APARIS Technical Workshop on Development and De-centralized Management of ARD Information Resources

and

APARIS Steering Committee Meeting

19-20 April 2008, Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Final Proceedings

Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS)Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI)

39 Maliwan Mansion, Phra Atit Road, Bangkok, Thailand

May 2008

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19 April 2008 (Saturday)

Inaugural Session

Chairperson: Dr. Raghunath Ghodake, NARICo-Chairperson: Dr. Simon Hearn, ACIAR

Dr. Raj Paroda, Executive Secretary, APAARI welcomed the participants and thanked all member NARS for their active participation in regional activities organized by APAARI. He appreciated the contributions made by National Information Nodal Points (NINPs) in strengthening APARIS activities through their country status reports on ICT/ICM in agricultural research and updated mailing lists of their respective NARS. He extended a special welcome to the members of the re-constituted APARIS Steering Committee as several of them attended the workshop inauguration.

Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR explained that the main objective of the current workshop was to apply a de-centralized networking approach at regional level through APARIS and its linkages with the National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS) of the Asia-Pacific using newly available tools/applications/frameworks such as RSS feeds, AgriFeed, and CIARD. He informed the participants about the on-going efforts by GFAR, FAO, CGIAR, Regional Forums, and other international agencies with regard to the establishment of a Global Web Ring of ARD Information Resources available at national, regional and international levels. He also emphasized the critical role of NAIS in this web ring as most of the knowledge is created at a research institute level.

Dr. Simon Hearn, ACIAR remarked that Australia's contribution to Agricultural Research for Development (ARD) is increasing as there is a greater realization of the fact that economic development cannot take place without agriculture sector's involvement. Greater adoption of R&D by farmers through various partnerships is possible if improved communication leads to cooperation among the development stakeholders. There is also a need to see how small-holders can benefit from ARD. APARIS has a role to play in this by capacity building of NARS to better serve the information needs of small-holders.

Dr. Mark Holderness, GFAR in his special remarks observed that there is growing evidence that information science is influencing farmers more than the agricultural science. He commended APARIS for timely organization of the workshop on de-centralization of ARD information resources as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are able to break traditional communication barriers for greater access to scientific research.

Dr. R. Ghodake, APAARI Chairman in his inauguration address differentiated between information and knowledge. He stressed the need for quality information as policy formulation and decision-making depend on it, and observed that NARS are producing huge amount of information, which needs to be better managed using de-centralization approach. In this regard, the role of National Information Nodal Points (NINPs) becomes even more important for establishing global network of ARD Information resources.

Dr. Sahdev Singh, APARIS Coordinator delivered the vote of thanks to all the speakers of the Inaugural Session as well to all participants of the workshop for their continued collaboration. He appreciated the presence of the representatives of ACIAR, GFAR and FAO in the workshop, indicating their firm commitment to support APARIS activities both technically as well as financially for greater impact at the NARS level.

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National Briefs: Status and Strategies for Strengthing of NAIS (10 minutes each by NINP)

Chairperson: Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR Co-Chairperson: Mr. Michael Riggs, FAO-RAP

Ms. Melissa Resma, BAR-MISD, BAR and Ms. Luz Firmalino, PCARRD, Philippines presented the current activities of their NARS on use of video-conferencing, e-Learning, and R&D management using new ICTs. In an island dominated geography such as Philippines, networking of de-centralized National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS) is critically important in agricultural research management and extension.

Mr Mahinda Sakalasooriya, Research Officer of the Council of Agricultural Research Policy (CARP), Sri Lanka presented the various ICT initiatives of Sri Lankan NARS under the e-Sri Lanka policy promoted by the government. These initiatives also include greater use of ICTs in agricultural research management, cyber extension, SMS-based question/answer service and multimedia production for rural population.

Mr. Isiwat Bandrapiwat, Senior Scientist, Information Technology Center, DoA, Thailand gave a brief overview of Thai Government's long-term ICT policy, also called IT2010, to realize an all-round societal development by knowledge empowerment of population, including farmers, which make up almost 60% of the total population. In this regard, DoA has established Thai language web site on Good Agricultural Practices and on-line agricultural library services. ICT policy implementation and system networking were identified as emerging issues.

Dr. T.P. Trivedi, Project Director, DIPA, DARE/ICAR, India informed the participants about the activities of Directorate of Information and Publications of Agriculture (DIPA), a unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Besides print publications for agricultural extension, DIPA has undertaken several ICT initiatives, including extension through video-conferencing, AGROWEB-Digital Dissemination System for Indian Agricultural research (ADDSIAR), ande-Publishing and Knowledge System in Agricultural Research. Being a large NARS, the de-centralization of knowledge resources is considered important in bridging the gap between researchers and farmers.

