infosys+ does not contain a module for publication while NARIMS contain � Infosys+ has a module for funding Institutions while NARIMS does not have Objectives � Share experiences between regions in developing AIS, � Develop an open web based electronic community system on the basis of the RUN

platform for researchers in the WANA region, and � Explore the technical possibilities for a gateway function. Outputs � A document describing communalities and differences of InfoSys+ and NARIMS

from the technical and management point of view. � An open web based system to publish and discuss relevant issues is available to the

research community. � A technical proposal on how to develop gateways for the retrieval of information

from existing distributed systems. Activities � A document describing communalities and differences of InfoSys+ and NARIMS

from the technical and management point of view � Agree on a list of relevant systems and topics. � Review these systems through exchange of visits. � Document the results � An open web based system to publish and discuss relevant issues is available to the

research community � Organize a training WS on RUN for one of the existing regional research networks. � Initiate testing of RUN by the network. � Evaluate feed back for improvement of the system � A technical proposal on how to develop gateways for the retrieval of information

from existing distributed systems. � Define selection criteria (asses available resources) � Identify different approaches to allow retrieval of information from different sources � Select feasible approaches to develop a common gateway � Develop a prototype that allows to retrieve information from two existing systems � Present the results in the ICT steering committee meeting of AARINENA

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Budget

Governance � The project would be managed by a Project Task Force consisting of Representatives

from GFAR, Infosys, and AARINENA ICT steering committee. � AARINENA will sign a letter of agreement with GFAR to implement this project in

close cooperation with CLAES/ARC. � The Infosys Representative will lead the activities to be done by the Infosys. � The AARINENA representative in collaboration with CLAES Director will lead the

activities to be done by CLAES. � GFAR Representative will mobilize resources and mange logistics to achieve this

proposal Concluding Remarks � This cooperation can be considered as pre-project for the AARINENA proposal � The two proposals could also be merged if funding is available. � This cooperation is open for interested Regional Fora and International Organization � The proposal will be adjusted as a result of this workshop

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Annexure 4.6

Presentation of Mr. Koen Beelen

WISARD - Webbased Information Services for ARD

WISARD Supporting individuals, organisations and institutions in enabling them to deal effectively with complex situations and changes � Supporting capacity building � Supporting knowledge sharing KIM support projects 2005

Background WISARD � Initiated in 1998 � Developed, managed and promoted by

o IAC-WUR, Wageningen Koen Beelen o WIS International, Utrecht Joost Lieshout

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What is WISARD? “ Making available information which is well structured, of high quality and easily accessible” � Web-based public domain information services for Agricultural Research for

Development (ARD), Natural Resource Management (NRM) and sustainable development (SD) from the mid-nineties till to date.

� Decentralised data input and Decentralised data management. � Facilitates: Data storage, Data management, Data searches, network development,

capacity building, training, CoP, … What does WISARD � Facilitates information sharing � Empowers through access to more knowledge � It makes it possible to share information on e.g.:

o Projects (including outcomes and impact) o Institutes o Persons o Outputs o Good Practices and Technologies

What is WISARD? � Proforis Dutch funded Forestry Projects � RWC PRISM Rice-Wheat Research Database � InterSard Good Practices Database � IPMEurope Projects Database � IPPM Experts Yellow Pages � CGIAR Project Portfolio � WISARD WISARD portal records Projects 4100 records Organisations 6500 records Experts 1500 records Outputs 200 records

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Statistics, visitor sessions WISARD 850 day RWC Prism 150 day IPM, Intersard, Proforis, Manag. tools 1100 day 15 – 20 minutes per visitor session Ownership � Full control by data entry person � Full details data entry person on display � Focal points Data Standards � Meta data (core element sets)

o AIDA o CERIF (European)

� Classifications o 3 dimensions o Natural (Physical, Biological, NRM) o Human (Social, Institutional, Economic o Food Production (Production Chain Commodities, Farming System) o Standards o FAO (AGRIS/CARIS, Farming Systems) o OECD (DAC 5 sector codes) o PROSEA o Customised o Agrovoc

� ISO o Country 3166-1

Data Management Network of ‘power users’ (Focal Points) � Over 170 worldwide

o Assignment o 2/3 active – very active o Data clearing o Quality Control o Not Visible -> Visible o Networking

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� Decentralised – Levels o Country o Network o Organisation

Services/portfolio � Relational database (modules) � Multidatabase search facilities � Management tools (proven userfriendly) � Look and Feel/Design � Capacity development (including training) � Human network development � CoP moderation � Discussion fora (application and moderation) � Web CMC � E-learning/blended learning didactics � E-communities/chat

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Annexure 5.1

Workshop: group on Development of NAIS

Regional Agricultural Research Information System

for West Asia and North Africa .

