RUFORUM Secretariat Blog

RUFORUM Launches Three New ACP-S&T Projects

2010-02-13T12:14:00.000-08:00

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The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) launched three new ACP-S&T Projects during a 3-day workshop at Entebbe, Uganda on the 10th to the 12th of February 2010.These new projects are part of the many innovative efforts aimed at realizing the RUFORUM dream.

The overall objective of the inception meeting was to design detailed implementation plans for the three projects. Specifically the inception meeting facilitated the following:

Familiarization of partners and other stakeholders on the projects
Design of comprehensive project management procedures including the specific roles of partner institutions
Development of project work plans and detailed budget allocation
Development of comprehensive implementation plans with project milestones,
Design of project M&E frameworks and performance management plans
Identification of synergies between the three projects and other related projects

What is the ACP-S&T Programme?

The ACP Science and Technology Programme is an ACP-EU co-operation programme launched in June 2008 that funds partnership projects through an open Call for Project Proposals. Its overall objective is to support African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in formulating and implementing science and technology (S&T) policies that can lead to sustainable development and to poverty reduction through economic growth and progressive integration in the world economy. It specifically aims at strengthening the internal S&T capacity of ACP countries to support research, development and innovation in the ACP region at three levels:

Institutional, administrative and policy mak¬ing;
Academic research and technology; and
Business and civil society.

The programme promotes interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable development by co-ordination and networking in applied research;, instruments for collaborative research, and management of research activities and reinforcement of research. The programme targets the creation or consolidation of sustainable networks at intra ACP-level with linkages to international networks; increased capacity to assess research needs to facilitate the formulation and implementation of research policies; increased capacity and incentives to research network partners to prepare and submit project proposals to funding agencies, including for example the EC’s ‘Seventh Framework Pro¬gramme for research and technology develop¬ment’ (FP7); research results better capitalized and dis¬seminated; and improved quality of research results.
The Three ACP-S&T Projects at RUFORUM are BIODIVERSITY, INNOVATIONS and OUTREACH

BIODIVERSITY PROJECT
Title: "Building human and institutional capacity for enhancing the conservation and use of neglected and underutilized species of crops in West Africa, and Eastern and Southern Africa".

Overall Objective of the Biodiversity Project

Poverty reduction and greater food and nutritional security in West Africa, and Eastern and Southern Africa through enhanced conservation and use of neglected and underutilized species (NUS).

Specific Objectives of the Biodiversity Project

Establish the state of and needs for human and institutional capacity for research on and marketing of NUS
Strengthen capacities in young scientists to develop and manage research projects on NUS and to publish results
Strengthen capacity in key thematic areas of NUS research
Strengthen dissemination of NUS research results
Inform policy makers on the role and benefits of NUS

Partners in the Biodiversity Project

RUFORUM
ANAFE
University of Nairobi
University of Malawi
Institut de Recherché et de Développment sur la Biodiversité des Plantes Cultivées, Aromatiques et Médicinales (IRDCAM), Benin
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, - Plant Genetic Resources Research Institute, Ghana
Biodiversity International, Rome
International Foundation of Sciences (IFS), Sweden

Please visit the Biodiversity Project Blog

INNOVATIONS PROJECT
Title: "Building the capacity of African University graduates to foster change through agricultural innovation"

Overall Objective of the Innovations Project

Contribute towards poverty reduction in rural areas through strengthening of national and regional capacities to contribute to and facilitate innovation processes for rural development in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Specific Objectives of the Innovations Project

Enhance partnerships for effective networking & institutional change management;
Establish and implement a part-time mid-career professional training course on the facilitation of agricultural innovation processes;
Strengthen innovation capacity of university graduates for IAR4D;
Build cross-disciplinary networks of expertise on the role of agricultural research in facilitating rural innovation; and,
Share lessons learnt on the mid-career professional training course and innovation curricula.