Mr. Zulkifli Ismail, MARDI, Malaysia discussed the ICT policies of the goverment and demonstrated 10 independent information systems being used for agricultural information dissemination in Malaysia. Efforts are being made to properly network these different systems and issues related to information ownership, standardization and coordination were identifed as critical.

Mr. Bhola Man Singh Basnet, Chief of Communication, Publication & Documentation Division (CPDD), Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) made a presentation on CPDD's publication activities and also covered the ICT policy development in Nepal. It was appreciated by all that the last year's Magsaysay Community Leadership Award was conferred upon Mr. Mahabir Pun, a Nepalese, in recognition of his innovative application of wireless computer technology in Nepal, bringing progress to remote mountain areas by connecting his village to the global village. Mr. Basnet stressed the idea that all research projects should have a communication component so that the outcome is disseminated to the potential beneficiaries.

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Mr. Seniorl Anzu, Information and Communications Officer, NARI, Papua New Guinea (PNG) gave an overview of ICT policy and its implementation for strengthening PNG NAIS. He apprecited the earlier training workshops organized by APARIS, which helped develop human capacity for PNG NAIS development. PNG NAIS has made significant progress in digitizing research documents, establishing rural information centers, and multimedia production and dissemination using a variety of media such as Internet, Radio, TV and Mobile Phones, considering the difficult geography of PNG.

Dr Syed Ghazanfar Abbas, Principal Scientific Officer / Technical Staff Officer to Chairman PARC, Pakistan explained the PARC Website (www.parc.gov.pk) – the largest on agricultural research in Pakistan. It maintains 500+ pages and has been accessed by 125,000+ visitors since its inception in the year 2000. Indigenously-developed databases on agricultural research, medicinal plants, social sciences, and list of journals and research articles are available on-line. PARC Agro Forum with 350+ members and an Urdu Section have also been established on the website. The PARC NAIS also makes use of call-centers for farmers, TV programs on agricultural commodities, and print publications for extension activities.

Mr. Md. Waliul Hasnat, IT Manager, SAARC Agriculture Center (SAC), Bangladesh outlined the Center's activities on knowledge management and networking through SAARC Agrinet (wwww.saarcagri.net) and on-line library. The Center also maintains several agriculture-related databases (e.g., Scientists and Institutions Directory); CD-ROM databases; publishes Technical documents; Bulletins; Regular publications like Journal, Newsletter, etc. The centre also organizes workshops/seminars and other capacity building activities on Agricultural Research for Development in SAARC countries.

General Discussion on Country Briefs

Several issues emerged in the general discussion that followed the country briefs presented by the NINPs. The important ones are as follows:

Many members recognized the lack of IT expertise as a major bottleneck in NAIS development. NAIS managers and programmers having only ICT background were lured into private sector due to better wages. This creates a high turn around in the NARS units dealing with knowledge digitization and dissemination. In this regard, the human capacity building activities of APARIS were well appreciated as they train agricultural research managers in ICTs to build and maintain NAIS.

Advocacy for better ICM policy formulation and implementation in NARS was needed so that NAIS can be developed to their full potential for linking researchers with farmers. Sensitization of senior leaders and policy makers was considered crucial to realize positive impact of NAIS at farming community level.

Technical Session I: Conceptual Framework for De-centralization of Global and Regional ARD Information Resources (Lead Presentation and General Discussion)

Chairperson: Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR Moderators: Dr. Ajit Maru and Dr. Sahdev Singh

Dr. Ajit Maru, Agricultural Research Officer, GFAR-FAO, Italy delivered a comprehensive presentation on The Global ARD Web Ring, including its rationale, architecture and modes of

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participation. The Global ARD Web Ring is defined as a “voluntary coalition of web spaces that share information related to agricultural research and innovation for development.”

The Web Ring will be a network of high quality, integrated information services that meet the needs of the agricultural research and development community and which enables this community to share information, knowledge, skills and technology for agricultural development. The information services will be free and publicly available, thus constituting Global Public Goods that can be leveraged by any organization, person or information service. He elaborated the roles of national, regional and global systems, and available tools/applications/frameworks for participation in the Web Ring such as RSS feeds, AgriOrg, and CIARD.

The Web Ring encompasses several areas such as Scientific and Technical Information (STI), Research (Institutes, Experts, and Outputs) and Research Data Management, Agricultural Extension and Learning. Through a group exercise, the NINPs identified the progress of these NAIS components in their respective NARS. The outcome of this exercise, the revised status of NAIS of participating countries is shown in Appendix 2.