The NAIS Group, chaired by Prof. A. Rafea, at work in the CLAES Headquarters I. Executive Summary Agricultural development in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region, which includes over 25 Islamic countries, is sustained in part by the effective and efficient exchange of knowledge and information. Stakeholders in agricultural research for development in the region have major problems in obtaining accurate and timely information. Modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have introduced a new dimension and, if properly applied, can help in promoting knowledge and information exchange. AARINENA intends to establish and develop a Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) for the WANA Region. This would aim to enhance the effectiveness of the agricultural researchers in the region and to increase their abilities to reach the end-user. . The RAIS would serve as an information repository and exchange mechanism at the regional level, aiming to strengthen, co-ordinate, and add value to initiatives by national programmes and those coordinated by regional and international organizations. The ICT steering committee of AARINENA has approved a two-phase plan to implement RAIS.

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The first phase has two objectives. The first objective is strengthening ICT human resource capacity of agricultural research institutions. The second objective is enhancing communication among researchers at the regional level. The second phase of the plan has two objectives. The first objective is the implementation of the NARIS in all research institutions members of AARINENA. The second objective is building a Gateway function that has multi-host database search engine. The current proposal addresses the first phase of this plan. The three main outputs of the first objective are: establishing a methodology for developing the information management modules, developing software tools to be used by different NARS’ s to build the NARIS’ s, and training 20 persons from 5 countries in at least three sub regions on using the methodology and tools. The methodology will address the language issue in order to present the key resources in two principal languages National language (Arabic, Persian,..), and English / French.. The two main outputs of the second objective is developing an Electronic Community System (ECS) at the regional level, and the activation of the ECS using three to four current research network in the region. The project would be managed by a leading NARS, which would include a RAIS coordinator, and through national focal points in 5 countries of AARINENA members. The ICT Steering Committee will work as a project task force to supervise, monitor, and evaluate the project activities and outputs. A total requirement of $165,000 of external financial support is foreseen to implement the project in 18 months. II Background Efforts have been exerted in the last 10 years to use ICT and ICM in the WANA Region. The following sections summarize these efforts The first subsection describes some aspects of Internet connectivity across the region, and the second subsection discusses the status of human resources. The third subsection presents a summary of previous regional initiatives in information and knowledge systems for agricultural research and development (ARD). II.1 ICT Infrastructure in WANA Recently eight countries have filled the questionnaires on National Agricultural Information System (NAIS) for NARS’ s, prepared by the Chair of the ICT steering committee and approved by its members.Analysis of the questionnaire has revealed that most of the national research organizations in the eight countries have bodies responsible of information, and local area networka. The connectivity rate to the Internet is not mentioned in some of the responses. This indicates that some of the countries have still problems in the connectivity. The best connectivity to the Internet was in Egypt forllowed by Iran, Jordan and Morocco. The number of workstations ranges from 3 to over 300 in national research organizations as a whole. Egypt has the larget number of workstations

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followed by Morocco, Sudan, Jordan, and Algeria. Most of the software identified indicates that the computers are mainly used for office automation or using ready-made information packages such as CDS-ISIS. Few countries have Data Base Management System (DBMS) such as SQL and Oracle namely: Egypt., Morocco, and Jordan. No country has a complete NAIS as specified in the ICT steering committee minutes of the meeting held in ICARDA last summer. Most of the countries that have one or two modules have built these modules using tools provided by International organizations. 50% of the countries are not satisfied with the system they have right now, and the other 50% although satisfied, they do not have a complete system or indicate that they want to modify it. Only two countries have expressed giving priority to the Institutions Information System. Four countries indicated that they do not have the human capacity to develop the NAIS. Some countries did not respond to this question because they are satisfied with what they have but this does not indicate that they have human capacity to build new modules II.2 Human resources There are three groups of individual stakeholders in ICTs, namely information system developers/managers, information providers, and users. There is a need to develop the awareness, understanding and skills of all these three categories. Most ARD institutions in the region have few professional information systems developers, which leads to non-professionals having to develop systems which are then often unreliable and/or do not fit the purpose. The low salaries in the government do not attract ICT professionals with the required skills to work in these centers. This problem is widespread throughout the region. Many successful examples of information systems for ARD have been developed through projects funded by international organizations where skilled professional can be hired at competitive rates. The information providers are trained on using developed systems. However, the problem is that in most of the countries, each organization wants to treasure its information not share it. There is a need to change this attitude in the countries of WANA. The current tools that help to avail the information on the Web can enable each institution to use this technology in disseminating its information. This needs training information providers like researchers, economists, and other stakeholders, on using these tools. Currently, this capacity does not exist. The end users in most of the regional countries are generally not computer literate. Many barriers exist that reduce the use of any digital technologies. II.3 Regional Initiatives in Information and Knowledge Systems Some key initiatives have been made in the last few years in the WANA region to expand the use of ICTs in agricultural research for development (ARD). Regional and international agencies3 active in the field of agricultural development have initiated 3 Arab Centre for the Study of Arid Zones and Dry Lands (ACSAD), Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD), Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes

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several activities to improve knowledge and information exchange among stakeholders in areas such as thematic research networks, technology partnerships, genetic resources conservation and development, and production statistics. The collective experiences of these agencies and their collaborators at national level will prove invaluable in the development of a RAIS for the WANA region. On a broader scale, an Expert Consultation was convened by AARINENA in Beirut in March 2000 to approve a Regional Information Strategy for ARD. Participants were from a cross-section of national and international agencies. The agenda and the information strategy can be downloaded from the Global Forum for Agriculture Research (GFAR) website4. FAO, through the Outreach Programme of the World Agricultural Information Centre (WAICENT), collaborated with the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Expert Systems (CLAES) to organize a follow-up workshop to the Expert Consultation in Cairo in October 2000 to develop a plan for the implementation of the Regional Information Strategy for WANA, and the development of a prototype for the RAIS5. The Cairo workshop recommended (a) the enhancement of the website of AARINENA as a short-term objective, and (b) the preparation of a project proposal to develop a RAIS. The enhancement of the AARINENA website was initiated in collaboration with FAO, CLAES, GFAR and ICARDA, and a pilot version of the improved website was prepared and discussed at the AARINENA Executive Committee in April 2001. As a result of these recommendations the AARINENA Executive Committee in December 2001 approved the proposal of Agricultural Research and Education Organization to host the AARINENA-RAIS Secretariat in Iran. In January 2002 the web site of AARINENA was developed and became operational in July 2002. The AARINENA web site (http://www.aarinena.org) act as a gateway, which includes useful information, related to the national agricultural research organizations, universities, ministries, NGOs, private sectors and farmer organizations in the region. The new version of AARINENA web site, which have been developed in collaboration with GFAR, is now available at the above-mentioned URL. In February 2003, an ICT Expert Consultation, sponsored by GFASR was held in Cairo. An ICT steering committee was formed as a result of this workshop and a set of collaborative program have been determined to implement the RAIS/WANA gradually. The first ICT steering committee meeting was held in ICARDA, Aleppo in July 2003, while the second meeting was held in AREO, Tehran, Iran in September 2004.

(CIHEAM), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), International Plant Genetics Research Institute (IPGRI). 4 http://www.egfar.org/ ,through the page “ Stakeholder documents” 5 Participation from Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, United Arab Emirates, ICARDA, CIHEAM, AODA, FAO/WAICENT, and GFAR.

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III. Justification Agricultural development in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region, which includes over 25 Islamic countries, is sustained in part by the effective and efficient exchange of knowledge and information. Indeed, the capacity to access and exchange information, and to convert it into useful knowledge, is of paramount importance for the development objectives of poverty eradication, food security, sustainable development and increased productivity and competitiveness. Policy makers need to understand national needs, capacities, agricultural production, and other information to plan for agricultural development and the research to support it. Governments and development assistance agencies to direct investment appropriately also use this type of information. Farmers and agro-industries require up-to-date information on product prices and market capacities if they are to remain competitive and sustain their livelihoods. In the research sector itself, scientists need to keep themselves up-to-date with international research. If they do not do so, there will be a strong risk of duplication of effort, perhaps in a neighboring country or even a nearby institution, resulting in a waste of precious resources. In reality, the stakeholders in agricultural research for development in the region have major problems in obtaining accurate and timely information. Traditional methods based on print-on-paper are expensive and ineffective, and increasingly beyond the reach of many organizations and individuals. Additionally, conventional ways of transferring information from research to extension through technical briefing documents and training do not encourage knowledge exchange or dialogue, leading to the isolation of research communities. More participatory approaches would better serve the needs of the rural communities, whose livelihoods are the basis for agricultural development. Modern Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have introduced a new dimension and, if properly applied, can help in promoting knowledge and information exchange. Knowledge-based systems and decision support technologies can be used to allow the various stakeholder groups to encapsulate technical information that they generate in a suitable form to make it available to others. Web-based technologies can be used to create platform-independent systems that can be accessed remotely, either interactively online or in passive mode offline. Internet connectivity allows dissemination of information within regions, and can give instant access to global information resources. The main objective of expanding the use of modern ICTs in agricultural research for development in West Asia and North Africa (WANA) Region would be to facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge among certain key stakeholders, and thereby facilitate the sustainable development of the region. These include National Agriculture Research Systems (NARSs), Advanced Research Institutions (ARIs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), International Agriculture Research Centers (IARCs), the private sector, farmers' organizations, and development assistance agencies.