Partners to the Innovations Project

RUFORUM
Egerton University (Kenya),
Makerere University (Uganda)
University of Malawi (Bunda College of Agriculture), Malawi,
Royal Tropical Institute - KIT (Netherlands)

Associate Partners

Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA),
Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA);
Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA)

For more information on the Innovations Project please visit the Project Blog

OUTREACH PROJECT
Title: "Shifting from Outreach to Engagement: transforming Universities response to current development trends in agricultural research and training in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa"

Overall Objective of the Outreach Project

Contribute to sustainable food security and incomes in the ECSA region and accelerate achievement of the MDGs

Specific Objective of the Outreach Project

Facilitate the creation of responsive university programmes (research, education and outreach) that deliver competent graduates to support farmers and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) establish sustainable agro-food value chains

Partners to the Outreach Project

RUFORUM
Moi University, Kenya
Makerere University, Uganda
University of Malawi, Malawi
Wageningen University and Research Centre, Netherlands

Please visit the Outreach Project Blog

Emerging Partnership: to synergize African efforts of digitizing agricultural knowledge & information

2010-02-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

RUFORUM brought together five strategic African partners to discuss opportunities of submitting a proposal in response to challenge 4 of the current FP7 ICT Call. Challenge 4 focuses on Digital Libraries and Digital Preservation. The planning meeting was held on the 8th to the 9th of February 2010 at the Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, Entebbe, Uganda. The following international organisations were represented:

Association of African Universities represented by Dr Pascal Hoba
ASARECA represented by Ms Jacqueline Nyagahima
FARA represented by Ms Jacqueline Nnam
NEPAD E-Africa Commission represented by Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere
WOUGNET represented by Ms Janet Achora
RUFORUM was represented by Professor Ekwamu Adipala, Ms Nodumo Dhlamini and Miss Joan Apio

RUFORUM sees the European Framework Programme Seven as an opportunity to network with European and African partners for the purposes of improving the sharing and management of agricultural information and knowledge. RUFORUM is keen to ensure that her ICT strategy links with the NEPAD agenda and to progress her ICT Mission – “to use emerging technologies and opportunities offered by ICTs to strengthen the capacities of universities to foster innovations responsive to demands of small-holder farmers”. RUFORUM would also like to engage with various development partners to test emerging ICT technologies and their application to the agricultural sector for the benefit of poor communities in an endeavor to improve livelihoods.

The planning meeting was very successful and a workplan has been put in place to ensure that the proposal is completed by the end of March 2010 and submitted.

EURO Africa ICT Meeting 4-5 February 2010, Addis Ababa

2010-02-13T11:01:00.000-08:00

Nodumo Dhlamini, the ICT Programme Manager at RUFORUM attended the 2010 Euro-Africa Cooperation Forum on ICT Research at the UN Conference Centre Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The theme of the conference was "Learning and Reflecting on ICT Collaborative Research and Development - Projecting the Future of ICT Research in Africa". RUFORUM's interest in this meeting was to make contact with European Partners, with a view to collaborating as partners in the submission of a proposal in response to the FP7 ICT Call that was issued on the 24th of November 2009.

The EuroAfriCa-ICT project aims at promoting and supporting the development of S&T cooperation on ICT research between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa and between Europe and the Caribbean. The main activities are:

Organisation of two "Euro-Africa Cooperation Forums on ICT Research": one in Europe (Brussels, Belgium - 2009) and one in Africa (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - in early 2010),
Organisation of five FP7/ICT awareness workshops in Africa and the Caribbean (Benin, Jamaica, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda) supported by a wide promotion of opportunities offered by FP7/ICT,
Organisation of four concertation meetings in Europe supported by the implementation of strong links with national, European and international programmes and initiatives (including European Technology Platforms, ETPs and Joint Technology Initiatives, JTIs),
Support to the development of partnerships and emerging cooperation projects based - among other things - on the implementation and development of a EuroAfriCa-ICT database.

