Review of Progress and Prospects

4.2 Capacity building

Participants recognized the need for continuing enhancement of human resource capacities through training.

Opportunities for intervention

1. 
   Institutional support. It was recommended that regional and/or sub/regional fora should become the clearing houses for capacity building initiatives. To facilitate follow-up, it was further proposed that the fora within each (sub-)region map the partners, experiences, resources, and projects to ensure that the key IM/IT players collaborate effectively. It was also agreed that training at all levels should ideally be made in an appropriately supportive institutional context, with adequate screening of trainees, evaluation of the training itself, and follow-up after the training. Examples of regional initiatives discussed during the Consultation were:
   
   • 
     Eastern & Central Africa – in the Regional Agricultural Information Network (RAIN) by Association for Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) with support from FAO, GFAR and Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA);
     
   • 
     Near East & North Africa – in the Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) network, starting with a national pilot in Egypt under the NARIMS initiative;
     
   • 
     Caucasus and Central Asia – in the AgroWEB network with support from FAO and GFAR, with follow-up focusing initially on the central Caucasus sub-region;
     
   • 
     Latin America – through the INFOTEC network of FORAGRO.
     
2. 
   Professional association for information specialists. IAALD regional chapters or separate regional associations strengthened to build networks of information professionals, based on the identification of strategic partners in each region and the support from existing chapters or associations.
   
3. 
   Training targets and formats. Three main stakeholder groups were identified as requiring training, namely: (i) information specialists on methodologies and tools, and (ii) managers and decision-makers on strategic issues, and (iii) researchers and academics on the use of e-resources and on the dissemination of their outputs. In addition, three formats of training in universities and NARS were identified, which could also be coordinated at (sub-)regional level, namely: (i) continuing education through distance learning; (ii) short-term face-to-face courses; and (iii) formal post-graduate courses towards certification.
   
4. 
   Training Resource Materials. Participants highlighted the benefits of two particular capacity building partnerships already in progress where agencies are collaborating at the international level to produce resource materials for distance and face-to-face learning formats. These were the Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK) and ITrain Online. Continuing development of these initiatives was strongly supported, with specific actions identified for 2006:
   
   • 
     Evaluation of the first IMARK module on “Management of electronic documents” (English version) by independent consultants under the coordination of FAO and CTA by June 2006;
     
   • 
     Availability of IMARK modules in other languages, specifically Arabic and Russian;
     
   • 
     Integration of IMARK more explicitly in ITrain Online portal, to be coordinated by FAO, INASP;
     
   • 
     Promotion and use of ITrain Online as a clearing house for e-learning activities.
     

Development of such initiatives was seen as the basis for the sustained development of institutional and individual capacities in key aspects of agricultural information management. This approach depends considerably on the catalytic role of the regional and sub-regional fora, and continuing support from the international agencies offering material and financial resources.