1. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
Building a Continental Platform
for Knowledge Sharing in Africa
Dady Demby
RAILS Program Officer

2. Outline
• Introduction
• Bringing people together
• Promoting effective use of ICTs
• Facilitating a participatory and dynamic
processes
• Developing contents
• Challenges faced
• Conclusion and way forward
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

3. 1.Introduction
FARA is the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa.
• An apex body of agricultural research organisations
in Africa.
• Primary constituent members:
-the sub-regional agricultural research
organisations (SROs) &
-National Research Institutions (NARIs) across
Africa.
• Secretariat - in Accra, Ghana
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

4. NASRO
ASARECA
CORAF/WECARD
CCARDESA
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

5. 1. Introduction cont.
• RAILS objectives
– Contribute to advocacy for increased investments in
agricultural information
– Improve the access and contribution by African ARD
Stakeholders in the global knowledge sharing
– Facilitate agricultural information systems synergies
and learning
– Build an African platform for agriculture information
and learning system
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

6. RAILS continental perspective
NASRO
ASARECA
CORAF/WECARD
-Jacqueline
-Anatole Kone Nyagahima
-Alioune MBow -Peter
Wamanga
SADC/FANR
CCARDESA
-Molapong
-Krishan Bheenick
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

7. 2. Bringing People Together
A. Established a RAILS Working Group at
continental level
• Developed RAILS Work plan at continental level
• Defined Guidelines for the functioning of the
RAILS learning teams
• Defined the features of the eRAILS continental
portal
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

8. 2. Bringing People Together cont.
B. Multi-stakeholders RAILS learning teams at
national level: 29 national LTs
• Jointly developed and implementing action plans at national
level
• Defined the approach for populating the eRAILS platform at
national and sub-regional levels
• Populating the eRAILS online platform at country level
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

9. 3. Promoting effective use of ICTs
• Training
– eRAILS
– Web 2.0
– Etc.
• ICT support:
– Computers & accessories, netbooks, server,
Internet connectivity
• Coaching
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

10. 4. Facilitating a participatory and
dynamic processes
• A total of 54 Dgroups communities
• Membership: 2307 members
• Originating from 102 countries
worldwide
• Total number of contributions: 3611
• Number of discussion topics raised: 12
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

11. 5. Developing contents
The eRAILS portal
Aim: Facilitate information mobilization,
sharing and dissemination by African
Stakeholders
– 43 active country portals
– 367 account holders
– 575 websites created
– 2408 pages
www.erails.net
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

12. Some eRAILS National websites
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

13. The eRAILS portal:
Visits & pages viewed : July 2009 - Oct 2011
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

14. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

15. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

16. 5. Developing contents cont.
eRAILS 2
General objective: to mobilize farming communities and farmer
advisory service providers to formulate questions so that agricultural
experts can give practical answers to farmers’ immediate
information requirements.
• Key outputs
o Produced a sensitization video
o Selected first group of countries and established implementing
teams
o Organized national facilitators workshop
o Launched implementation of activities within selected countries
o Established a project website:
http://www.erails.net/FARA/erails2/erails2/Home/
• Involvement of Youth
05/26/12 16
16
05/26/12 for Agricultural Research in Africa
Forum 16

17. 6. Challenges faced
• Low awareness of the importance of
information and knowledge for development
• Lack of clear ICM policies and strategies
• Low levels of funding for information and
knowledge management
• Delay in the procurement of internet
connectivity & ICT equipment
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

18. 6. Challenges faced cont.
• Weak collaboration between RAILS & DONATA
stakeholders in several countrie
• Insufficient human resources in ICM
• Low levels of connectivity to internet
• Lack of culture for documenting information
• Unwillingness to share information
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

19. 7. Conclusion
1. Bringing people together:
– is key in designing the RAILS agenda at all levels
– Has been crucial in defining guidelines for effective
functioning of RAILS
– Is playing a key role in driving the implementation of
the RAILS programme
– Is playing a key role in mobilizing stakeholders
• Contributed to strengthening stakeholders
capacities in key areas
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

20. 7. Conclusion cont.
1. Sustaining our achievements through
– Country focal persons
– Institutionalization
– Training, capacity strengthening
– Alignment/Embedding activities
– African youths
– Decentralization
2. Still challenges and
need for scaling-out
and strengthening
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

21. 7. Way forward
• Scaling out the implementation of platforms for
knowledge sharing (Dgroups & Learning Teams)
• Linking researchers to farmers: eRAILS 2
• Establishing the African cloud system
• Promoting the development of ICM policies and
strategies
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa

22. Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
Thank you
www.erails.net