Science and Technology (S&T) and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are now widely recognised as key vectors for bridging the scientific and digital divides, for reducing poverty and ensuring socio-economic development, reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and, eventually, supporting the sustainable evolution towards a peaceful, integrated and prosperous continent, making it a full player of the global community.

Please visit this link to view the proceedings, report, photo gallery, and other conference documents.

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy ...

2010-02-13T10:04:00.000-08:00

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At RUFORUM we do work very hard but take time out to play sometimes. On the 29th of January 2010 the Chief Executive Officer of RUFORUM Professor Ekwamu Adipala (who was on official leave at the time) celebrated his birthday in style. A surprise celebration was planned for him by RUFORUM staff after conniving with his wife and the event happened at Prof Adipala's residence. It took a lot of convincing to get Professor Adipala to put on the yellow party hat! Please enjoy some of the party pictures below:

E-Content Development & Staff Retooling Workshop (11-15 January 2010)

2010-01-22T06:31:00.000-08:00

The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the University of Greenwich (through the Natural Resources Institute - NRI) collaborated to run a five-day training workshop on e-content development and staff re-tooling targeted at Agricultural Information Communication Management (AICM) lecturers/facilitators. Twenty-five participants from Egerton University and the University of Nairobi came together to solidify and learn the following concepts:
1)    E-learning course design;
2)    Moodle course management;
3)    E-tutoring and
4)    Structural infrastructure & cultural change issues.

Dr Simon Walker (Head of Educational Development, University of Greenwich London), Dr Timothy Chancellor (Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich London) and Ms Nodumo Dhlamini (RUFORUM ICT Programme Manager) facilitated during this training workshop

Please click here to download the full report

Day 5: Last Day of the Web 2.0 Training

2009-06-26T03:36:00.001-07:00

26th June 2009

The final day has proved to be interesting. The objectives for the last day are:

After successfully and actively participating in the day’s activities we shall have:

Recapped the work and reviewed Day 4 evaluation posted on the RUFORUM blog.
Finalised the population of the ODL template with at least one unit from our respective modules.
Designed a working e-content peer review process
Reviewed and practiced with web 2.0 tools learnt during the course for e-content development
Designed strategies for completing the modules
Evaluate the workshop through Monkey Survey

Please watch this space for further updates.

The Approach to Peer Review for RUFORUM Supported Regional Postgraduate Programs

2009-06-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

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The afternoon session of day four of the training focused on issues of peer review.

There were two main exercises for the afternoon:

Peer Review of ODL content developed by Participants
Brainstorming session on "The Approach to Peer Review for RUFORUM Supported Regional Postgraduate Programs"

Peer Review of ODL content developed by Participants

An assignment was set up on one of the courses on moodle instructing all the participants to submit their ODL content via the moodle Learning Management System
All the participants submitted their ODL content
The facilitators projected each content submitted for peer review by all the participants

The general comments on the ODL content submitted by the participants were:

Most participants had not put all the content for the completion of one unit/lesson of content
The formatting of the content needed to be attended to for consistency
A few of the participants uploaded the wrong files, thus the low scores
A good number of the content submitted was very promising and with more time and focus, we are confident that it can be finalized

The Approach to Peer Review for RUFORUM Supported Regional Postgraduate Programs

The facilitator gave a background of what peer review was and this included that:

Peer review would subject the modules to the scrutiny of others
Peer review would ensure quality and flow in terms of presentation
Peer review would ensure that compliance to best practice is assured

The participants acknowledged that the challenges to peer review included:

Inadequate time for the review processes
At most times the author could take long to respond to the reaction of the comments
Expertise in terms of reviewers is limited.
How do we motivate reviewers?
The choice of reviewers is key and fundamental
The subjectivity of the review process must be taken into consideration
How ready is the content for peer review?

