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ICT for Development Experiences from the field Joost Lieshout – Co-Capacity CDI seminar – May 18, 2011. Introduction. ICT: history, definition, objective MDGs Trends Extension services Approaches Implementation Challenges Practical examples. 1971. 1995. 1939. 0 AD. 1200. 1450.
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ICT for Development Experiences from the field Joost Lieshout – Co-Capacity CDI seminar – May 18, 2011
Introduction • ICT: history, definition, objective • MDGs • Trends • Extension services • Approaches • Implementation • Challenges • Practical examples
1971 1995 1939 0 AD 1200 1450 1837 1861 History of ICT Telegraph Television Clay Tablets Woodblock printing Internet 1800 BC Microchip Latin texts Printing press Photos
ICT Definition • Information and Communication Technologies • Tools that help build human network, increase public awareness and provide access to information and knowledge for the use of people • Consists of a range of communication media and devices • Print - Internet • Telephone - Remote Sensing • Fax - GIS • Radio - RFID • Television - and technologies on the drawing boards… • Video • Audio • Computer
Objective ICT • To facilitate/enable the free flow of information and knowledge to improve decision making and participation of rural households, communities, enterprises, institutions, etc to achieve economic growth.
Millennium Goals & ICT • Market information to increase negotiating power of farmers • Information system for flood protection system, GIS systems combat illegal logging, monitoring land use • School networks, Electronic libraries, digital literacy • Developing entrepreneurship skills, radio and television programs by and for rural people, building new forms of community networks and alliances • Bringing latest medical advances to remote areas through tele-medicine, use of PDA’s to improve management and monitoring of health care • Global communications, internet have helped increase trade in the services sector between developed and developing countries – and created new partnerships and jobs • Sustainable Poverty Reduction • Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (Goal 1) • Ensure environmental sustainability (Goal 7) • Education • Achieve universal primary education (Goal 2) • Empowerment • Promote gender equality and empower women (Goal 3) • Health • Reduce Child Mortality (Goal 4) • Improve maternal health (Goal 5) • Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases (Goal 6) • Partnership • Develop a global partnership for development (Goal 8)
Trends • Changing information needs – simple to complex • Changing information and communication technologies – single to integrated systems • International investment in ICT’s shifting from manufacturing to service activities
User Information Needs Assessment Feedback Feedback Ministry of Agriculture Agriculture - Market prices of inputs and outputs Single Media Print Farmers Single Source Single sector & Single area Single User
Framework for E-Rural Development Services Government institutions International Institutions Private sector Multi-national Cos Diaspora Exhibitions & Fairs Print Radio Video Computer/Internet TV User Information Knowledge Capacity Needs Assessment Feedback Feedback Multiple-sources -partners Sources Partners Academic Institutions NGO’s Internet Multiple-disciplines -sectors, content -partnerships Mechanisms for Content Development and Partnership arrangements with Users Multiple – Communication channels Multiple Users Rural Households Entrepreneurs Government Schools Hospitals
Clients & ICT • Healthcare (Patient & sample databases, Workflow support, Equipment for disabled people) • Government (DSS, Survey support, GIS & Remote sensing) • Universities / schools (Social Media, Teaching support) • Rural economy • Extension services (Information (systems), DSS, Hand helds) • Private sector (Breeding support, Equipment manufacturing, Produce quality control) • Rural households (Information services (mobile, radio, video), computer supported equipment)
Focus on extension services • The transfer and exchange of practical information for the farmer to improve his/her outcomes: • Educational methodologies (farmer field schools) • Demonstration plots • Advice from extension agents
Extension service delivery • Variety of delivery channels • Radio • Print media • Cell-phone networks • …
Extension services approaches • Voice or text (and if latter: SMS or data queries) • Video, digital photo’s or other ICT like GPS • Direct use or via mediator (extension worker) • One way or two-way communication (feedback) • Buisiness model: • Pay individually • Farmer groups • Government • Private org • Subsidized
Implementation steps • 1. End user information, knowledge, business, capacity needs assessment of target users in the rural areas • Farm and non-farm population • Local government • Rural enterprises • Hospitals • Schools, universities and training institutions • Others. • 2. Development of appropriate content and partnerships • Content and partnerships to meet user needs , • Public, private, academic, non-governmental institutions • publicly available content from the World Wide Web and adapted to meet the needs of the rural population • Other • 3. Dissemination of content and partnership linkages through a variety of information communication technologies • such as TV, video, CD-rom, print, E-mail, internet, teleconferencing, etc. • 3. Ongoing feedback for monitoring and evaluation • for content improvement, selection of appropriate media, cost recovery mechanisms, assessing changing demands for new types of information, knowledge and business opportunities by different types of end-users
Common challenges • Converting the vast amounts of (farm extension) information available from paper format to digital and searchable format • Reaching the right information fast (intuitive) • Local languages • Literacy (input guidance, spoken word) • Impact, cost effectiveness (little known yet) • Finding synergies between initiatives • Who pays (win-win situations) • Government • Private sponsors (trustworthiness) • Cell-phone companies
Improve Indian weavers livelihoods • Objective: use ICT applications to help “chicankari” poor women artisans improve their livelihoods in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. ICT center established: • Provided a platform to develop artistic skills, • improve designs and respond to market demand – traditional designs and embroidery patterns – made innovations possible • Training in computer skills • Empowers women
Improve Indian weavers livelihoods • New, modern computer aided designs (use of CorelDraw and Photoshop) are printed on the fabrics.