The revised status compares well with the previous such exercise conducted by APARIS in 2003-04, indicating a significant progress made by all NAIS in the last 4 years. It was concluded that most NARS of the region now have at least a functioning web site of their NAIS that can participate in the Global ARD Web Ring. It was also observed that the NARS needs in terms of ICT/ICM have now shifted from infrastructure to human capacity building to operationalize NAIS.

The NINPs raised the standardization of research/extension information and the intellectual property rights (IPR) issues in the Global ARD Web Ring. On the other hand, it was argued that the outputs of public-funded agricultural research should have greater accessibility in public domain. CIARD (Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development) framework needed more consultation at the NARS level to address these issues. It was also suggested that such information initiatives should focus more on small-holders.

Technical Session II: Conceptual Framework for Linking National ARD Information Resources to Global and Regional Systems (Lead Presentation and General Discussion)

Chairperson: Luz Firmalino, PCARRD Moderator: Dr. Sahdev Singh

Dr. Sahdev Singh, APARIS Coordinator, APAARI, Thailand presented an overview of phased development of APARIS since its inception in the year 2000. The Coordinator presented in brief the phased development process of APARIS since its inception in the year 2000. The four development phases included: (a) Need Assessment and Initial Web Site Establishment, (b) Regional Status Report publication and Development of Interactive Knowledge-Sharing Web Site, (c) Capacity Development in NARS and Success Stories publication for Advocacy, and (d) De-centralization of APARIS for better networking with national agricultural information systems of the region.

APARIS activities on advocacy, capacity building and multi-media information dissemination were also demonstrated. It was emphasized that APARIS strives to become a regional gateway to the national agricultural information resources available in the region so that there is minimum duplication of information development and a single window can serve the information needs of various stakeholders such as policy makers, researchers, educationists,

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students, extension agents, farmers and agribusinesses. The major challenges faced by APARIS included a lack of formal commitment by member NARS for contribution in APARIS development, and inadequate and irregular funding, which sometimes resulted in an ad-hoc approach in its planning and activities. A long-term common vision with some core activities was needed.

In the discussion that followed the lead presentation, it was suggested that more success stories on ICT need to be identified in the region and shared among all stakeholders. This may lead to less duplication, more collaborations and sensitization of NARS leadership on ICT issues as well.

Regional knowledge sharing systems such as APARIS can be helpful in dealing with cross-boundary livestock/aquaculture disease containment and crop failures due to pests through a well maintained directory of agricultural experts of the region.

It was also suggested that regional sharing of indigenous technical knowledge on common agricultural crops can also be promoted through APARIS.

Technical Session III: New Paradigms of Knowledge Management/Innovations in ARD; Readiness of NARS and other Institutions in terms of Policy & Capacity (Lead Presentation and General Discussion)

Chairperson: Dr. Syed Ghazanfar Abbas, PARC Moderators: Mr. Michael Riggs and Dr. Sahdev Singh

Mr. Michael Riggs, Senior Information Specialist, FAO-RAP, Bangkok, Thailand explained the recently launched CIARD (Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development) initiative by FAO, GFAR, CGIAR, IAALD, CIRAD, DFID, CABI, CTA, and MEA, France. Recognizing the needs of knowledge-intensive agriculture, CIARD aims to enhance the use of public agricultural research information by all actors and to make key public organizations more responsible for their information services in agriculture. The potential worldwide impact of agricultural research for development and rural innovation systems can only be achieved if research outputs are properly documented and shared as widely as possible. They must be truly accessible if they are to have an impact. CIARD facilitates an international community of practice in agricultural science and technology information that collaboratively develops common standards, shares knowledge, and contributes to effective and coherent institutional approaches. It harnesses the support of regional/international systems to enable local/national innovation systems and services. CIARD aims to follow a three point strategic approach: to make research information easier to access, for current and future generations through open systems, agreed upon standards, and the sharing of good practices; to help people learn how to manage and use research information to best effect by supporting capacity development; and to push for more and better information systems through advocating appropriate investment.

Participants inquired as to how NARS and APAARI could engage with this initiative. It was clarified that collaboration with CIARD is voluntary and that the participation at both the regional and national levels is welcomed. The NARS are encouraged to consider not only their own benefit from becoming involved in CIARD, but also to consider how APAARI should engage in CIARD in order to provide the Asia-Pacific regional linkage to the national level and to the global and inter-regional efforts.

