The Sixteenth facilitation meeting on action line C7 e-agriculture was organized by FAO/ITU/Zhejiang University. The meeting was open to all WSIS stakeholders.
The Fifth facilitation meeting on action line C7 e-business was held jointly with action line C7 e-agriculture was organized by FAO, UNCTAD and ITC.The
meeting was open to all WSIS stakeholders.
Where: ITU Headquarters, Room K, 14h30 - 16h00, Geneva, Switzerland
The e-Agriculture
Community of Practice (the Community) was officially launched as a global
initiative to enhance sustainable agricultural development and food security by
enhancing the use of ICT in the sector. The overall aim of the Community is to
enable members to exchange knowledge related to e-agriculture, and to ensure
that the knowledge created is effectively shared and used worldwide.
Objectives
The
e-Agriculture Community of Practice was launched in partnership with the
e-Agriculture Working Group in 2007. It provides an international framework to
facilitate the processes of capturing, managing, and disseminating the lessons
learned through national and regional activities, as well as the results and
implications of multilateral processes r
elated to the use of ICT in
agriculture and rural development. The e-Agriculture Community also provides the
basis for the international community to monitor development and validation of
conceptual models and methodologies, and to package and disseminate them once
tested. Through its collective activities some additional outputs of the
Community include: the development and strengthening of innovative mechanisms
and processes for information exchange and communication, including normative
guidelines and tools being formulated, tested and disseminated to address the
range of demands and capabilities of different Community members; empowering
networks for exchange of new mechanisms and processes among key stakeholders;
relevant content in digital format being developed, filtered, mobilized and
exchanged by community members; and other activities based on active
partnerships and collaborative lesson-learning.
The
Community and related activities
The
e-Agriculture community has over 6,000 registered individual members. This
membership encompasses development practitioners, policymakers, representatives
of farmer organizations, researchers, and information and communication
specialists involved in agriculture and rural development, from more than 150
countries. The Community activities comprise three components: a web-based
multilingual
[1]
space for knowledge sharing and collaboration on a neutral domain (www.e-agriculture.org);
face-to-face events; and in-country interventions.
Over this past year, e-Agriculture
Community members from around the world participated in activities such as
online forum discussions (virtual meetings), international and regional
meetings, and free online capacity building opportunities (through the IMARK[2]
partnership). Participation from both the private sector and non-UN
organizations was also secured
.
Future
Plans
It is
envisioned that the e-Agriculture Community will grow in 2010 by building upon
the current successful knowledge sharing functions, and developing an
interconnected series of pilot interventions, models of action and means for
assessment, based on inputs from the e-Agriculture Community. Lessons learned
from the national and regional components can be captured and disseminated
through the e-Agriculture Community, and through other major participating
institutions in support of capacity building. In order to facilitate this
effectively, the establishment of a formal Secretariat with some financial
commitments from partner organizations is deemed essential.
[1]
The
Platform is available in English, French and Spanish.
[2]
See
http://www.imarkgroup.org for information.