Custom Searches (FARA) • On the FARA-Africa portal (http://www.fara-africa.org) a range of custom search options are available, based on Google technology. This example shows available research information for: • Projects • Organizations • Persons • Documents related to Agriculture in Africa from a range of on-line data repositories, notably from ASARECA, AU, CABI, CGIAR, Eldis, FAO, GFAR, ILEIA, InfoSys+, NEPAD, R4D and WISARD.
AIMS GIS (SADC) • The SADC Agricultural Information Management System (AIMS) has a web component consisting of a Web portal and Tools for Managing Spatial and Non-spatial Agricultural related content in an integrated approach (http://aims.sadc.int)
AIMS (integrated approaches) Google Yahoo Local Libraries Poor Local Research International News Structured Data Repositories with Community Data Ownership 1,2, many Structured Data Repositories with Data Community Ownership 1,2, many Structured Data Repositories with Data Community Ownership 1,2, many Protocols Meta Data Rich • Specialized • Integrated • Services • AGRIS • Regional • SACD AIMS • FARA Local Users Off-Line User Adequate Integrated Responses • Local Website • L&W Portal • AIMS Portal
AIMS GIS (growing season) • Reuters Market Light provides information on market prices, weather conditions, agricultural policy news, and tips on farming cycles via SMS to fee-paying subscribers in India. Information can be personalized based on the type of crop, region of the country, and local language. The service employs a staff of 300 full-time content professionals to provide news and data on more than 250 crop types, 1,000 markets, and weather forecasts for 2,500 locations.
AIMS GIS (livestock diseases) • Reuters Market Light provides information on market prices, weather conditions, agricultural policy news, and tips on farming cycles via SMS to fee-paying subscribers in India. Information can be personalized based on the type of crop, region of the country, and local language. The service employs a staff of 300 full-time content professionals to provide news and data on more than 250 crop types, 1,000 markets, and weather forecasts for 2,500 locations.
GPFLR (IUCN) • On the at the learning network site about Forest Landscape Restoration http://www.forestlandscaperestoration.org/, initiated and maintained by the GPFLR (Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration), a Google Earth implementation is used to present selected geo-referenced forest information. A time-series of Landsat satellite images (RGB: band 4,5,3) are available for Ghana (Pamu Berekun site) and Rwanda (Gishwati site) to support the information base on forest landscape restoration.
Reuters Market Light (India) • Reuters Market Light provides information on market prices, weather conditions, agricultural policy news, and tips on farming cycles via SMS to fee-paying subscribers in India. Information can be personalized based on the type of crop, region of the country, and local language. The service employs a staff of 300 full-time content professionals to provide news and data on more than 250 crop types, 1,000 markets, and weather forecasts for 2,500 locations.
Google SMS: Farmer’s Friend • Farmer's Friend (Powered by Google SMS) offers farmers an affordable and targeted way to search for agricultural tips through a SMS-based database. Keywords in the query are matched against the database and the farmer receives a reply with a tip related to his or her query terms. It includes information on regional weather forecasts, planting, storage and harvesting, and pest and disease control information for crops and livestock.
KenCall’s Farmers Helpline (Kenya) • The Farmers Helpline operated by KenCall, a for-profit call center in Kenya, is a real-time call center service staffed by agricultural experts that provides agricultural information, advice and support to small holder farmers over the phone, using voice and voice call-back to farmers (two-way), not SMS.
Digital Green (India) • Digital Green disseminates targeted agricultural information via digital media to small-scale and marginal farmers in India. The system includes a digital video database that is produced for farmers by farmers. Participating villages are provided with a TV, DVD player and camcorder operated by local NGO staff and managed by farmers, along with DVDs that are shipped to the village. Nightly viewings are set up on a rotating basis around different areas of the village for small groups of 10 to 20 farmers. • All video’s are also accessible through the web site
Grameen’s CKW (Uganda) • Grameen is currently working with approximately 200 Community Knowledge Workers (CKWs) in Uganda to provide free agricultural information and advice to rural farmers via a content database (including crop information, market prices, and inputs) on their smart phones. Grameen estimates that CKWs earn upwards of $2/day after costs (for things such as phone re-payment, insurance and airtime) for providing information to and collecting surveys from farmers in their community.
Grameen’s CKW (Uganda) • Using AppLab technology. AppLab uses mobile technologies to both disseminate and gather relevant and actionable information. We develop mobile phone applications and services that allow people to access information on important topics like health and agriculture, among others. For example, through a simple text message a farmer can receive tips on treating crop diseases, learn local market prices, or get advice on preventing malaria. • AppLab Video: http://www.grameenfoundation.applab.org/section/videos
IKSL (India) • IFFCO Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL) was piloted in 2008 in India by Bharti Airtel and the Indian Farmers Fertilizers Cooperative (IFFCO) as a mobile information provider to rural farmers. The service is offered to rural farmers through 38,000 IFFCO societies throughout India and provides farmers with real-time agricultural information through a call center and daily voice messages (sound files).
Mali Shambani (Kenya) • Mali Shambani is a weekly hour-long radio program featuring agricultural news and responding to the business and market access needs of small, rural farmers in Kenya. The program covers a wide range of topics, including market prices and trends, farming techniques, weather and seasonal issues, financing opportunities, inputs, land use, and quality standards. Each program also offers an interactive call-in component where farmers are given the opportunity to pose agricultural questions to a panel of experts either via phone or SMS.
Farmer Voice Radio (Africa Various) • Farmer Voice Radio (FVR) is a radio extension service currently operating in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Mali, Ghana and Zambia that targets smallholder farmers. FVR’s radio extension agents provide regular, on-site extension support to a small group of pre-selected farmers, which are then documented and broadcast via radio for the benefit of all farmers. Feedback can be given using mobile phones (SMS).