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20 April 2008 (Sunday)

Technical Session IV: Workshop on NAIS Development and Management as part of a Global Knowledge Network on ARD: APARIS & GFAR Tools and their demonstration (Lead Presentation); Draft Work Plan Development at NAIS Level

Moderators: Dr. Ajit Maru and Dr. Sahdev Singh

Dr. Ajit Maru demonstrated the AgriOrg, SIST and the Global ARD Web Ring applications as implemented at EGFAR web site and also presented their technical details. It was emphasized that technical implementation of such applications is quite simple and does not require any special programming skills. He explained the meta-data registry of institutes, experts and research projects maintained under the AgriOrg. The multi-host search engine SIST was also demonstrated. APARIS was cited as an example where RSS Feeds have already been incorporated in the APAARI web site (www.apaari.org) for its de-centralized updating.

Dr. Sahdev Singh, APARIS Coordinator, APAARI, Thailand and Mr. Agus S. Prajogo, IT Consultant, APAARI, Thailand demonstrated the application of APARIS and other available tools for de-centralized management of APARIS, namely, Regional Agricultural Expert Locator (RAEL), ARD Information Gateway, and RSS Feeds on APAARI website. Currently NINPs serve as links between APARIS and the member NARS for sharing information of general nature. This new initiative, RAEL, is aimed at creating multiple input points (within a NARS) for APARIS. RAEL maintains a meta-database of agricultural experts and their profiles. The database will be populated by interested experts themselves and information available from NINPs. The RAEL function has three main modules: (i) Expert-Profile Module: The profile of each expert is maintained in this module, which has restricted access and only registered experts are able to manipulate their respective profile records; (ii) Research-Data Module: This module maintains a database of the past and present research/consulting projects, publications, presentations and professional activities of the experts; and (iii) Search Module: This is accessible to all users and it provide results using both the above modules.

The APARIS Gateway function, consisting of a search module, acts as a multi-host search engine to locate ARD information resources on the Internet within the APAARI member institutions. The gateway function has a search module where a user can enter keyword(s) and get the search results based on it. During the search process, the gateway performs following actions: connecting to the APAARI member institution’s servers; searching the requested keyword in each web file; retrieving the information from the selected file(s); saving the meta-data information in an internal database of the function to reduce the search time in future, and displaying the search results in a standard XML format to the user.

GFAR promoted RSS Feeds have recently been activated on recently re-designed APAARI Web Site to avoid duplication of information updating. RSS Feeds have become quite popular and NINPs were urged to use this simple tool to enhance the visibility and updating of NAIS and their linkages with APARIS and global systems, particularly with the AgriOrg, SIST and Global ARD Web Ring frameworks. The new APAARI web site has some user-friendly features which allow its updating from any location with a simple Internet browser. The user-names and passwords for this have been issued to all APAARI staff and can be made available to all NINPs also on the basis of a formal agreement with the NARS.

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NAIS Development Workshop

Following the lead demonstrations, a NAIS Development Session was conducted. In the first part of the session, each NINP identified development issues with regard to his/her NAIS and constraints for de-centralization of NAIS and their participation in regional and global web rings of ARD information resources.

All the identified issues were listed and ranked by number of participants proposing them. The table on the next page shows the outcome of this exercise. Based on this ranking, the top three issues (marked in red) included Standardization of Content, Coordination of Information Resources, and Sustainability of Information Systems. It again emerged from this prioritization exercise that the needs of NARS are now gradually shifting from basic ICT infrastructure to capacity building for technical issues as content management, standardization, and coordination of scattered information resources. As institutes become more IT-enabled, the documentation of research and its dissemination is being carried out at individual institute level through their own web sites and multi-media publications. This raises the de-centralization issue even at NARS level as they need to network their own institutes under a national web ring of ARD.

Issue/Constraint Rank Discussed by1. Investment, including 3 points

• Human Capacity• Funding

2. Standardization, including 7 points Group 1• Content• Complexity of Information management

3. Coordination 4 points Group 24. Policy at Institute level 1 point5. Top Management involvement 1 point6. Infrastructure 1 point7. IPR Issues 2 points8. Sustainability 7 points Group 39. Security 1 point10. Rewards and Incentives 2 points

It was agreed that all these issues were important irrespective of the ranking. However, resource constraints dictate that priority issues get tackled first. In the second part of the workshop, participants were divided into 3 groups to propose solutions or approaches to address the top three emerging issues. The outcome of this exercise was as follows:

Group 1: Standardization of ARD Information

It was proposed that at institute or NAIS level there should be a consistent standard for research reporting. Basic content management templates for agricultural research information production/dissemination should be developed and they should be simple and user-friendly. This may require additional human resources and/or capacity building for content management at NAIS level. In this regard, APARIS and GFAR can further assist NARS by organizing suitable trainings, conferences and workshop for both awareness on emerging global standards and capacity building for them at NAIS level.

