Establishing climate change information sharing platforms to improve access to and visibility of local content: The experience of CCIAM programme in Tanzania. Morogoro Hotel, Compiled: D. S. Matovelo,SUA G. Msoffe,SUA L. Ellingsen, NMBU (UMB) F. W. Dulle,SUA A. Kabudi, UDSM M. J. F. Lwehabura and J StephanoSUA On behalf of:

The teams SUA7 UDSM5 ARU4 TMA3 NMBU1 Total20

Objectives of the presentation To share information about CCIAM communication products To create awareness about TaCCIRe and OAI in general To solicit for documents to populate TaCCIRe and the IRC, To network Will be in two stages including a demontration of TaCCIRe

Introduction Timely and reliable information is necessary for the REDD initiatives to succeed A lot of research information is already available in Tanzania, but most of it is not visible and not readily accessible Most of it exist in print format which limits accessibility Considering the variability of REDD and CCIAM stakeholders, it is likely that no single delivery method is suitable for everyone For that reason, various information dissemination and sharing platforms have been created This paper will focus more on the establishment of a digital repository for climate change and related information The repository established in 2012 and registered in 2013 is the first of its kind in Tanzania

Justification Information is both a key input and output in achieving the objectives of the CCIAM Programme Provide support in terms of documenting and disseminating research backed experiences generated from REDD initiatives in Tanzania. Poor communication and information sharing networks calls for establishment of an efficient communication and information sharing mechanism in the country, that may also provide gateway to the international community

The Goal of the project To enhance access to information on climate change, emanating from CCIAM programme and other related sources for better environment and improved livelihoods.

Objectives of the Project 1.To set up a CCIAM resource center for information on climate change 2.To establish an open access repository for information relevant to climate change- the main focus of today’s presentation 3.To process and organize information emanating from CCIAM programme and related sources 4.To disseminate information generated from CCIAM programme and related sources 5.To maintain an open access repository and a CCIAM resource center beyond programme

What is a repository? An online archive, authors and academics can deposit their work, intended to be openly available in digital form It allows online access to academic content, free of charge and free from most copyright and licensing restrictions Traced back to 1990 almost the time when the www was established. The number of repositories worldwide has been increasing rapidly at the rate of one repository per day A study in Europe in 2008 indicated there would hardly be any tertiary-level research-based or teaching institutions without a digital repository in a few years after the year of the research

What has been done According to the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR), there are only five (5 ) registered repositories in Tanzania: Ifakara Health Institute, MUHAS, OUT, SAUTI, and SUA The UDSM Research Repository (URERE), launched in 2009 was never registered and its status is unknown. UDSM and other institutions are in different stages of establishing their IRs The situation in the neighboring countries: Uganda (2) Kenya (10), -. South Africa has more than 20 repositories

The process Acquisition of hardware Four (4) servers Five (5) Scanners Four (4) Computers Deciding the software for the repository Conducted a search in the internet for availability FOSS; open source digital repository software Four commonly used software; DSpace, Eprint FEDORA and Greenstone Project team members held a meeting to among other things decide on the software to be adopted, the decision was in favour of DSpace Why DSpace:  Availability of a wider user community in the country -possible to share knowledge, skills overcome technical challenges  Functions & capabilities - handling large full text documents

The process….. Installation and customization of Dspace Identification and Collection of documents Digitization of the documents Submission of the initial documents that were used for testing Developing the guidelines The first stakeholders workshop to sensitize, create awareness and discuss the guidelines Approval of the guidelines by the programme management Most of the licensing and copyright issues have been taken care in the guidelines. Second stakeholders’ workshop – a training workshop to inform, share knowledge, impart e-resources search skills including searching TaCCIRe

The process….. The name Tanzania Climate Change Repository (TaCCIRe) Online ballot among all team members including collaborators at NMBU [-the ballotbin.com was used] Selected out of five names that were suggested by institutional teams and circulated to all members The name was later approved by the programme management

Building the content Relevant print documents were scanned and submitted to the repository. Born digital documents were also submitted. Copyright issues were the main concern before submitting the documents to the repository. These documents are checked of their relevance to climate change and copyright statements. The repository managers do double checking before the documents are archived in TaCCIRe Researchers and authors are able to submit their documents to TaCCIRe directly using one of the features of DSpace This work is ongoing Currently, TaCCIRe has 208 documents as will be demonstrated shortly

Benefits of TaCCIRe The opportunity to share and disseminate scholarly research works. All institutions working on climate change will have the opportunity to disseminate their research work by storing them in the repository Increase global visibility and web presence for the institutions whose research work is stored in the repository. Research outputs become widely available, more discoverable, and more retrievable. Researchers and students will have instant online access to research outputs which are hard to locate locally in their institutions.

The Repository

Strengthening technical skills Three (3) In-house training A total of 14 library staff were trained Attended workshops on open access initiatives Attend ICM startegy workshop A study tour to Norway by a team of five (5) technical team members representing all four institutions.

Other tangible achievements The CCIAM website Information Resource Centre, it has 115 physical documents, about 126 have used the collection Communication champions at each institution The communication strategy Two rounds of stories (9 stories on nine CCIAM projects) 15 Factsheets accessible on the website A Facebook page and a wiki (Pbworks) as a discussion platform for project members

CCIAM WEBSITE

Publications so far Two papers: “ Management of Information related to climate change: challenges, lessons learnt and way forward ”. Presented at the First Annual Scientific Conference on 2 nd February 2012 “ Establishing climate change repository in Tanzania” advanced stage of preparation

What remains to be done Setting up Document Delivery Structure Printing two documents: The Communication Strategy and Repository guidelines Improving and updating the website so that it becomes a useful communication channel Facilitate communication champions to complete TV clips/video/film capturing some CCIAM projects

Challenges Management related issues Budgetary limitations, Unforeseen programme activities, Delayed communication between teams, misconceptions, low motivation Challenges related to building the content Readiness to give documents Technical issues Challenges in tech skills-FOSS, Lack of time, low motivation, Limitations in involvement of local communities Sustainability issues Calls for a change in mindset to accept/cope with new or changing roles that are coming with new technologiess

Policy implications OA policy in our institutions  Thesis and Dissertations  Research outputs from public and donor funded projects

Conclusion Generally the project has made good progress, has addressed all except one objective (-the DD) The project is especially pround of one major achievement; establishment of the first climate change repository in Tanzania Has been a learning experience with regard to current issues in information management

Recommendations Reflect on publishing decisions -how would we want to publish our work and for whose benefit?. Search the status of the journal of your choice first by visiting SHERPA/RoMEO publishers at: Establishment of the Communication units at our institutions (for those who have not started) for purposes of coordination of communication issues to alleviating communication challenges

Acknowledgements The Governments of Tanzania and The Kingdom of Norway for financial support CCIAM management for the cooperation and logistical support Researchers for their cooperation- participation in workshops, submission of publications Library and IT staff for accepting the new roles

Thank you for your attention Document, Share and Communicate