Investing in AS & T Information in Africa

Investing in AS & T Investing in AS & T Information in AfricaInformation in Africa

Justin ChisengaJustin ChisengaInformation Management SpecialistInformation Management Specialist

FAO Regional Office for AfricaFAO Regional Office for AfricaAccraAccra

Joint Conference of IAALD, AFITA and WCCAJoint Conference of IAALD, AFITA and WCCA24 - 27 August 200824 - 27 August 2008

Atusgi, JapanAtusgi, Japan

Research into AS & T in Africa

• Research into agricultural sciences and technology, with documented outputs, in Africa mainly dates back to the colonial periods.

• National Agric. Research Organizations: KARI-Kenya, DRD-Tanzania, CSIR – Ghana, ZARI-Zambia, NARO-Uganda, ARC-Sudan, ISRA (Institut sénégalais de recherches agricoles), etc.

Key Challenge

• How to provide access to the vast amount of research outputs available mainly in form of grey literature.

Key Constraints

• Institutional capacities: lack of resources and, appropriate organizational structures, including effective information communication and management strategies and policies.

• Human capacities: lack of awareness of the opportunities presented by modern information and communication technologies, and skills to manage and make visible the outputs of agricultural research.

Major Consequences

• Agricultural research output from Africa is not visible (Missing from the international databases).

• Agricultural research information IS NOT publicly available and more accessible.

Need for Sound Strategies & Policies• Government strategies and policies to promote:

– Investment in infrastructure– Access to public goods, including outputs from

research funded by the government

• Institutional strategies and policies to promote:– Investment in infrastructure– Content creation– Access to outputs of research– Content dissemination and sharing

justin.chisenga@fao.org

THANK YOU