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Group 2: Improving the Coordination of ARD Information Resources

The group suggested that there is need to strengthen the NINPs through a formal agreement between their respective NARS and APAARI. This issue has been discussed with NARS leaders and Senior Mangers in APARIS organized sensitization workshop at PCARRD, Philippines in August 2007. In this respect, it was agreed that APARIS should continue its advocacy efforts for greater sensitization of NARS leaders and senior managers. The ToR of APARIS NINPs should be communicated to NARS again and followed up.

Group 3: Sustainability of ARD Information Systems

It was recognized that most NAIS are currently ad-hoc initiatives and therefore have weak institutional basis in their respective NARS. Using a partnership approach, APARIS should assist NARS in developing a long term vision for participation in global and regional knowledge sharing systems and a NAIS building/up-gradation strategy. Sustainability of ARD Information Systems could also be improved by revenue generation from information products such as e-Books, CD-ROMS, TV programs, etc on relevant knowledge-intensive content.

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Plenary Session

Chairperson: Dr. Simon Hearn, Chairman, APARISCo-Chairperson: Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR

The plenary session was attended by all NINPs and several APARIS Steering Committee members. The Chairs of four technical sessions made brief presentations to synthesize the workshop deliberations. The major recommendations that emerged from the plenary session are as follows:

(1) Agreed upon standards are a pre-requisite for efficient sharing of STI and research information among all stakeholders. In this regard, APARIS, GFAR and FAO (including IMARK) can further assist NARS with the organization of suitable trainings, conferences and workshop to building capacity in emerging global standards and STI management at the NAIS level.

(2) The use new tools/frameworks such as Global Web Ring, AgriOrg, SIST, RAEL, ARDGateway, RSS Feeds, and AgriFeeds should be integrated at NAIS and APARIS levels to improve knowledge sharing under a decentralized network of ARD Information Resources. CIARD as a global advocacy agenda for stronger national public information systems in agriculture could be a source of support for these initiatives.

(3) There is need to strengthen the NINPs through a formal agreement between their respective NARS and APAARI. This issue has been discussed with NARS leaders and Senior Mangers in various forums and again recently during APARIS organized sensitization workshop at PCARRD, Philippines in August 2007. In this respect, it was agreed that APARIS should continue its advocacy efforts for greater sensitization of NARS leaders and senior managers. The ToR of APARIS NINPs should be communicated to NARS again and followed up.

(4) It was recognized that most NAIS are currently ad-hoc initiatives and therefore have weak institutional basis in their respective NARS. Using a partnership approach, APARIS should assist NARS in developing a long term vision for participation in global and regional knowledge sharing systems and a NAIS building/up-gradation strategy. APARIS should come up with a regional and national research communication strategy paper, more success stories, and updated regional status reports.

(5) A Persistent theme emerging in various ARD forums is the issue of knowledge documentation and its dissemination to small-scale farmers through a variety of ARD Information Systems. APARIS needs to also focus on advocacy for ICT-enabled extension systems and sensitization of senior policy makers, research managers, and NARS leaders as their commitment is crucial to the success of ARD Information Systems at national, regional and global levels. The CIARD framework of making public information truly accessible is aligned with the issue of knowledge documentation and dissemination.

(6) APARIS and NAIS should promote the use of all ICTs, including Radio, TV, mobile phones, CD-ROMS, Internet, call-centers, and print-publications as diverse agricultural extension situations require matching technologies. As ICTs converge on mobile phones, it should be considered a potential extension tool.

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Chairperson and Co-Chairperson in their concluding remarks thanked all participants for

their time and inputs in the workshop deliberations and suggested a timely follow up of important recommendations to further strengthen knowledge sharing at regional level through APARIS. The technical workshop was concluded by an overall vote of thanks by Dr. Raj Paroda, APAARI Executive Secretary. He appreciated all the support provided by GFAR, ACIAR, FAO, AIT, member NARS/NINPs, and reaffirmed APAARI commitment to strengthen APARIS using a partnership approach. The excellent logistics provided by APAARI Secretariat staff Mr. P. K. Saha and Ms. Urairat Rujirek were also recognized and appreciated.