Brainstorming Session: Peer Review Process and Operationalization in relation to RUFORUM Postgraduate Programmes

The participants were grouped into four groups of five members and asked to deliberate on the following issues:

What aspects of our modules should be peer reviewed?
Who could be the possible reviewers?
Suggest a possible process for the review of the modules
Define the roles of the following: RUFORUM; Authors; Program Coordinators;Other Institutional arrangements

Evaluation of Day Four: All the participants were asked to visit the RUFORUM blog and post their evaluations in the comments section. The focus areas of evaluation for day four were: Time Management ; Participation; Hotel and Accomodation; Facilitation; ODL and the peer review; Internet Connectivity

Day 4: Web 2.0 Training

2009-06-24T22:52:00.000-07:00

25th June 2009

The previous day began with a recap of the previous day. The main focus of the activities was on the moodle learning management system. The objectives of this activity were:

Create Moodle Accounts
Explore the moodle environment
Create courses on moodle
Peer Review what we have posted
Posting ODL content in a central repository

Objectives 4 and 5 remained outstanding and will be covered during day 4.

The evaluation was carried out differently. Eight participants were selected to pretend that they were donors evaluating the following project proposals:

Objectives of the Moodle Session
Internet
Facilitation
Moodle
Time management
Participation
Open Distance Learning
Hotel and Accommodation

Objective being evaluated	Comments	Donor Decision
Objectives of the Moodle Session	Objective not well covered especially the Peer review was not handled. Good will on the part of the facilitators.	Refer back the objectives
Internet	Internet connectivity has been Excellent for the day	Proposal approved funds given
Facilitation	Morning session catered for those that had not finished their assignments Afternoon session was slow because people were not on the same level. A brief on what the expectation of moodle would have been put into consideration. Step by step outline of steps to follow could have been very helpful.	Half of the funds will be released for the proposed project
Moodle	Improve the Moodle presentation	The Idea is good and deserves to be given a chance.
Time management	Lunch Breaks get in the way because participants are still doing their work. Files have been lost due to the Server problems of saving the participants work.	Funding approved
Participation	Full Participation of members	Bonus funds approved by the donor
Open Distance Learning	It needs more time and illustrations for the participants to understand the concept.	Need for review before approval
Hotel and Accommodation	Power problem was solved but a number of participants didn’t have power outlets so starting late. No complaint on Food, Water supply was Okay,	There is a marked improvement. Donor is happy
Evaluation Methodology	Happy with the evaluation	Very impressed and donor wants to replicate

Day 3: Web 2.0 Training

2009-06-23T23:08:00.001-07:00

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24th June 2009

The training is progressing well. We have just received a recap of yesterday's rich activities by Dr Flavia Kabeere. Dr George Matiya from Bunda College gave us a feedback on the additional evening session that was arranged for the Malawian team yesterday evening. This additional session was handled by Dr Washington Ochola.

Please see below the evaluation of the first two days by the Web 2.0 Participants.

Day One Evaluation By Participants

Day Two Evaluation By Participants

Day 2: Web 2.0 Training

2009-06-23T03:00:00.000-07:00

Updates:

The five Malawian participants joined us this morning after the challenges of flights that they faced on Sunday.
Please visit the Facebook Group that has been created for this web 2.0 training
The objectives for Day 2 are:

After successfully and actively participating in the days activities, we shall be able to:

Review own understanding of Web 2.0 Tools covered hitherto
Apply pedagogical principles in designing modules for e-content development;
Describe the key principles of open education resources;
Prepare course module materials for e-content development;
Populate the ODL template with course materials; and
Evaluate the day’s achievement

You are invited to explore the blogs that have been created by the Web 2.0 Participants:

