SEMINAR'S PROPOSED STRATEGIES

In the conclusions, the seminar endeavours to propose strategies aimed at fostering information and communication management in federations of farmers' organisations. Such strategies are based on the various diagnosis carried out and exchange of experiences before and during the seminar. These were not dictated but were adduced with a view to enabling and orienting decision making in FFOs and the actors assisting them.

Three strategic questions were asked :

• What communication strategies should be fostered with the respect to the structure of FFOs ?
• What improvements could be made to the support strategies of support structures in view of an efficient information and communication management in FFOs?
• What concrete proposals should be adduced for the harnessing and development of NICT in FFOs?

Each group proposed funding solutions and indicated the roles to be played by the main actors. Four actors were identified, namely FFOs, support organisations (Sos), CTA and the State.

1. What communication strategies should be fostered with respect to the structure of FFOs ?

Answers to this question started of with the communication strategies being defined as a set of methods, resources and procedures through which the various FFOs may interact with one another and the outside world with the view to providing services to, and defending the interests of, their members. As such, three levels of communication were defined : grassroots groups, intermediary groups or regional unions and national federations. At each level the communication tools used were specified and the role of actors identified :

• At the level of the grassroots groups, meetings, markets, religious festivals or feasts, cultural activities, orally transmitted messages, agricultural shows are frequently used to communicate. Resources seldom used are usual newsletters, the farmers' house, mobile phone and radio.
• At the intermediary level, mention was made of radio/cassette, bulletin, hand conveyed message and the farmers' house. Finally, at the national level, the most organised FFOs have telephone, fax and at time electronic mail, newsletter and vehicle.
• At this level, there are increasingly more skilled personnel available for the management of common services.
• In a bid to support the FFOs whose major roles are to provide services to and defend the interests of their members, it was recommended that the following support be provided :
  • capacity building through training exchange trip, technical support (Sos, CTA, donor institutions),
  • projects, logistics (Sos, donor institutions),
  • telephone supply, constructing the roads, electricity supply (donor institutions, states)

2. What improvements could be made to the support strategies of support structures in view of an efficient information and communication management in the federations of farmers' organisations ?

To answer this question, the various areas in which the FFOs need support were first of all identified before specifying the support strategies of the Sos. Several categories were identified as follows :

• training in several areas (for grassroots development workers and for journalists on development issues and more generally speaking on information management methods),
• production of information (information of the best practices and experiences of farmers, on agriculture and world trade ect.),
• information dissemination (letters, information day, telephone, internet, etc.
• the building of strategic capacities (marketing training of moderators),
• networking (exchange trip, contact between researchers and farmers,
• and facilitation.

At the end of this exercise, two communication levels were analysed : external communication and internal communication. For each level, the challenges, objectives and strategies were identified and the principles of action and their conditions of implementation were mentioned.

Internal communication

Challenges : Improve communication at the intermediary level (between the farmers' organisation and the grassroots) and avoid discrimination in the dissemination of information, foster the self-confidence of farmers and the sharing of common values among the FFOs' members; make a char distinction between counselling and funding.

Objectives : Internal communication should help in collective decision making, the speedy transmission of messages, the development of internal information processing and presentation capacities and the drawing up of a communication plan acceptable to all.

Strategies. It was decided to train endogeneous moderators or leaders, provide counselling to farmers, allow farmers to take decisions by themselves and to establish networks between Sos and federations of farmers' organisations.

Principles. Every communication strategy should b negotiated with, and controlled by, the FFOs. Internal communication is so important for the self-reliance of the FFOs that it could only be financed indirectly from outside.

Conditions of implementation. In order to ensure reliable internal communication, the actors must rise above cultural barriers and the information widely disseminated. The SOs should be very careful in their advice and should encourage information in local languages and should not lay emphasis only on written information.

External communication

Four major challenges should be mentioned: seeking the acknowledge of others, improving communication between the other actors and the federations of farmers' organisations, produce and share information with SOs, be able to forecast the information needs of FFOs.

Objectives. Develop ordinary communication tools and provide varied information to federations of farmers' organisations.

Principles. The SOs should not be "enslaved" to FFOs, proposed technologies should take into account the cultural background and the level of the organisation.

Conditions of implementation. It is important for the Sos to have a full grasp of the challenges of the FFOs and that information is targeted to questions raised by the members and that the horizontal dissemination of information should never be neglected.

3. What concrete proposals should be adduced for the harnessing and development of NICT in FFOs ?

It should first of all be specified that the following proposals are situated at the level of federations of farmers' organisations given that the area of activity of these rural organisations varies significantly from one country to another, it is difficult to state all the communication tools used by them are "new". In this connection, information and communication technologies are first of all construed as a set of tools and instruments that enable the transfer of information from one transmitter to a receiver and vice versa. The novelty of this concept shall be specified with respect to the level of the actors' ownership thereof (experience and longetivity of use).