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Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS)

as taken by

Dr. Sahdev Singh, APARIS Coordinator

Date and Time: 20 April 2008, 15:30-17:30 HRS

Venue: Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Present:

Dr. Simon Hearn, ACIAR (Chairman, APARIS Steering Committee)Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR (Co-Chair, APARIS Steering Committee)Dr. Raghunath Ghodake, NARI, Papua New Guinea (Pacific Representative)Dr. Nanda Pd Shrestha, NARC, Nepal (South Asia Representative)Ms. Luz Firmalino, PCARRD, Philippines (Southeast Asia Representative)Dr. Malcolm Hazelman, FAO, Regional Office for Asia-PacificDr. Sahdev Singh (APARIS Coordinator)

Apologies: Dr. Patricio Faylon, PCARRD (Southeast Asia Representative) sent his representative

Agenda:

1. Opening Remarks2. Coordinator's Report on the Status and Progress of APARIS3. Finalization of APARIS Workplan 20084. General Discussion on APARIS Future Strategy5. Drafting of Recommendations for APAARI Executive Committee6. Venue and Date for the next Steering Committee Meeting7. Concluding Remarks by Chair and Co-Chair

Minutes:

(1) Opening Remarks: The Steering Committee Chairman welcomed the members and appreciated the size and composition of the re-constituted APARIS Steering Committee. He consulted with the members about the proposed agenda and confirmed the quorum and agenda adoption. The Co-Chairman in his opening remarks also welcomed the members and stated that the regional information systems such as APARIS initiative should be viewed as interventions to enhance information and communication management (ICM) in national agricultural research for development rather than simple web sites of regional forums. The Chair then invited APARIS Coordinator to report the status and progress of APARIS.

(2) Coordinator's Report on the Status and Progress of APARIS: The Coordinator presented in brief the phased development process of APARIS since its inception in the year 2000. The four development phases included: (a) Need Assessment and Initial Web Site Establishment, (b) Regional Status Report publication and Development of Interactive Knowledge-Sharing Web Site, (c) Capacity Development in NARS and Success Stories publication for Advocacy, and (d) De-centralization of APARIS for better networking with national agricultural information systems of the region. APARIS activities on advocacy, capacity building and multi-media information dissemination were demonstrated. It was emphasized that APARIS strives to

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become a regional gateway to the national agricultural information resources available in the region so that there is minimum duplication of information development and a single window can serve the information needs of various stakeholders such as policy makers, researchers, educationists, students, extension agents, farmers and agribusinesses. The major challenges faced by APARIS included a lack of commitment by member NARS, and inadequate and irregular funding, which resulted in an ad-hoc approach in its planing and activities. The Chair and the members appreciated the progress made so far considering the resource constraints.

(3) Finalization of APARIS Workplan 2008: The proposed APARIS Workplan for 2008 was discussed and following on-going activities were finalized for consideration of APAARI management:

1. De-centralized updating of APARIS with new tools (example: RSS feeds, AgriOrg, SIST, etc.)

2. Regional Agricultural Expert Locator (RAEL) and Regional Agricultural Information Gateway (RAIG) demonstration to NARS and their implementation at NAIS level

3. Technical Workshop for NINPs in April 2008 and follow-up of its recommendations4. APARIS Steering Committee Meeting, April 2008 and follow-up of its

recommendations5. Update of Institute Directory (1100+ Institutes from Asia-Pacific) through NINPs6. Publication of new Status Report on ICT/ICM in ARD for Asia-Pacific Region7. Publication of new Success Stories on ICT/ICM in ARD8. Development of a new APAARI Communication Strategy Paper9. New Collaborations (DfID, SAIC, ILRI, SEARCA) for greater visibility to APARIS10. IT Support to APAARI Secretariat and APAARI publications

(4) General Discussion on APARIS Future Strategy: The Chair invited comments from the members on future strategy of APARIS and following points were raised:

(a) The involvement of NARS leaders, senior managers and policy makers is critical in improving ICM at national level to have greater impact of agricultural research. Increased efforts are needed to sensitize the leadership regarding the urgency of research communication to extension services and farmers. It is widely observed that the traditional extension mechanisms of NARS need to be revitalized using available information and communication technologies (ICT) such as Internet, call-centers, TV programs, radio, and mobile phones. NARS commitment for APARIS through National Information Nodal Points (NINPs) needs further institutionalization so that APARIS functions as a network of national information resources.

(b) NARS priorities in the area of ICT/ICM need to be carefully identified and addressed by APAARI through proper allocation of human and financial resources for specific APARIS activities for greater impact. In this regard, resourcing strategies could include some re-organization of available resources and more external funding. An MDG-oriented proposal on APARIS could be developed in consultation with NINPs and submitted to potential donors. The proposal should leverage the APARIS partnerships with NARS, GFAR, ACIAR, FAO, CGIAR, AIT and other APAARI constituents.

(c) APAARI should adopt three-pronged approach to make APARIS more effective, namely NARS leadership sensitization by APAARI management and the new APARIS Steering Committee, development and delivery of advocacy and capacity building programs by APARIS Coordinator and networking of information resources using new IT applications by a technical staff/consultant.