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For this purpose, AARINENA, in co-operation with NARS-Secretariat and the countries of the region, intend to establish and develop a Regional Agricultural Information System (RAIS) for the WANA Region. The objective of RAIS/WANA is to facilitate the access to scientific and technological information on agricultural and rural development topics by end-users, as well as the flow of knowledge and information among stakeholders of agricultural research and development. It is important to point out that end-users are both generators and users of information related to the various phases of the production and utilization of knowledge: research, extension, education and innovation in the production sector. IV. Scope and Objectives The ultimate objective of RAIS is to serve as an information repository and exchange mechanism at the regional level, aiming to strengthen, co-ordinate, and add value to initiatives by national programmes and those coordinated by regional and international organizations. It would also serve as a gateway to the knowledge systems for ARD in WANA, and the global system knowledge system for ARD (GKSARD). The ICT steering committee of AARINENA has approved a two-phase plan to implement RAIS. The first phase has two objectives. The first objective is strengthening ICT human resource capacity of agricultural research institutions. The second objective is enhancing communication among researchers at the regional level. The second phase of the plan has two objectives. The first objective is the implementation of the NARIS in all research institutions members of AARINENA. The second objective is building a Gateway function that has multi-host database search engine. The current proposal addresses the first phase of this plan. The three main outputs of the first objective are: establishing a methodology for developing the information management modules, developing software tools to be used by different NARS’ s to build the NARIS’ s, and training 20 persons from 5 countries in at least three sub regions on using the methodology and tools. The methodology will address the language issue in order to present the key resources in two principal languages National language (Arabic, Persian,..), and English / French.. The two main outputs of the second objective is developing an Electronic Community System (ECS) at the regional level, and the activation of the ECS using three to four current research network in the region. V. Conceptual Structure of the System The RAIS/WANA would be a distributed information system that would have a Regional Component and National components. The system would have to be designed to take into consideration the following characteristics: data integrity/ownership, information retrieval efficiency, and user friendliness. It would also have to include multi-lingual

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features, with as much content as possible in at least English and Arabic, and some in French. V.1 National Components The national component of RAIS will be a web based Information system that contains the identified four components namely: Experts Information System (EIS), Institutes Information System (IIS), Projects Information System (PIS), and Research Outputs Information System (RIS). Standard methods, tools and formats must be established in order to enable greater sharing of information and data. The four components share a common relational database to enhance the integrity and efficiency of the whole system. The NARIS will work as a bi-directional gateway. It will be consulted either through human interaction or through regional component to get any national information link. It will also provide a gateway to the Regional Component in order to enable national stakeholders accessing the regional component and use all the facilities it provides. The following systems form the national component. Experts Information System(EIS) This system is the lowest level system that is needed by other information system. The Institution Information System (IIS) will need to consult this system to get the number of researchers at a certain institution. It is better to make the IIS query this system dynamically about researchers than statically storing this number in the IIS. The Project and Research Outputs Information Systems will have links with this system to get the information of researchers participated in a project or produced a certain publication. Institutes Information System(IIS) Institution Information system will include basic information of Institutes integrated with a query system that can retrieve the researchers working in these institutes, projects implemented or being executed, research outputs. etc using different criteria to be determined. A prototype of this system is available for all NARS’ s research institutes. The prototype can be used to validate the requirements of the system and check if there is any modification that must be done. Projects Information System(PIS) Project Information system will include basic information of a project such as its objectives, achievements, funding agency, institution, and principle investigator, researchers, topic etc. Accessing a certain projects, detailed information about executing institution, researchers, documents… can be retrieved form the appropriate database. This system can make use of the experience in CARIS taking into consideration the integration with the EIS and IIS. Research Outputs Information System(RIS) Research Outputs Information system that will include basic information of a document (thesis, report, proposals…) such as its title, author(s), keywords, general topic, specific topic, abstract, and full text …etc. Accessing a certain document, detailed information