Dr Florence Birungi Kyazze from Makerere University in Uganda
Dr Joseph Wafula Matofari from Egerton University in Kenya
Dr Jason Munyiri Githeko from Egerton University in Kenya
Dr Justus Moturi Ombati from Egerton University in Kenya
Dr Charles Karuku Gachuiri from the University of Nairobi in Kenya
Dr Richard Ombui Nyankanga from the University of Nairobi in Kenya
Dr Martin Sailesi Gulule from Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi
Dr Jeremiah Kang'ombe from Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi
Dr Jeremy Surforce Likongwe from Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi
Dr George Grant Matiya from Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi
Dr Daud Kassam from Bunda College of Agriculture in Malawi
Dr Flavia Kabeere from Makerere University in Uganda
Dr Geoffrey Tusiime from Makerere University in Uganda
Miss Joan Apio from the RUFORUM ICT Department
Dr Benson H. Chishala from the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia
Dr Kalaluka Munyinda from the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia
Dr Mick Sikaenyi Mwala from the University of Zambia in Lusaka, Zambia
Dr Zwenhamo Albert Chiteka from Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe
Miss Fortunate Sibanda from Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe
Dr Bernard Njehia from Egerton University in Kenya

Web 2.0 Training for Electronic Content Development for RUFORUM Supported Regional Postgraduate Programmes

2009-06-22T06:05:00.000-07:00

CTA (Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) has once again funded RUFORUM to run a second web 2.0 training that will focus on the development of e-content for RUFORUM Supported Regional Postgraduate Programmes.

The training began today at the Imperial Botanical Beach Hotel in Entebbe Uganda. A total of twenty participants converged from Eastern and Southern Africa. They represent the following RUFORUM Universities:

Africa University in Mutare, Zimbabwe
Bunda College of Agriculture, Malawi
Egerton University in Njoro, Kenya
Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda
University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
University of Zambia

The workshop is facilitated by the following:

Dr Washington Ochola, Lead Facilitator
Ms Nodumo Dhlamini, Resource Person
Mr Nicholas Kimolo, Resource Person
Dr Joseph Oonyu, Pedagogical Issues

The workshop was officially opened by Dr Wellington N. Ekaya, the RUFORUM Training and Quality Assurance Manager, on behalf of Professor Adipala Ekwamu the RUFORUM Regional Coordinator. He began by thanking CTA, RUFORUM and the participants for working hard to make sure that this training took place. He also apologized for the postponement of the course that had resulted in other participants being unable to attend. He reiterated that all the participants were a key success factor for RUFORUM's capacity building strategy. He emphasized that the participants were at the center of that capacity building.

Dr Ekaya went on to say: "Web 2.0 training is stategic in that it aims to fulfill RUFORUM's objective of capacity building, by helping to bring the world to the RUFORUM supported courses. It is critical that the world accesses the RUFORUM Regional Programmes. The format of the programmes is also important to ensure their accessibility. Accessibility also means that the quality would improve through peer review. As RUFORUM it is important that we have strong networks and partnerships. This Web 2.0 Training is not a one off event but it is part of a larger agenda. Each participant as a champion from their institution must be clear about what is it that they can contribute to the vision. The participants must remember that they are attending this course for a purpose and that RUFORUM counts on each participant's individual commitment and that of their institution's".

The training is promising to be very interactive, informative and productive in terms of delivery of e-content for the RUFORUM Regional Programmes.

CTA Welcome Addresss

Please see the CTA speech for the opening ceremony that has been sent by Dr Rodger Obubo, who was unable to be with us during the official opening ceremony. We thank CTA through Dr Obubo for the support towards the funding of this training.

Welcome Address on behalf of the Director of CTA at the opening of the CTA/RUFORUM Training Course on Web 2.0 tools for Research Collaboration and Networking organized at Entebbe, Uganda, 22 – 26 June 2009

The Minister of Agriculture,
The Coordinator of RUFORUM
Distinguished Invited Guests and Resource Persons
Course Participants,
Ladies & Gentlemen

CTA (the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation) was established within the framework of a co-operation agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (known collectively as the ACP states) and the European Union. This agreement referred to as the Lomé Convention, was put in place in order to improve the management of agricultural information in ACP countries. In June 2000, the ACP and EU States agreed on a new framework known as the Cotonou Agreement as the new basis for continued ACP-EU co-operation. CTA shares the stage with many other institutions in being called upon to support the ACP States. In response, it has defined its niche – those areas in which it has some comparative advantage and in which it can make a special contribution. The Centre acts as a broker between organisations and professionals in ACP and EU States. It seeks to establish fora for promoting dialogue and the exchange of information between organisations and professionals in ACP States in order to enhance their technical capacity and skills in information and communication management for agricultural development.