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(d) In the Asia-Pacific region, ICT/ICM needs of most NARS are gradually shifting from hardware infrastructure to human capacity building for standardization and better coordination of information resources and their sustainability. (e) Utilizing past experience, APARIS should identify its impact-oriented core activities and focus on them. External expertise in developing a long-term APARIS program should be considered. How APARIS can be used as a knowledge-sharing mechanism for other APAARI activities such as APCoAB, thematic Regional Research Networks, and NGO association should be explored further.

(f) Re-naming of APARIS should be considered as the current name gives a technology-centric identity. However, it should be adequately debated among all stakeholders.

(5) Drafting of Recommendations for APAARI Executive Committee: Based on the above discussions and points raised, the members identified following as important recommendations for the APAARI management:

(a) In the Asia-Pacific region, ICT/ICM needs of most NARS are gradually shifting from hardware infrastructure to human capacity building for content standardization and better coordination of scattered information resources and their networking for sustainability. Therefore, emerging NARS priorities should be addressed by APAARI through proper allocation of human and financial resources for APARIS activities for greater impact at NARS level. APAARIS should be given a clear direction on its priorities and core activities within the available budget to avoid an ad hoc approach which occurs at times and is difficult to manage.

(b) APAARI should adopt three-pronged approach to make APARIS even more effective, namely NARS leadership sensitization by APAARI Executive Committee, APAARIS Steering Committee and management to achieve improved involvement, development and delivery of advocacy and capacity building programs by APARIS Coordinator and networking of information resources using new IT applications by a technical staff/consultant. Considering APARIS themes of advocacy, capacity building, and networking of information national information resources, differentiation of APARIS from APAARI web site is necessary. (c) Re-naming of APARIS should be considered as the current name gives a technology-centric identity. However, it should be adequately debated among all stakeholders and is not an immediate priority.

(6) Venue and Date of next Steering Committee Meeting: The members agreed that the next meeting could take place in Japan just prior to the APAARI General Assembly in October 2008.

(7) Concluding Remarks: The Chairman and the Co-Chairman thanked all the members for their positive contributions in the discussions and smooth deliberations. The meeting was adjourned at 17:30 HRS.

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Appendix 1: Workshop Program and List of Participants

Technical Workshop on Development and De-centralized Management of ARD Information Resources

and APARIS Steering Committee Meeting19-20 April 2008, Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand

Final Program

19 April 2008 (Saturday) 8:30-9:00 Registration9:00-9:50 Inaugural Session

Chairperson : Dr. Raghunath Ghodake, NARICo-Chairperson : Dr. Simon Hearn, ACIAR

Welcome RemarksDr. Raj Paroda, Executive Secretary, APAARI

Objectives of the WorkshopDr. Ajit Maru, GFAR

Special RemarksDr. Simon Hearn, ACIAR and Dr. Mark Holderness, GFAR

Chairman’s Address Dr. R. Ghodake, Chairman, APAARI

Vote of Thanks Dr. Sahdev Singh, Coordinator, APARIS

09:50-10:20 Group Photograph and Coffee Break

10:20-12:00 National Briefs: Status and Strategies for Strengthening of NAIS Chairperson : Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR Co-Chairperson : Mr. Michael Riggs, FAO-RAP

BAR and PCARRD, PhilippinesCARP, Sri LankaDoA, ThailandICAR, IndiaMARDI, MalaysiaNARC, NepalNARI, PNGPARC, PakistanSAC, Bangladesh

15

12:00-12:30 General Discussion on Presentations

12:30-13:30 Technical Session I: Conceptual Framework for De-centralization ofGlobal and Regional ARD Information Resources (Lead Presentationand General Discussion) Moderators: Dr. Ajit Maru and Dr. Sahdev Singh

13:30-14:30 Lunch

14:30-15:30 Technical Session II: Conceptual Framework for Linking NationalARD Information Resources to Global and Regional Systems (LeadPresentation and General Discussion) Moderators: Senior NINP and Dr. Sahdev Singh

15:30-16:00 Tea/Coffee Break

16:30-17:30 Technical Session III: New Paradigms of KnowledgeManagement/Innovations in ARD; Readiness of NARSand other Institutions in terms of Policy & Capacity (LeadPresentation and General Discussion) Moderators: Mr. Michael Riggs and Dr. Sahdev Singh

18:30 Reception Dinner hosted by APAARI

20 April 2008 (Sunday) 09:00-13:00 Technical Session IV: Workshop on NAIS Development and

Management as part of a Global Knowledge Network on ARD:APARIS & GFAR Tools and their demonstration (LeadPresentation); Draft Work Plan Development at NAIS Level Moderators: Dr. Sahdev Singh and Senior NINP

13:00-14:30 Lunch

14:30-15:30 Plenary SessionChairperson : Dr. Simon Hearn, Chairman, APARISCo-Chairperson: Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR

