The
Consultative Expert Meeting noted that CTA's plans
represented a valuable addition to the many international
efforts to bridge the digital divide between the
"developed North" and ACP countries. For instance,
CTA's plans could contribute to the implementation
of Action Point 8 ("National and International
Efforts to Support Local Content and Applications
Creation") of the Digital Opportunity Task Force
(DOT Force) created by the G8 Heads of State in
July 2000 (see DOT Force report, May 2001 www.dotforce.org/reports).
The meeting emphasized that staff and researchers
of CTA and its partner organizations that are
directly involved in making a new ICM framework
work in practice should become the first customers
and consumers of its products and services. Therefore,
technical ICT skills training will need to be
provided by CTA and its partner organizations
(possibly in cooperation with initiative in other
sectors such education, health or good governance).
New procedures will need to be developed and applied
or generated, and new budget control and reporting
schedules may have to be introduced. Realizing
a new ICM framework holds both promises and challenges
and embarking on its implementation involves much
more than selecting a technology which provides
a solution for connectivity restrictions in ACP
countries. It has to do with (i) organizational
changes - to accommodate a network mode of
operation; with (ii) a transition to an online
work environment, taking calculated risks
in employing new (often hardly tested) ICT applications;
and also with (iii) common sense and the ability
to say 'no' to technology driven solutions which
take little account of the realities of ACP organisations'
operational environment.
The meeting concluded that a culture of merit
and reward for achievement and a network of true
partnerships between CTA and its partners lay
at the roots of the success of embarking on the
challenge of building an ICM framework on which
an ACP agricultural knowledge network could
be established.
Workshop
report
Wireless:
a help line for agricultural development?
Report of the 4th Consultative Expert meeting
of CTA's Observatory on ICTs, 2001.
Formats: 
pdf file (97 kb);
html
file (77 kb)
