Seychelles participation in the 5th African Agricultural Science Week & FARA GA in Ouagadougou Burkina Faso 19-25 July 2010

The share fair on networking tools was a gathering of diverse and experienced individuals and actors who were eager to share with the participants of the 5thAfrican agriculture science week their own experiences and lessons learnt in the co-creation and co-learning concepts to build strong knowledge networks. The session was facilitated by the taskforce of RAILS and DONATA, two regional projects of FARA aimed at enhancing access to knowledge.

It was through a SADC ICART Regional workshop in May 2009 that Seychelles was exposed to the existing networking tools  and the concept of a ‘Learning Team’ as had been implemented in Madagascar, in the context of another project of the FANR Directorate (RAILS Project), as a way of other SADC Member States benefiting from the lessons of a project that currently involved only 6 countries in the SADC region. Seychelles used the knowledge gained during the workshop, to work towards the drafting of the Agricultural Information Communication Knowledge Management strategy, using the online discussion group.

Seychelles presented a paper on the Coordination and Use of online collaboration tools by a National ‘Learning Team’ on ARD Information Management, during the Share Fair on Networking Tools side event.

Seychelles Learning team members attended AICKM workshop in Pretoria South Africa 30th August- 3rd September

Seychelles Learning Team members, participated in a follow-up Regional Workshop on Agriculutral Information, Communication and Knowledge Managemnet (AICKM) Strategy Development and Meeting of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Network of Agricultural R & D Information managers. The meeting was held at St. George Hotel, Pretoria, from 30th August to 3rd September 2010.

The main aim of  the meeting was to enable a workshop to be carried out to share experience gained in implementing four national workshops on AICKM Strategy development at national level, and to start the process of developing a regional AICKM strategy using the same method. At the same time, issues that have come up during electronic discussions among the SADC Network of AR&D Information Managers was to be addressed with the collaboration of two facilitators from the CTA and FAO, as International Collaborating Partners of the SADC region and the Network. The Network will thus be in a position to discuss and formulate broad guidelines for the implementation of AR&D information management systems and tools for use by Member States and regional organisations. Seychelles  was among the 4 coutnries which presented their country experience on developing the AICKM strategy since it was the first country to hold the National Workshop, which was followed by Zambia, Swaziland and Mauritius.

Seychelles participation at the ICART Scientific Symposium in Pretoria South Africa 6th-10th September, 2010

A six members delegation from Seychelles is attending a Scientific Symposium organised by the Implementation & Coordination of Agricultural Research & Training(ICART) project of the Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (FANR) of the SADC from the 06‐11 September 2010 in Pretoria South Africa. The ICART project is closing on 31st December 2010, consequently, as a dissemination strategy, the Scientific Symposium is to share the outputs and outcomes achieved, and one session of the Symposium was devoted to the activities in Information, Communication and Knowledge Management in Agricultural Research & Development. Mrs. Sandra Sinon  from Seychelles who is also a  member of the SADC Network of ARD Information managers made a presentation on the Establishment and Facilitation of a National Team’ on Agricultural Research & Development Information Management.