Synthesis of Sessions – Session Chairs/Co-Chairs

General Recommendations – Dr. Sahdev Singh

Concluding Remarks – Chairperson and Co-Chairperson

15:30-17:30 APARIS Steering Committee Meeting (For Members Only)Chairperson: Dr. Simon Hearn, Chairman, APARISCo-Chairperson: Dr. Ajit Maru, GFAR

Status and Progress of APARIS - Dr. Sahdev SinghFinalization of APARIS Workplan 2008General Discussion on APARIS Future StrategyDrafting of Recommendations for APAARI Executive CommitteeVenue and Date for the next Steering Committee MeetingConcluding Remarks by Chair and Co-Chair

16

List of Participants

8. Dr. Simon Hearn, Senior Adviser, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), Australia (e-mail: hearn@aciar.gov.au)

9. Ms. Melissa Resma, BAR-MISD, BAR, Philippines (e-mail: mresma@bar.gov.ph)

10. Mr Mahinda Sakalasooriya, Research Officer of the Council of Agricultural Research Policy Sri Lanka (e mail: mahindass@gmail.com)

11. Mr. Waliul Hasnat, IT Manager of the SAARC Agriculture Center, Bangladesh (e-mail: waliulbd@yahoo.com)

12. Mr. Isiwat Bandrapiwat, Senior Scientist, Information Technology Center, DoA, Thailand (e-mail: isiwat@gmail.com )

13. Dr. Malcolm Hazelman Senior Extension, Education and Communication Officer, FAO-RAP, Bangkok, Thailand (e-mail: malcolm.hazelman@fao.org)

14. Mr. Michael Riggs, Senior Information Specialist, FAO-RAP, Bangkok, Thailand (e-mail: michael.riggs@fao.org)

15. Dr. Ajit Maru, Agricultural Research Officer, GFAR-FAO, Italy (e-mail: ajit.maru@fao.org)

16. Dr. T.P. Trivedi, Project Director, DIPA, DARE, India (e-mail: usic1.icar@nic.in )

17. Mr. Zulkifli Ismail, MARDI, Malaysia (e-mail: zi@mardi.my)

18. Mr. Bhola Man Singh Basnet, Chief of Communication, Publication & Documentation Division,Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) (e-mail: basnetbms@yahoo.com )

19. Dr. Raghunath Ghodake, DG, NARI, Papua New Guinea (e-mail: raghunath.ghodake@nari.org.pg)

20. Mr. Seniorl Anzu, Information and Communications Officer, NARI, Papua New Guinea (e-mail: seniorl.anzu@nari.org.pg)

21. Dr Syed Ghazanfar Abbas, Principal Scientific Officer / Technical Staff Officer to ChairmanPARC, Pakistan (e-mail: guzniabbas@gmail.com)

22. Ms. Luz Firmalino, PCARRD, Philippines (e-mail: l.firmalino@pcarrd.dost.gov.ph)

23. Dr. Raj Paroda, Executive Secretary, APAARI, Thailand (e-mail: raj.paroda@cgiar.org)

24. Mr. P.K. Saha, APAARI Liaison Officer, APAARI, Thailand (e-mail: pksaha@apaari.org)

25. Dr. Sahdev Singh, APARIS Coordinator, APAARI, Thailand (e-mail: aparis@apaari.org)

26. Mr. Agus S. Prajogo, IT Consultant, APAARI, Thailand (e-mail: aparis@apaari.org)

27. Ms. Urairat Rujirek, APAARI, Thailand (e-mail: rujirek@apaari.org)

17

Country

STI Open Archive

Initiatives

RMI On-line Experts Database On-line

Project&Research Database, incl. Output (if any)

Extension System

Q&A On-line Q&A

database

Bangladesh

(abstract only)

(www.SAARCa

gri.net)

(www.SAARCa

gri.net)

↑(emerging)

Pakistan

(abstract only)

(on-line access)

PNG

(abstract only)

↑ ↑ ↑(small agencies

go on-line)

(on-line form)

Nepal

(on-line journal -

some)

(have intention

to join)

↑

Malaysia

(some are full text)

(at institute

level)

(at institute

level)

(at institute level)

(generic Q&A)

India

(abstract only)

(call center)

Thailand

(abstract; e-books;

mostly in Thai)

(web-board)

Sri Lanka

(abstract; isolated in some agencies)

(data not updated

properly)

(data not updated

properly)

(data not updated

properly)

(data not updated

properly)

(no validation)

Philippines

(abstract only, due

to IPR)

↑(emerging)

(PCARRD network)

APPENDIX 2: Revised Status of the NAIS Development in Selected Asia-Pacific NARS.