Bridging information gaps between farmers, policy-makers, researchers and development agents

Information is a prerequisite for development. Without the exchange of information, no innovation would be able to spread. If we accept this hypothesis, then information gaps are direct impediments to development and need to be overcome. This may sound simple and straightforward. In reality, it is one of the hardest challenges that anyone involved in development processes has to face. On the other hand, it is not just any kind of information that is required. Information overload is quickly becoming a problem not only for policy-makers and researchers in the North, but to anyone with access to the Internet. To be useful, information has to be relevant, reliable, timely, and delivered via an appropriate medium. Information gaps can be everywhere - between policy-makers, researchers, development agents and farmers, but also among policy-makers (just think of members of different political parties, different ministries, different levels of government), among researchers (bio-physical scientists, social scientists, economists), between rich and poor, young and old, men and women. Why do they exist and why are they so difficult to overcome? This can be due to a whole range of factors - language, literacy, education, physical location (including access to information and communication technologies such as telephones or Internet), economic factors (no money to buy a newspaper, a radio, a TV, a computer), and socio-cultural norms (e.g., information that is traditionally meant for men or women only; male extensionists not being able to talk to female farmers), to name just a few. Given this intimidating array of constraints, what can be done to bridge information gaps between farmers, policy-makers, researchers and development agents in a constructive, appropriate and efficient way? In agricultural research in general, and agroforestry research in particular, a number of promising initiatives have been developed, and examples have been given for successful bridges across the various information divides. However, none of these examples can be taken as a blueprint to be copied elsewhere. The key to successful bridges appears to be a tailor-made approach, combining different, and locally appropriate means of communication. Obviously, this will only work if stakeholders' interests are addressed - collaboration and communication between different stakeholder groups will only work if there is something to be gained by all concerned.Information is a prerequisite for development. Without the exchange of information, no innovation would be able to spread. If we accept this hypothesis, then information gaps are direct impediments to development and need to be overcome

Gender and agriculture in the information society

Excitement about new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is tempered by long-standing problems of gender inequality in development processes. In most developing countries, women make up the majority of the population working in agriculture, but they are marginalized with respect to access to ICTs for economic and social empowerment. Moreover, two-thirds of the world’s 876 million illiterates are women, most of whom live in rural areas of developing countries

GenARDIS subventionne les petits projets liant genre et NTIC

L'adoption d’une approche tenant compte de la dimension hommes-femmes dans la formulation et la mise enGesa Wesseler revient sur le succès de GenARDIS et souligne l’importance d’une approche des NTIC pour l’agriculture ACP tenant compte de la question du genre

GenARDIS: a small grant fund for gender-related work in ICTs

A gender-sensitive approach to the design and implementation of agriculture, food security and rural development programmes is fundamental to their success. This applies in particular to development programmes in which ICTs, with their tremendous potential for improving rural livelihoods, are being applied. Gender is the term used to recognize that women and men play different roles in society. These roles are culturally and institutionally determined, and can change over time (historically) and space (geographically). Women play a major role in agricultural production and rural livelihoods in ACP countries. However, rural women are much less likely than men to have access to new agricultural technologies because they are generally less well educated and hold less economic and political power. Women, with their special responsibilities for children and the elderly, find it less easy than men to migrate to towns and cities. Today´s ´digital divide´ is adversely affecting women. The urban bias in connectivity deprives many rural women, more than men, of the universal right to communicate. Their problem is compounded by issues of language and literacy, by the fact that their already heavy workloads mean that they have limited time available to use modern ICTs, and by cultural attitudes that prevent them from visiting public access points mostly frequented by men. CTA´s 2002 Observatory on Gender and Agriculture in the Information Society recommended the initiation of a small grants fund, in response to the often-voiced concern over the lack of resources in support of gender initiatives. IICD and IDRC joined CTA to fulfil this recommendation, and the GenARDIS Small Grants Fund was established. The fund is intended to support organisations in implementing innovative activities that will contribute to the understanding and application of ICTs in agricultural and rural development programmes in a gender-sensitive way. It has been set up as a competitive grant programme, with the winners receiving one-time grants of EUR 5000 each. Following the announcement of GenARDIS in mid-March 2003, no less than 360 proposals were received in less than two months. The list of winners provides an indication of the diversity of applications and of the many different approaches that can be used to address a relatively narrow topic such as gender and agriculture in the information society. The submitted project proposals dealt with topics ranging from pure research (e.g. the diffusion of ICTs for communicating agricultural information for rural development in a specific area), to commercial projects (e.g. the promotion of a telecom company among rural women). They also included evaluations of ongoing projects, setting up an empirical social study (e.g. to assess the effects of distributing cellphones to women in isolated rural areas), and investment in equipment (e.g. providing laptops and cellphones to enable a team of fieldworkers to improve information dissemination and research). The nine winning projects are now in the process of being implemented. The winners will present the results of their projects in a workshop to be organized in August 2004. That event is also likely to mark the start of the second round of GenARDIS. mailto:[email protected] Gesa Wesseler is programme coordinator in CTA´s Planning and Corporate Services Department (P&CS). Winning project initiatives Benin: Renforcement des capacités des femmes fonctionnaires qui oeuvrent pour l´autonomisation économique des femmes rurales pour la sécurité alimentaire et la réduction de la pauvreté au Bénin (Strengthening the capacities of female civil servants working for the economic independence of rural women for food security and poverty reduction in Benin), Alice Djinadou Igue Kouboura, Institut national des recherches agricoles du Bénin (INRAB) Chad: La radio communautaire au service du développement de la femme rurale au Tchad (Community radio serving rural women in Chad), Grâce Agouna, Audy Magazine Ghana: Participatory Community Planning (PCP). ICTs as tools to give rural women a voice in decision making to promote social awareness of their roles in managing natural resources for sustainable agriculture through biodiversity conservation, Joana Francis Adda, Participatory Community Development (PACODEV) Jamaica: ICT tools and services in support of the development of organic agriculture in the Caribbean: a regional training workshop for women entrepreneurs, Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, Networked Intelligence for Development Kenya: Health and agriculture community radio network, James Onyango, Kenya AIDS Intervention Prevention Project Group (KAIPPG) Malawi: FarmWise, Bessie Nyirenda, Computer Land Ltd South Africa: Diffusion of ICTs in communication of agricultural information for rural development among women in Kwa-Zulu Natal, Joseph Kiplang´at, Department of Library and Information Science, University of Zululand Tanzania: Mainstreaming gender into information, communication and technology in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study of northern Tanzania, Pantaleon Shoki, Community Development and Relief Agency Uganda: Women´s access to and the use of basic ICTs in accessing information on new agricultural technologies, Akello Zerupa, Makerere University, EntebbeGesa Wesseler reports on the success of GenARDIS and highlights the importance of a gender-sensitive approach to ICTs in ACP agriculture