Based on its new mandate, CTA has two operational objectives. Firstly, it aims to improve the availability of, and access to, relevant, adequate, accurate, timely and well-adapted information on priority information topics for ACP agricultural and rural development. Secondly, it seeks to improve the communication management capacity of ACP agricultural and rural development organizations. Information and communication management training programmes are a key component of these operational objectives.

The general objective of this course is to equip academic staff in universities with the requisite tools to conduct collaborative content development in a variety of scenarios with the explicit aim of improving educational content creation, teaching, learning and research efficiency. The difference between this course and last year’s pilot workshop is that there will be more time allocated to actual e-content development. An additional resource person has been engaged to provide guidance on the necessary skills on pedagogy for effective e-content development.

It is our sincere hope that this training workshop will produce concrete results in the form of materials developed for collegiate use among members of RUFORUM universities. Capacity in the use of web 2.0 tools for the creation of electronic content for use in teaching of regional postgraduate programmes will be greatly enhanced.

You will be working in disciplinary clusters across universities to develop content in the priority areas identified. Through such collaboration, institutional partnerships will be strengthened so that viable networks will be created for sustained collaboration in RUFORUM universities. Such networks will serve as the hub to promote the development of open educational resources in the area of agricultural training and research.

The work that will be accomplished this week is only the beginning as the final product will only come through hard work and dedication in the coming weeks and months to meet our ultimate target. The challenge to all of us is to create the type and quality of materials that we desire to have in our universities. When this is done, a common platform will be provided for sharing these resources across all RUFORUM universities.

CTA wishes to thank RUFORUM, for the warm spirit of collaboration manifested in the organisation of this course. We wish to thank the RUFORUM Coordinator Professor Adipala for his close involvement in events leading to the implementation of this course. In RUFORUM, CTA has found a partner in the East and Southern African region on whom we can count for such joint activities. It is our desire that this spirit lives on so that we can achieve even more through the years.

CTA also wishes to thank particularly, the resource persons, course director Dr. Washington Ocholla, Ms Nodumo Dhlamini and Nicholas Kimolo for once more making themselves available to share their experiences and to guide the participants towards the achievement of the workshop objectives.

We warmly welcome our friends who have come from other countries in the region. Coming from various backgrounds, we believe that you possess a rich variety of experiences which we implore you to share generously with each other, to make this course a big success.

We wish you all a happy stay in Entebbe and hope that the experience gained will be of lasting benefit to your professional careers and to the development of capacities in producing top quality teaching materials in your various institutions.
Thank you.

Rodger Obubo
Training Programmes Coordinator
CTA

OBJECTIVES FOR DAY ONE

After successfully and actively participating in the days activities, we shall be able to:

Identify with and describe all participants
Outline and articulate the workshop and day’s objectives and outputs
Reflect on and prepare for commitments for e-content development during and after the meeting
Describe the emerging Web 2.0 Tools and use some of them to create accounts and design simple e-content
Apply pedagogical principles in designing modules for e-content development
Evaluate the day’s achievement

RUFORUM BMGF Inception Meeting takes off

2009-06-03T03:04:00.001-07:00

The much awaited inception meeting for the RUFORUM, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funded project has taken off at the beautiful Ranch on The Lake Hotel just outside Kampala in Uganda. A total number of 52 participants have converged here to participate in this important process.