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about authors, their institutions, can be retrieved form the appropriate database. This system can make use of the experience in AGRIS taking into consideration the integration with the EIS and IIS. Full text of the included material could be stored. V.2 Regional Component The Regional Component of RAIS would be mainly an active web site that has its own search engine. The search engine must be intelligent enough such that it could identify, an Institute, and/or a person working on certain problem or any piece of information related to a certain commodity in a specified discipline. It would also be capable of making inferences on related terms using an agricultural ontology like AGROVOC, the one developed by FAO. As the Regional component will not include detailed information about the national data, the search engine must be able to communicate with the search engines on the national sites to get needed information. Another important functionality of the Regional Component is to enable stakeholders from different countries in the region to communicate efficiently and support Research Networks existing in the region. As the Gateway function of Regional Component will not be used until the NARIS’ s are completed, it was decided to start with the Electronic Community System that has the discussion Forum and Question and Answer components. Electronic network/forum Development of electronic knowledge forum based on one or two of the established regional research and development networks covered, and comprising the participants and coordinators in the network. All postings would be archived, a FAQ function developed about the content of the network, and publications from the network made accessible. Question and Answer Component This component is a special form of the open forum where the Regional components could provide services to stakeholders of the region to respond to their queries and share information. VI Outputs The outputs of the first immediate objective, which is the national component of RAIS, are: A detailed requirement specification document of the NARIS A study on the different tools used in the region for information management. A methodology for developing the information management modules A detailed design document of the NARIS. A set of tools for building NARIS A training document on the Methodology and tools 20 persons trained on the development methodology and the implementation of the database using the standard set of tools

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The outputs of the second immediate objective, which is the regional component, are: An Electronic Community System (ECS) A training document on the usage of the ECS Activation of the ECS using two current research network in the region VII Work Plan The project will be led by one of the leading countries in ICT in the region. The current available tools and methodologies in the NARS’ s , and Regional and International centers for information management and electronic community development must be examined. The project is based on developing a complete methodology and tools to enable NARS’ s to build their own NARIS’ s. Therefore, the tools must be very user friendly and training must be very effective. The developed training material could be availed through the AARINENA web site. The tools developed must be thoroughly tested. The main test is its success in building the NARIS in the country that has the Institute that will lead the project. The training workshop will also serve as a good test of the tools. Final adjustment could be done after the workshop. As for the ECS, encouraging three to four research networks in the region to use this ECS will be considered the main test to measure the success of this system. Activities Schedule Immediate Objective 1: Strengthening ICT human resource capacity of agricultural research institutions Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 1.1. A detailed requirement specification document of the NARIS 1.1.1 Draft the document 1.1.2 Get the approval of 5 countries from at least 3 subregions

+ +

A document describing communalities and differences of InfoSys+ and NARIMS from the technical and management point of view Agree on a list of relevant topics. For further system development Review these systems through exchange of visits. 1.3.3 Document the results

+ + +

A methodology for developing the information management modules 1.3.1 Determine the Classification and indexing Scheme 1.3.2 Draft the methodology 1.3.3 Share the draft with NARS’ s and Regional and International Centers Finalize the methodology

+ + + +

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A detailed design document of the NARIS. 1.3.1 Design of the Relational Database 1.3.2 Design of each module

+ ++

1.5. A set of tools for building NARIS 1.5.1 Specify tool requirements 1.5.2 Design the tool 1.5.3 Implement the tool 1.5.4 Test the Implementation against Specifications 1.5.5 Revise the Design 1.5.6 Revise the Implementation 1.5.7 Make final testing

+ +

+ + +

+

1.6. A training document on the Methodology and tools 1.6.1 Draft the training document 1.6.2 Use the document in the training workshop 1.6.3 Revise the document and upload it on AARINENA website

+ + +

1.7. 20 persons trained on the development methodology and the implementation of the database using the standard set of tools 1.7.1 Prepare training program 1.7.2 Conduct the workshop for 20 persons from the 5 countries

+ +

Immediate Objective 2 Enhancing communication among reserachers at the regional level Activity Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 An open web based system to publish and discuss relevant issues is available to the research community Organize a training WS on RUN for one of the existing regional research networks. Initiate testing of RUN by the network. 2.3 Evaluate feed back for improvement of the system