This sector will take into account some elements developed by the previous two sections. Proposed strategies make use of tools ranging from the simplest such as billboard, through newsletters, exchange trips, television, drama, to the most complex like Internet services. Almost all communication tools have been cited and specific information given on the real or supposed conditions under which they are used. However, mapping out a strategy entails making choices around which viable guidelines will be centred. Hence three options were considered : Developing and harnessing the "farmers' house" concept for mass communication in rural areas, ensuring ownership of the radio as a means of communication and judiciously using the print media to communicate.

Conditions of access to New Information and communication Technologies by federations of farmers' organisations.

The use of NICT and Internet by federations of farmers' organisations is still limited : Only a few of them consult, produce or disseminate information using those technologies (forum and electronic information letter, web site, CDROM). This is due mostly to some constraints including the purchase price and the maintenance costs, limited access to Internet and the higher subsequent cost.

These technologies should be used reasonably in a bid to effectively improve upon and consolidate the management of the most standard information and communication tools (such as publications, bulletin and other written documents). The common use of these technologies (surfing on the web site, managing e-mails) is easier at the head office of a big Federation : the proposed training and support listed are out to harness information and communication management in federations of farmers' organisations.

As concern small-sized organisations and their members, the exploitation of NICT should be part of a range of communication services available. Farmer's houses will make this possible by integrating the functions of internet-connected phone booths.

Developing and harnessing the "Farmers' house". Concept for mass communication in rural areas.

The concept of "Farmer's house". It is multipurpose centre or space. The concept is original as it is out to gather on the same place many communication strategic services on the one hand, farmers themselves and farmers and other actors of the society on the other hand. Although the equipment set up are owned by one or several federations of farmers' organisations, they should be made available to each farmer.

These services provided by the farmer's house cannot be defined once and for all. They may only be defined based on the priorities of the federation(s) involved. However, it is suggested that the following services be provided by the farmer's house : telephone, fax, e-mail, computer centres (such as urban computer centres). They could also include social services (billboard, drinking spot-store), offices for farmers' organisations or regional unions, a bookshop and a library. On short, it is a contact point between farmers and the others (the head office of the FFO at the main city, commercial companies, parents living in distant areas, etc), a transmission and reception post, and a forum for demand and supply.

The site varies from one country to another but the following criteria may help determine it : located out of the capital city, easy access electricity and telephone supply, located out of an institution that might limit its access to the populations. Who owns the farmer's house? It can be initiated by one or many federations of farmers' organisations and at the same be opened to other actors. The opportunity to invest in areas that can be transformed into the "farmer's house" should not be excluded.

Roles of FFO's. They should do their best to be the recognized and respected owners by participating for example in funding installations; federations of farmers' organisations should avoid that it appears as a subsidy or a gift for the collectivity. Even if the routine and effective management was under private managers leadership, the federation(s), should control at last resort (assessment and auditing).

Roles of SOs. Help federations of farmers' organisations in carrying out feasibility study and counselling them during operation formulation and implementation.

Roles of CTA. It could help in starting simultaneously a few number of experiences in several countries : supply documentation, train, provide technical support (consultants), support, the networking of farmer's houses, pull and disseminate experiences to all the actors concerned.

Other actors may intervene. They should be identified by FFOs in collaboration with the SOs. In the country, they are telecommunication operators, thrift and loan institutions specialized in the rural world communication and information.

Use the radio as a means of communication

Two situations prevail today in conjunction with access to this means of communication : there is an increasing number of private and community radios in several African countries; under such a circumstance, the alternative to be privileged is that federations of farmers' organisations should use more efficiently what is already existing to disseminate information. The other alternative is that one or more federations may undertake to buy their own radio. No matter be the case, what is important that they should reasonably formulate their own message, taking into consideration their target.

Role of FFOs. It is their duty to master the content of programmes. They should accept to organize farmers' participation and negotiate with partners they deem necessary. To broadcast their messages over the existing radios, they can negotiate access facilities by contacting the radios' offices.

Role of CTA. As a traditional centre of collection, processing and dissemination of information, it may help in developing documents or technical slips for programmes. Training team leaders is another important aspect that can be devoted to CTA.

Role of the State. There has been some democratisation in areas where the State set up a legal framework to govern the access of the private sector to this means. Where it does not exist, it would be better to conclude an alliance with different actors to lobby for the installation of radio stations.

Use efficiently the print media to communicate

The feature of the print media in most countries shows that there are many types of newspapers: daily, periodical and bulletin. It has been noticed that almost all federations of farmers' organisations failed to create and animate a sustainable information and networking bulletin, the main reason being that the newspapers or reviews in question were often created by "imitation". It is therefore important that the federations carry out an initial diagnosis in order to identify the target and select the type of publication adapted to its structure (format, frequency, print run). One can start with a bulletin and end up gradually with more complex publications, while using other types of media. We should know that there can be no clear external communication where there is no efficient internal communication. It is certain that a bulletin is the easiest printed means of communication to manage, based on the fact that its success and sustainability depend especially on the management of vertical and horizontal information.

Role of FFOs. Master the control information, set up a system of distribution conductive to "retailers", use an original expression under the framework of its own communication policy.

Role of SOs. They can help in the technical aspect, ensure that FFOs are taking care and evaluate the impact of print media.

Role of CTA. Support to training is essential. But CTA can also supply information to be used by federations of farmers' organisations, print media.