The meeting began on the 2nd of June 2009 and it will end on the 4th of June 2009. The 5th of June 2009 will be for the RUFORUM Technical Committee meeting. The agenda of the meeting can be downloaded here .

There are three paralell sessions running as below:

ICT Working Group
Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group
Competitive Grants System Working Group

In addition a side meeting has been planned for the Quality Assurance Project funded under the EDULINK Project.

Please keep checking for further updates.

Consultative Workshop in Turin

2009-05-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

Consultative Workshop - May 26 - 27, 2009: International Training Centre of the ILO Turin, Italy

This Consultative Workshop was held at the International Training Centre of the ILO Turin in Italy. Nodumo Dhlamini, Dr Fred Mugivane (University of Nairobi) and Dr Isaya M. Masinde (Egerton University) attended representing the RUFORUM network.

The objective of the workshop was to: "Define an e-learning curriculum to support knowledge sharing for Development"

It was organized by:

EuropeAid Training and Knowledge Management Unit, European Commission
The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

In collaboration with:

The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU
The Swiss Association for International Cooperation (Helvetas)

The RUFORUM Participants' attendance was facilitated by CTA. Thank you to CTA!

Highlights of the Meeting

Stories were used to highlight the challenges faced by organizations working in the development field when it comes to knowledge sharing. We were then grouped according to the following focus areas for purposes of defining the activities that are carried out by those “people”: Program Officers; Knowledge Managers/Sharers; Communications People and Senior Managers. We then agreed on the target audience for the Knowledge Sharing module. We also reviewed and identified gaps in the following: activities that these roles focus on, the knowledge they need to carry out their activities and resources that are already available in terms of content. We also brainstormed on likely resource persons to help with the writing of the e-learning module for Knowledge Sharing.

Even though the focus was on Program Officers; Knowledge Managers/Sharers; Communications People and Senior Managers – the content once developed will be relevant to our knowledge management courses within the MSc AICM curricula. These courses are: Agricultural Knowledge Management; Advanced Topics in Knowledge Management and Knowledge Management Systems. Our MSc curriculum can be enriched through the use of the content resources that will come out of this Knowledge Sharing e-learning module.

The existing iMark e-learning modules need to be reviewed closely – they can add value to the various courses that are taught within the RUFORUM network

It was important to note once again that FAO will take 12 months to develop the quality Knowledge Sharing e-learning module. There can be no short cuts to this process: (i)Defining the Curriculum; (ii)Content Development (including peer review); (iii)Storyboard Development (content is pedagogically restructured by instructional designers- actual e-learning lessons developed, peer review and translation, additional face to face materials developed); (iv)Course Content Production and Delivery (uploading on LMS, production of CD-ROMs, etc)

For additional information please leave a comment with your email address and I will get back to you. Alternatively please email: secretariat@ruforum.org

Please follow the links below to view some of the pictures

Submitted by Roxanna Samii
Submitted by Gauri Salokhe
Submitted by Teinen Sophie
Submitted by Jaqueline Nnam

The Women in Science and Young Professionals Competitions

2009-05-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

The CTA/ATPS/AGRA/FARA/NEPAD/RUFORUM 2008 science competitions sought to identify, recognize and reward the hard work and excellence of young professionals and women scientists who re engaged in innovative and pioneering research and communicating the outputs (knowledge, echnologies, approaches) to improve agricultural productivity and the livelihoods of rural ommunities. The finals were held at Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa Ethiopia from the 20th to the 21st of April 2009. The awards were presented during the 4th Conference of Ministers of Agriculture, Land and Livestock on the 23rd of April, 2009 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Please click here to read the communique to the Ministers of Agriculture, Land and Livestock.

WOMEN IN SCIENCE CATEGORY

PROFESSOR ABUKUTSA MARY O. ONYANGO – from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agricultural Technology in Kenya scooped the first prize in the Women in Science category. Her paper was on "the development and promotion of technologies for sustainable production and utilization of indigenous vegetables for nutrition security and wealth creation in Kenya". Please clik to download her abstract and you can also dow nload her CV here.