+ ++

+ + +

+++

++ +

++

2.2. A training document on the usage of the ECS 2.2.1 Draft the training document 2.2.2 Use the document in a training workshop 2.2.3 Revise the document

+ + +

2.3. Activation of the ECS using three to four current research network in the region 2.3.1 Choose three research networks

+

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2.3.2 Prepare training workshop program 2.3.3 Conduct a workshop for 20 scientists, from the three research networks, 2.3.4 Initiate the Electronic Research Networks set up during the workshop

+

+ +

VIII Administrative Arrangements The project would be managed by one of the leading NARS’ s through a secretariat located in the host institution. The Secretariat would consist of a RAIS coordinator, to be financed by the project, who would work with focal points appointed by AARINENA members and other collaborating organizations, and manage inputs from an International consultant. The ICT Steering Committee will work as a project task force to supervise, monitor, and evaluate the project activities and outputs. A representative of the donor and the RAIS coordinator are to join project task force. The RAIS coordinator will report to AARINENA and the donor (see below). The AARINENA Executive Committee will select the leading NARS that will implement this project, and the Project Coordinator based on the recommendation of the ICT steering committee. The coordinator will report to the Executive Committee. Terms of the coordinator and consultants are included in Appendix I and II. XII. Contributions from National Governments Professional staff will be provided as required for technical advice, consultation and training. Relevant information will be made available for the RAIS/WANA information system. The government will also ensure adequate infrastructure exists at the sites for the project (5 (countries) x $500/month x 18= $45,000). The AARINENA RAIS secretariat in Tehran provide the hosting of the AARINENA web site and its management ($1000x18= $18,000) while the leading NARS that will implement the project will provide the office spaces for consultants, RAIS coordinator, and equipment, the connectivity to the Internet, and other needed services ($2000 x 18 =$36,000). The in-kind contribution of the AARINENA through its member organizations is estimated to be $99,000 XI. Reporting The RAIS coordinator would prepare a biannual progress report. indicating the progress achieved towards the completion of the project outputs, for consideration by the RAIS Steering Committee and the AARINENA Executive Committee,

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Each consultant, would to prepare a Mission Report containing the main results, conclusions and recommendations of his/her missions. The RAIS Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that the technical reports of all consultants or experts are submitted in a timely manner and in adequate quality. IX Logical Framework Narrative Objectively

Verifiable Indicators

Means of verification

Assumptions/Risks

Goal To improve the exchange of information and knowledge between members of the ARD community in WANA and to improve the information management capacity at the national and regional level within that community.

- Information and knowledge are electronically available to all Researchers in WANA countries

-Access the research information of any country from any country in the region - Check the completeness and correctness of this information

- The required information is available, accurate and a complete at the NARS .

Objective-1 Strengthening ICT human resource capacity of agricultural research institutions

Human resources, methodology and software tools are available to create an electronic content of national experts, research institutions, research outputs, and projects

- Time needed to develop a national information system - Quality of the developed system

human resources, methodology and tools will reduce the time needed to develop an information system

Outputs

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A detailed requirement specification document of the NAIS A study on the different tools used in the region for information management. A methodology for developing the information management modules A detailed design document of the NARIS. A set of tools that will be used in the development A training document on the Methodology and tools 20 persons trained on the development methodology and the implementation of the database using the standard set of tools

-Availability of all documents -A software information system development tool is successfully running -!0 person can use the tool efficiently

-Review the documents by national and international consultants -Test the tool by professional from the region - Develop prototype national information system by the trainees

- NARS stakeholders have human resources and ICT infrastructure.

Objective-2 Enhancing communication among researchers at the regional level

Electronic forum is available to enable scientists in research networks share their information

-Measure the amount of information availed by scientist on the forum

The researchers are willing to cooperate through the electronic forum

Outputs Electronic Community System (ECS) A training document on the usage of the ECS Activation of the ECS using two current research network in the region

-An implemented Electronic forum is running on the AARINENA server -Training documents are available -Researchers use the Electronic forum

-Test the forum from different countries -Measure the frequency of usage

-Open source software is available to be adapted according to the researchers needs

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X Detailed Budget The project budget would comprise the following items: Personnel Consultants � RAIS Coordinator for 18 m/m ($18,000) � 2 Consultant teams 36 m/m ($36,000) Support Personnel Administrative support for project secretariat ($9,000). Workshops and Training � 1 Regional workshop/ Expert Consultation to be conducted in the host country, for

representatives from the countries in the region for 20 persons for 5 days.($25,000) (The agenda issues are 1)presentation and approval of the specifications and guidelines, present some existing IS, and Electronic Forum, tools and services (ICM solution), present the results of the study conducted by Infosys and AARINENA (Workshop preparation and sensitization budget should be added)

