Saturday, February 20, 2016

Better farming with drones

Technology is part of everyday work life for this farmer and drone enthusiast from north-eastern Germany, who relies heavily on computers, GPS control technology and data networking for running his agricultural enterprise. This short video documents how drone technology can be of immediate use to the farmer in spotting and locating problems on his fields.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Social media revolutionising rural communities in the Pacific - Pacific Beat - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)


Social-media has been called many things -- and now it's being described as a 'life-changing' experience for people living in rural parts of the Pacific.

Increasingly, social media, and the internet in general, is being used to drive agricultural development - with some dramatic impacts.

Speakers: Michael Hailu, director of Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA); Giacomo Rambaldi, Sr Programme Coordinator, ICTs (CTA, Web2forDev) and Faumuina Felolini Tafunai, Media Specialist (WIBDI).

by Catherine Graue
Source: Pacific Beat | Duration: 5min 42sec

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Economic and Social Impact of ICT in the Pacific published

Nuku’alofa, 17 June 2015 - A new report has highlighted the impacts of improved access to telecommunications infrastructure and services now being seen across the South Pacific and potential for greater information communications technology (ICT)-enabled development across the region. Click on View more news below to read the full media release, and access the report.
Economic and Social Impact of ICT in the Pacific, launched today in the Tongan capital Nuku’alofa as part of a meeting of Pacific region ICT ministers, examines the economic and social impact of the rapid rise in internet bandwidth, mobile phone usage and telecommunications market liberalisation that has been underway throughout the Pacific Islands region in the past decade. The report includes case studies of the impacts in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, plus a comparative analysis of lessons learned in recent years, and identifies key opportunities for investment and support for the future.

Launched by Tongan Deputy Prime Minister and Minister Responsible for Information Communications Technology, the Honourable Siaosi Sovaleni, the report’s research was commissioned by the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF), which is financed by the Asian Development Bank, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade,  and whose membership also includes the European Investment Bank, European Union, Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the World Bank Group.

This past decade has seen an extraordinary increase in access to mobile phone services in the region, including to some of the Pacific’s most remote areas and islands, as significantly improved market conditions have encouraged investment by the private sector and existing operators.
“Here in Tonga, where we landed a submarine cable financed by the Asian Development Bank and World Bank in August 2013, we have seen greatly improved access to high-speed Internet (particularly mobile) and falling prices,” said Deputy Prime Minister Sovaleni.

“Yet this report is not just about the technologies themselves; it’s about the impact they are having on our communities and economies, enabling us to leapfrog over more traditional, outdated and expensive systems of the past, and transform our lives.”

The High Commissioner for Australia, Brett Aldam, said Australia was pleased to be co-financing the ICT study through its support for the PRIF, because “Australia recognised the critical need to modernise communications in the Pacific in order to generate increased economic growth and social development.”

Sanjivi Rajasingham, Director of the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility (PRIF), said the report would help Pacific governments, telecoms operators, regulators and the private sector to identify opportunities for investment in technology-enabled services. This includes a list of 10 specific ‘intervention points’, which include the further strengthening of international connectivity through submarine cables, new pricing structures and competition, to the use of e-government and applications designed to boost tourism and exports, small industries, and innovative job creation.
“As the Pacific has gained access to significantly improved technology, better access, far cheaper mobile phones, calls, text and data, the pace of change in the Pacific has been extraordinary,” said Natasha Beschorner, Senior ICT Policy Specialist at The World Bank and Lead Coordinator of the PRIF ICT Sector Working Group, who introduced the report’s key findings.

“The changes have been widespread across sectors including agriculture, fisheries, tourism, education, health and financial services. “Importantly, this reportshows the opportunities that are now possible in the Pacific, and makes recommendations for governments, policy-makers and the private sector to answer the question, ‘Where to next?’

Changes already seen in the Pacific, which have been highlighted in the Economic and Social Impact of ICT in the Pacific report, include:

  • Mobile coverage across Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu has jumped from less than half of the population in 2005 to 93% of the population in 2014.
  • The cost of mobile calls declined by one third between 2005 and 2014.
  • The percentage of cell phones in Pacific households rose from 49% in 2007 to 93% in 2014.
  • International internet bandwidth jumped over 1500% between 2007 and 2014, rising from less than 100 Megabits per second to over 1 Gigabits per second (excluding Fiji, which was already connected to a submarine cable in 2000).

Recommendations for governments, policy-makers and development partners for the coming years that are in the report include:

  • Strengthening of government and regulatory agencies to ensure that access to communications technology remains competitive, fairly-priced and accessible to all.
  • Development of basic digital literacy amongst the general public.
  • Putting the Pacific online: Support for increased communications technology use by governments to deliver services directly to citizens and business.
  • Support for applications such as online health, education, trade facilitation services
  • Investments in information communications technology skills – including government-industry partnerships – to build employment opportunities that are now possible with the increased availability of affordable broadband internet.