Dr ANDREA ROTHER – from the University of Cape Town in South Africa came second in the Women in Science category. Her paper was on "Pesticide risk reduction strategies for vulnerable Africa populations through regulatory capacity building and gender appropriate risk communication strategies". Please down load t he abstract of her paper and also download her CV here.

Dr BRIDGITTE NYAMBO – from ICIPE in Kenya came third in the Women in Science category. He paper focused on "Enhancing food safety and market access for small holder export vegetable producers in East Africa". Please download the abstract of her paper and her CV here.

Dr JOLLY KABIRIZI – from NARO in Uganda came fourth in the competitions and her paper was on "Participatory testing of forage legume innovations with women farmers in Masaka district, Uganda: Impact on fodder availability, animal performance and household". You can download the abstract of her paper and her CV from here.

Dr ABAY FETIEN – from Mekelle University in Ethiopia came fifth in the Women in Science competitions. Her paper was on "Farmer breeder partnership in barley varietal selection: A case for decentralised plant breeding in drought-prone areas of Northern Ethiopia". Please download the abstract of her paper and her CV here.

SPECIAL AWARDS IN THE WOMEN IN SCIENCE CATEGORY

The special award for GROUND BREAKING SCIENCE was won by Dr ASTER GEBREKIRSTOS from Ethiopia. Her paper was on "Climate Change in Africa, based on tree rings and stable isotope results, with implication for climatic teleconnections". Please download the abstract of Dr Gebrekirstos' paper here. Her CV will be uploaded soon.

The special award for INNOVATIVE AND PIONEERING RESEARCH was won by PROFESSOR AMEENAH GURIB-FAKIM from Mauritius. She also received recognition for OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE AND ROLE MODEL FOR AFRICAN WOMEN SCIENTISTS. Her paper was on "Chemistry and traditional medicines: Traditional medicine and its impact on livelihoods". Please download the abstract of her paper from here. Her CV will be uploaded soon.

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YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN SCIENCE CATEGORY

(Please click on the image below to enlarge it)

SCARDA as an action research project

2009-05-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

Adipala Ekwamu of the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) compares the SCARDA project to an action research project. Several ways of dealing with change inside the agricultural research departments all over the continent need to me explored, documented and compared. He commends the evaluation of DfID but an evaluator can not be an expert in everything. The importance of documenting change processes can not be underestimated. It is not a once in a while activity but needs to be tracked on a day to day basis.

Click here to access the video and full article from the FARA blog

NSF2 Stakeholder Consultation at FARA, ACCRA, GHANA

2009-05-13T01:25:00.000-07:00

Nodumo Dhlamini is attending the NSF2 Stakeholder Consultation at the FARA Secretariat in Accra from 11th till 14th of May. The aim of the NSF 2 Stakeholder consultation taking place at the FARA Secretariat is to refine the present NSF2 outcome mapping tables and to enhance understanding and use of the Outcome Mapping approach to planning, monitoring and evaluation, which will shape the overall NSF2 strategy and hence ensure the effective implementation of RAILS and DONATA. Please click here to read more

Upcoming Events

2009-05-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

The RUFORUM Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Inception Planning Meeting is scheduled to take place at the Ranch on the Lake in Uganda from the 2nd to the 6th of June 2009. The objectives of this inception planning meeting are to:

To plan overall strategies for ICT implementation in the RUFORUM network
Develop a strengthened M&E system to facilitate determination, on an on-going basis of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of RUFORUM activities in meeting its overall programme objectives
Develop guidelines, including programme foci, and plan for implementation of an improved RUFORUM Competitive Grant System.

The RUFORUM Technical Commitee meeting will take place from the 4th to the 5th June 2009 and the focus will be to develop guidelines of an improved Competitive Grants System.