� 1 training workshop in the host country for 20 trainees on NARIS development methodology and tools ($25,000)

� 1 training workshop on using the electronic communication system for 20 scientists from three/four regional research networks ($25,000)

Official Travel This will include: Travel of the steering committee to conduct a meeting to monitor the progress in the middle of the project ($10,000) Equipment An amount of $8,000 is to be allocated to cover purchase of a server and computer accessories (expand hard disc capacity, purchase new modems and routers, etc… )for the host institution to be dedicated for the project.

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Material and Supplies An amount of $2,000 is to be allocated to cover the purchase of any needed software for the host country. Operating Expenses An amount of $2,000 is to be allocated for operating expenses of the project such as communication costs and consumables for the host institution country . Summary Project Budget External funding requirements Consultants from the Region (36 m/m) 36,000 Infosys Consultant 21060 RAIS Coordinator (18 m/m) 18,000 Support Staff 9,000 sub-total Personnel 63,000 Workshop and Training 75,000 Official Travel 27,200 Operating Expenses 2,000 Material and Supplies 2,000 Equipment 8,000 Miscellaneous 5,000 Direect cost 203,260 Overhead 40652 Grand Total 243,912 Annex I Terms of Refrences of RAIS Coordinator The RAIS coordinator will report to the AARINENA Executive Committee and will work in close collaboration with the national focal points. He/she will: Prepare the detailed operational framework of the RAIS; Assist in the identification and recruitment of consultants/experts; Purchase and establish arrangements for installation equipment; Commission and implement the component systems of the RAIS; Participate and deliver presentation at the regional workshops; Prepare the technical program and material of training for personnel in the five pilot sites;

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Supervise the implementation of the NARISs. Prepare the necessary technical and progress reports; Qualifications: A graduate degree in Computer Science or Information Systems. Specialist in information technology, information systems and networks. Fluency in English and Arabic. Duty station: NARS leading Institution (to be detrmined) Duration: 18 months on part time basis Annex II Terms of Refrences of A Cosultant Team for Developing NARIS Two consultants will work under the supervision of the RAIS coordinator and in close collaboration with the national focal experts. The first consultant will: Prepare the detailed requirement specifications of the of the NARIS Conduct a study on the different tools used in the region for developing similar systems to NARIS modules Develop a methodology for building the NARIS modules Participate in the preparation of the detailed design of the NARIS tools Test the tools after the alpha version Participate and deliver presentation at the regional workshops; Prepare the necessary technical and progress reports; The second consultant will: Participate in the preparation of the detailed requirement specifications of NARIS Prepare the detailed design of the NARIS tools Implement the software tools that will be used for the development of NARIS’ s Participate and deliver presentation at the regional workshops; Prepare the technical program and material of training for personnel in the five pilot sites; Prepare the necessary technical and progress reports; Qualifications: A graduate degree in Computer Science or Information Systems. Specialist in information technology, and information systems. Fluency in English and Arabic. Duty station: NARS leading Institution (to be detrmined) Duration: 9 months on WAE during the project duration for each consultant Annex II

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Terms of Refrences of A Cosultant Team for Developing ECS Two consultants will work under the supervision of the RAIS coordinator and in close collaboration with the national focal experts. The first consultant will: Prepare the detailed requirement specifications of the of the ECS Conduct a study on the different tools used for electronic forum and document sharing Prepare a detailed design document of the ECS Test the system after implementing the Alpha version Participate and deliver presentation at the regional workshops; Prepare the necessary technical and progress reports; The second consultant will: Participate in the preparation of the detailed requirements specifications Participate in the preparation of the detailed design document Implement the ECS Participate and deliver presentation at the regional workshops; Prepare the technical program and material of training for personnel in the five pilot sites; Prepare the necessary technical and progress reports; Qualifications: A graduate degree in Computer Science or Information Systems. Specialist in information technology, and information systems. Fluency in English and Arabic. Duty station: NARS leading Institution (to be detrmined) Duration: 9 months on WAE during the project duration for each consultant

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Annexure 5.2

Workshop: group on Sensitization and Awareness of NARS Leaders

Sensitization and Awareness building of NARS leaders Objective: Improve sensitization and awareness of NARS leaders on ICT/ICM for agricultural and rural development Challenge: “ We need something to show them” Activities: � Develop issues to communicate e.g. � Incorporating the need for improved information systems for ARD in statements on

