Regional Agricultural Information and Learning Systems (RAILS) RAILS Workshop Musanze, Rwanda February 2015

RAILS Objectives 1. Advocacy to encourage increased investment in agricultural information systems by African governments and institutions; 2. Improve access to information, and the ability of African stakeholders to contribute to global agricultural knowledge; 3. Facilitate synergies by linking African information conduits to global providers of agricultural information; 4. To develop an African platform for agricultural information and learning systems To achieve these objectives, FARA/RAILS works with the information and communication team of each of sub-regional research organizations (ASARECA, CORAF, SADC-FANR) who in turn partners with its member NARS.

RAILS Guiding principles Ownership by the NARS stakeholders Relevance to the priorities and needs NARS Synergies with existing agricultural information systems Sustainability not just financially but also in human resources Regular communication among users and facilitators of information and learning exchange

1. Advocacy for increased investment in agricultural information systems Interventions Strengthen partnerships in info. sharing among agricultural research & development (AR&D) institutions Develop information and communication management strategies and policies for AR&D institutions Strengthen capacity (human, institutional) in managing and exchange of information and knowledge Build digital, institutional info repositories based on agreed standards, tools and mechanism

2. Improve access to information, and the ability of African stakeholders to contribute to global agricultural knowledge; Interventions strengthen the ICT capacities by procuring a few computers & accessories to support the work of RAILS and DONATA teams – (desktops, servers, net books, cameras, internet access) Provide short-term training in ICT tools

3. Facilitate synergies by linking African information conduits to global providers of agricultural information; eRAILS FARA, ASARECA, RAB, etc AfricaAdapt CIARD

4. To develop an African platform for agricultural information and learning systems Interventions Establish national portals on The national portals will contain information on agriculture

4. To develop an African platform for agricultural information and learning systems

Activities Establish mechanisms to support the RAILS activities - Regional, Sub-regional, national Build RAILS learning Teams - Regional, Sub-regional, national Acquisition and installation of basic ICT equipment for RAILS & DONATA teams Development of the ERAILS platform Establish shared content management system for the national portals Organize training in: eRAILs.net, ICT tools, open access systems Establish open access system in at least 7 RAILS supported countries

Expected RAILS outputs Learning teams (LTs) Development of the Africa-wide Agricultural information system (AIS) Portal, LTs capacity strengthened to use LTs identify priority information to share Acquisition of good internet connections and computer facilities to maintain a dynamic national RAILS network. Skills of learning teams enhanced to facilitate information & knowledge sharing, and learning Regular information exchange at the national, sub-regional, continental levels

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