Follow this link to download the Economic and Social Impact of ICT in the Pacific report

Thursday, September 10, 2015

The Transformative Power of Social Media in Agriculture: Inspiring Stories

The advent of social media has revolutionised the way people communicate worldwide. But in a growing number of developing countries, these tools are being put to increasingly good effect to drive agricultural and rural development, often with dramatic results. A new publication from the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) documents the transformative power of these innovative technologies. Based on 18 case studies drawn from across African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries , Embracing Web 2.0 and Social Media: A life-changing pathway for agricultural development actors provides testimonies on how Web 2.0 and social media are contributing to better engagement of stakeholders in policy dialogue and advocacy, marketing and the provision of information services.

This booklet documents a wide range of practical applications for Web 2.0 and social media in ACP settings. Some farmers have found that Facebook can be an excellent marketing channel to promote their products. Extension agents are discovering that social media is a highly effective way of communicating with the people they serve. Agricultural organisations are using a range of social media tools to mount advocacy campaigns aimed at influencing policy-makers. Researchers are using online collaboration tools to work on joint publications, while more and more young people are using new ICT skills to blog about important rural development issues. Others are seizing opportunities to develop innovative online services and launch their own companies as agripreneurs.

“Social media has become part of everyday life for most people in the developed world. But it has created a life-changing experience for many people in rural areas who have come to use it,” said CTA Director Michael Hailu.

All the stories featured in the booklet revolve around people who have benefited from a CTA-led campaign to make Web 2.0 and social media tools more accessible to agriculture and rural development actors in ACP countries.

The figures speak volumes: more than 4,000 individuals trained, 176 face-to-face training events – known as Web 2.0 and social media learning opportunities (LOs) – held in 44 ACP countries. In 2013, the Web 2.0 and social media LOs carried off the prestigious World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Project Prize in the e-Agriculture category.

Impact assessment studies conducted by CTA have revealed that its Web 2.0 and social media capacity-building activities have led to greater inclusion and empowerment for participants, often with far-reaching repercussions for themselves and the people with whom they interact. Adoption rates are high, with young women emerging as the most likely players to adopt social media, following a training course.

In Uganda, local NGOs are using ICTs to support producers, processors and other actors in agricultural value chains. Agronomists from Madagascar are using Web 2.0 and social media to develop knowledge about apiculture. In Central Africa, a farmers’ network institutionalised social media and improved its operational effectiveness. In Samoa, a Facebook and Twitter marketing campaign is producing impressive results for women weavers of ceremonial mats. And in the Caribbean, bloggers and social media reporters are helping other young people to plan a future in farming.

“Many people have told us that the training sessions have not only changed their working behaviour, but their whole lives,” said Giacomo Rambaldi, Senior Programme Coordinator at CTA.

The official launch of the CTA publication will be held on 26 November 2015 during the International Day of Vrije University (VU) in Amsterdam.

The booklet is available for order in print form or for free download from the CTA publications catalogue

Friday, May 29, 2015

CTA programme wins top UN prize for its youth and ICT work

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has been honoured in the prestigious 2015 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Project Prizes. The Centre won the e-agriculture category for its youth and ICT programme – Agriculture, Rural Development and Youth in the Information Society (ARDYIS).  The prize was presented in Geneva, Switzerland, during the WSIS Forum 2015, the biggest international event in the ICT for Development calendar.
CTA’s ARDYIS entry was proclaimed winner of the e-agriculture category at the prize-giving ceremony on May 26, following a round of online voting and a review by a panel of experts.

The prize marks the third time that CTA has won a WSIS award.

In 2013, the Centre’s Web 2.0 and Social Media Learning Opportunities programme was also named winner of the WSIS Project Prizes contest in the e-agriculture category.

Jointly with the FLMMA network in 2007 CTA won the WSIS award in the domain of e-culture for its activities in the domain of Participatory 3D Modelling in Fiji.

Each year, a series of WSIS Project Prizes recognises initiatives that help to further the goals of bridging the global digital divide and ensuring wider distribution of the benefits that can be generated by information and communications technology (ICT). Launched by the United Nations in 2011, the awards span 18 categories and offer a platform to showcase success stories and models that can be easily replicated.

The CTA ARDYIS programme, a group of initiatives aimed at 18 to 35-year-olds living in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, seeks to connect young people with ICTs and promote their use for agricultural development and enterprise. Key activities include the Youth in Agriculture Blog Competition (YoBloCo Awards), which has so far attracted nearly 300 agricultural blogs, and the AgriHack Talent contest, which supports the development of ICTs, mobile apps and entrepreneurship in agriculture.

An important feature of the ARDYIS programme is the wide range of activities it uses to raise awareness among young people of the potential for ICTs in agriculture. These include e-debates, workshops, information dissemination and support in developing agricultural ICT applications and other entrepreneurial initiatives.

“ARDYIS is an incredibly dynamic project which has opened opportunities for ACP youth in agriculture through ICTs, and strengthened their capacities in using these tools,” said CTA Director Michael Hailu. “So far, the project has reached young people in more than 40 ACP countries and it has supported the development of dozens of ICT prototypes, targeting different segments of agricultural value chains.”