ARD policies and strategies at institute and NARS level � Relevant ICTs for improved ICM in ARD � ICT use in ARD indicators � ICT for rural agricultural development � Role of NARS leaders in improving agricultural development through enhanced ICM � Identify existing materials to achieve the task such as IMARK initiatives;

documentation on Internet of success stories on ICT use in agriculture and successful implementation of ICM policies from India, Malaysia, S.Korea, etc; ICT tools like RUN as an open web platform for publishing, etc

� Propose and produce relevant issues to communicate the issues such as publishing success stories, producing a video on success stories, and other media like briefs, kits, fact sheets, meetings & workshops, seminars, etc

� Support national governments to participate effectively in WSIS and other government FOR A

� Implement and demonstrate pilot projects � Introduce a NARS discussion on to get ideas on existing success stories, discuss

bottlenecks, what can be done to promote advocacy, etc. Expected Outputs/ Impact � Improved skills in advocacy for ICT /ICM enabled AIS � Improved support for implementation of ICTs in ICM by NARs leaders � ICM issues institutionalized by the NARS

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Annexure 5.3

Workshop: group on Capacity Development

Goal To increase effectiveness and relevance of Agricultural Research for Development through improving the AIS to better manage, access, and share knowledge & information Objective 1: Develop the technical capacities of NAIS managers Output: Developed capacities of NAIS managers in user oriented system usage, or development and management Activities � Need assessment � Identify existing training initiatives � Inter-regional collaboration � Training workshops � Impact assessment Objective 2: Develop the capacities of stake holders in using available information tools & resources Outputs: � Developed capacities of user communities � Improved two way communications Activities: � Analysis of user requirements � Use existing or Develop training/promotional materials � Training workshops � Impact assessment

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Proposed Inter-regional Collaboration Interregional workshop on Capacity Building: � Exchange of methodology in need assessment; � Identification/development and use of training materials; � Exchange of resource persons and best practices; The outcome of this interregional consultation is to develop a workplan for capacity development in the five regions in support of the ICM4ARD. Proposed date September 2005. Host: APAARI/AIT 20 participants representing the five regions and InfoSys+ and their sub-regions. (50,000 USD) Focus and support existing training workshops that are planned in various regions for the year 2005 � APAARI regional training workshop for developing and managing NAIS to be held

in September 2005. (10,000 USD). � ICARDA inter-regional training workshop on “ E-document management and Web

Technologies in to be held in November 2005 in support of the AARINENA-RAIS. (10,000 USD).

� Capacity Building workshop for AGROWeb Managers (proposed and waiting for approval). (10,000 USD)

� FAO & AOAD proposed training on ICM for IM capacity development in WANA Region planned in 2005.

� Proposed FORAGRO workshop on capacity building in 2005. (10,000 USD)

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Annexure 5.4

Workshop: group on Governance of the activities under ICM4ARD framework

Proposal for ICM Governance Why Governance? � Bring focus to ARD ICM Activities at Regional and Global Level � Conserve Resources � Promote Collaboration and Cooperation � Develop Integration Mechanisms for Sharing and Exchanging Information,

Knowledge, Skills and Technology related to ARD Characteristics of Governance Mechanisms � Responding Rapidly � Cross Cutting � Flexible � Institutionalized � Transparent � Representative of ARD Stakeholders � Bottom-Up Approach � Collective Decision Making � “ Lean & Mean” � Should recognize informal linkages and relations

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Proposed Governance Structure

Decision Making Processes � Mirror processes that govern Internet � Task Forces � Expert Groups � Requests for Comments � Communities of Practice � Face-2-Face Meetings � How To’ s? Functions of Coordinating Committee � Set up Decision Making Processes for Issues related to ICM such as: Harmonization,

Integration and Standardization through Task Forces � Develop Agenda � Establish Communication Processes between ARD Stakeholders Members of the Global ICM CC � Regional CC Representatives � FAO & IFAD

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� CGIAR � Donor � Private Sector � FO, CBO, Universities (Maximum 5-6 members with ICM Background) Members of the Regional ICM CC � NARS Representatives � Donors � Private Sector � FO, CBO, Universities (Maximum 5-6 members with ICM Background) Budget Items � Permanent ICM Officers at RO and GFAR level � Operational Costs

o Regional ICM Coordinating Committee o Global/GFAR ICM Coordinating Committee

� Task Forces through Specific Projects