APPLICATION OF ICTs IN ACCESSING AGRICULTURAL INFORMATION TO THE RURAL WOMEN OF KYANGATTO IN NAKASEKE DISTRICT by Sarah Kaddu Coordinator Presented at the EIFL Kampala Meeting August 2012

Introduction A grant of USD 15,000 was approved to implement the project: Application of ICTs in accessing agricultural information to the RW of Kyangatto, Nakaseke District. Project duration: 1 year April March 2013

Aim of the project To provide basic information and computer literacy skills to enable utilisation of agricultural information by rural women of Kyangatto, Nakaseke district.

Project objectives Sensitize 50 rural women and their spouses about the importance of using the ICTs services Offer refresher courses to the rural women in information storage and retrieval.

Project objectives contd… Teach computer and information literacy skills- basics i.e ICTs in word processing, storage and retrieval of information - the agriculture web portal Teach Information literacy skills – to help women farmers know their information needs and where and how to satisfy them and document these information needs

Project objectives contd… To produce basic information resources in local/vernacular languages – translations, posters, pamphlets, etc Use of ICTs machines – mobile phones, radio, among others for agricultural information access and retrieval to be able to meet their information needs

Project objectives contd… Teach social networking tools using Web 2.0 and 3.0 technologies – women group activities To train them in reference and information services – question and answer sessions to satisfy the rural womens information needs.

Progress made

Activities undertaken Identification of 50 women farmers Identification of the women & community leaders Purchase of computers Training of 50 women & sensitisation of their spouses 23 rd – 27 th July 2012

Image 1: Training session

Image 2: Training session

Image 3: Training session

Training manual developed Introduction to the popular ICTs- computers, mobile phones etc Introduction to the Internet & the WWW What the Internet and mobile phone can do to the farmer Introduction to the s Introduction to the web 2.0 technologies Introduction to the ms word & excel Introduction to mobile sms services using frontline software Activities undertaken contd…

Face book page created -a plat form for rural women in sharing agricultural information amongst themselves / Data collection and data entry into the database Activities undertaken contd…

Face book page

Challenges Language of communication Basic qualification- min requirement of S.4 was high Inadequate computers Accessibility to the Internet - first days Inadequate training time

Pending activities Approval of the Agricultural Web Portal Linking face book page to web portal –as a plat form for rural women in sharing agricultural information amongst themselves Posting women farmers experience Translation services by Agric Expert

Thank You