Receiving the award on behalf of CTA at the WSIS ceremony was Ken Lohento, Programme Coordinator, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

“We are very proud of this prize,” said Lohento, who is leading the ARDYIS programme. “the prize also belongs to all the youth who have been participating in the ARDYIS network and who support us with their ideas and contributions. We thank all the people who voted for us from many countries around the world and the ARDYIS Advisory Committee for its support. CTA will continue to work hard to encourage and support greater youth engagement in ICTs for agriculture.”

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Building Capacity in using social media for agricultural development in Cook Islands

Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 14 April, 2015 – From 13 to 17 April 2015 the Cook Islands Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) is hosting a Web 2.0 and social media learning opportunity workshop and training. The event held at the MoA’s headquarters in Arorangi, is jointly supported by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), and the European-Union-funded Pacific Agriculture Policy Project (PAPP) (part of the Intra-ACP Agriculture Policy Project). The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is the implementing agency for the European Union funded PAPP project.

Participants in the course posing together
with the Minister of Agriculture, Kiriau Turepu
Participants were drawn from government agencies, including ministries of the environment, agriculture, education and internal affairs, the police and the Seabed Minerals Authority, from the private sector and from civil-society and non-governmental organisations, including the Red Cross, the National Youth Council, national women’s group, and two youth organisations Rotaract, and organics. All were keen to learn how to make best use of online social media tools to generate and share information to achieve both personal development and organisational goals.

The Hon Minister of Agriculture, Kiriau Turepu, delivered the keynote address to more than 25 local participants. He acknowledged the partnership of CTA, SPC and the European Union for offering the opportunity to the Cook Islands to build capacity in information and communication technologies and social media.

“I am particularly pleased for the Ministry of Agriculture to take the lead in promoting social media to generate, manage and disseminate information in this ever-more-connected world we live in. The internet offers tools we can harness for the development of our people. The outer islands may have produce to sell and using the internet they can connect to consumers and markets in Rarotonga. We will be able to share and show new innovative ideas such as growing dragon fruits for example – I can show a friend in Penrhyn steps on growing these fruits using social media.

“As the first of this kind of workshop to be held here in the Cook Islands, we are expecting this group of participants to learn, and make use of the knowledge so that our people are better informed, more articulated in the affairs of development as far as agriculture is concerned.

“Today the speed with which information travels in our work places and the changing technologies that we have at our disposal is extraordinary and important to all of us. Whether it is Facebook, blogging, Twitter, photos you share, these are all extensions of individuals and their personalities. They help portray interests, views and help show people who they are. They offer a platform for you and I to be ourselves, to be creative, to be who we want to be and most importantly, have an audience for all to debate critical innovative ideas that are good and can grow for the future.”

Mr Emil Adams, PPPP Information Communication Management Officer, thanked Permanent Secretary, Dr Matairangi Purea, and MoA Director of Policy, Planning, Mr Patrick Arioka, for the planning and coordination that went into organising the workshop. The good turnout of local participants is testimony of the planning, interest and enthusiasm of stakeholders to release their officers to attend the Web2.0 and social media training.

“Social media tools allow continuous dialogue between groups of individuals to take place on the internet. This online dialogue contributes to a knowledge society where individuals continuously pull information as well contribute content, further enriching knowledge and available to other users. People are empowered when they freely express their opinions on social media, and attain a level of gratification when they get information they want when they want it,” said Mr Adams.

“Accessing the internet allows a farmer in a remote village to directly interact and feedback on government policies affecting rural livelihoods, tweet a photo of a pest outbreak back to researchers for identification and management, or post on Facebook photos of a rural development training.”
Workshop facilitator, Ms Anju Mangal, offered words of warning about the potential of social media, noting that, while it can open up a whole new horizon of possibilities that can improve lives, it can also destroy lives and upset social norms if used wrongly by unscrupulous individuals.

Ms Mangal said that online cyber security is of major concern to individuals and to organisations that want to protect their integrity. Social media policies supported by national infrastructure need to be robust to guide the use of these tools to achieve national goals. Above all, measures are needed to prevent compromising the integrity of government machinery.

In the Cook Islands broadband connection is available to more than 95% of the population, with mobile coverage reaching more than 99% of the population. On Rarotonga only, third-generation (3G) services are available to 11,000 plus mobile connections.

Agriculture currently contributes only 3.8% to GDP, but Mr Arioka expressed his confidence that this can be increased through the use of online tools supported by an enabling policy environment. The Ministry is currently developing a new Strategic Plan to help agriculture services support income streams, food consumption and self sufficiency. Healthy soils, healthy food will underpin the strength of the new Strategic Plan.

CTA, in partnership with SPC, has embarked on a series of regional Web2.0 and social media learning opportunity workshops to strengthen national capacity in the use of social media for agricultural development and climate-change adaptation. National workshops have been completed in Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu. A second national workshop for the Cook Islands is planned for September 2015.

Here is a link to follow for more information on forthcoming training events.

Follow Web2forDev on Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo and join the community on DGroups and LinkedIn


Sunday, April 12, 2015

Discussion list on video production for development cooperation

Vlogging is an essential component of social networking. Are you interested in how to produce videos for educational, ‪‎advocacy‬ or development ‪purposes? Here is the discussion list you should join: https://dgroups.org/cta/video4dev