NEPAD Agency Week, November 2010, Johannesburg

Daily Update CTA/NEPAD Agency Week, 22-26 November 2010, Johannesburg Closing the Knowledge Gap: Integrated Water Management for Sustainable Agricultu...
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Daily Update CTA/NEPAD Agency Week, 22-26 November 2010, Johannesburg Closing the Knowledge Gap: Integrated Water Management for Sustainable Agriculture

A gala night of prizes Photo Contest on people, water and ICTs The results were as follows: WINNERS: Technology and Water – Darlington Kahilu (Zambia) – Grand Prize Winner Environment and Water – Agnes Joignereaux (Madagascar) People and Water – Rocco Rorandelli (Italy) CTA Director, Michael Hailu, hands over the certificate to grand prize winner, Darlington Kahilu he first of the two set of prizes carded for the night went to the winners of the CTA “Peoples’ Choice Photo Contest on People, Water and ICTs”. e criteria used to judge the approximately 400 entries received were: originality, creativity and fit

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with CTA mission and values. e three category winners were awarded their prizes of Canon DSLR cameras and a certificate of achievement. e overall winner, chosen from among the three finalists was then announced. l

Information on all the contest winners will soon be available on the seminar website at: http://annualseminar2010.cta.int.

DAILY UPDATE, COMBINED ISSUE

Days 3 & 4 24 - 25 november 2010

ARDYIS Essay Contest Winners

Winners of the Essay Contest. Grand prize winner Tyrone Christopher Hall is second from right er two gruelling days of presentation, the judges, faced with the unenviable task of coming up with six winners from 12 excellent finalists, presented their conclusions. e head of the Panel of Judges, assisted by the Programme Coordinator responsible for ARDYIS, announced the results. Each regional winner received € 1000 and other rewards. e overall winner received an additional € 500. All winners, including a dozen of other best entrants, will attend an advance training and exchange workshop on web 2.0 for development in 2011. Best entries will be published by CTA. All participants will be maintained in a network. Best participants may be involved in other CTA and partner activities in the future. More information on the ARDYIS project: http://ardyis.cta.int/ l

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Central Africa Gabriel Dacko Goudjo (Cameroon) East Africa There was a tie : Chris Mwangi Ngige (Kenya) Maureen Agena (Uganda) Southern Africa Gerald Musakaruka Mangena (Zimbabwe) West Africa Itodo Samuel Anthony (Nigeria) Caribbean Tyrone Christopher Hall (Jamaica) (Overall winner) Pacific Riten Gosai Chand (Fiji)

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DAILY UPDATE, COMBINED ISSUE

Days 3 & 4 24 - 25 november 2010

CAADP, a driving force for change in Africa (CAADP) goals. He reinforced the importance of the ARDYIS programme in light of the fact that 2/3 of the population in Africa is under 25 and that if we wished to develop the continent, we would need to focus on the youth. l

Check out the seminar website at http://annualseminar2010.cta.int for all the seminar updates

Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO, NEPAD Agency n a week where the emphasis was placed on change and action, the presentation by Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, CEO of Nepad Agency was extremely relevant.

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Dr Mayaki, in his Opening remarks at the Awards Ceremony traced the rationale behind the creation of the new organ and explained its fit with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme

Journey to the marketplace

he aernoon sessions on Wednesday took a break from the ordinary. Mma Tsepo Khumbane, a former profes-

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sional social worker, current farmer and activist, dispelled any ideas of post-lunch snoozing in her energetic address, saying ‘My role is to

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pump power into everyone’. And that she did; resting heavily on her walker, she paced from le to right and urged participants to act. Regarding development, she asked the question, ‘development for who?’, proposing that people do not forget who the ultimate beneficiaries were really supposed to be. Speaking of the environment, she suggested that there was no need for a red carpet, but rather a green one, that looked more at the environmental impact of activities. And she referred to her system of ‘mind mobilisation’ which she defined as helping people to ‘push stress from their brains, relax and be themselves’ and a ‘process of liberalization of an individual’. Following that energetic opener, the plenary broke up into four groups again for the market place which saw the groups moving from point to point to discuss ICM strategies for addressing emerging knowledge gaps within the groups and to provide feedback on each group’s discussions. l

DAILY UPDATE, COMBINED ISSUE

Days 3 & 4 24 - 25 november 2010

Case studies on Knowledge Support Systems

Dr Bruce Lankford, East-Anglia University, UK

Mrs Oumy Ndiaye during her presentation on Wednesday ttention shied mid-morning on Wednesday 24th, the third day of the Seminar, to Knowledge Support Systems, with several different organizations sharing their experiences of how they use information and KSS to inform policy and investment decisions as well as increasing their usage.

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Dr Bruce Lankford, University of East Anglia, UK in his opening presentation suggested, in order to achieve current and expected demands, a switch to a different dynamic where scientists could act as transformative agents and water users and local engineers could assume different roles was required. Presenting the the Regional Strategic Analysis and Knowledge Support System (ReSAKSS) Dr Pius Chilonda, head, IWMI, Southern Africa, marking progress against CAADP’s 6% goal (2008) as well as countries progress against the 10% Maputo target, spoke about the ele-

ments of the website, its support to the CAADP objectives and its value of IWM. She ended with a quick look at CTA’s upcoming 2011-2015 as a decision-support tool. Strategic Plan (SP), adding that the Oumy Ndiaye, head of the Commu- discussions from the seminar would nication Services Department, CTA inform the upcoming SP outlined CTA’s experience in ICM and Knowledge sharing for integra- e session ended with a wellted water management, showing in thought out presentation Professor general the importance of informa- Bancy Mati, Resource Plan, Nairobi, tion and communication in the ove- Kenya, that shared examples of exisrall CTA programme and specific ting knowledge and tools.l programmes or activities in support Editorial team Editor-in-chief Michael Hailu Editorial Supervision Karen Hackshaw Souleymane Ouattara Contributors Sophie F. Ouattara Judith Francis Design : Jade Productions/SO

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This report is produced by: Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (ACP-EU) The newsletter is available on CTA : www.cta.int For more information, visit the seminar website : http://annualseminar2010.cta.int

DAILY UPDATE, COMBINED ISSUE

Days 3 & 4 24 - 25 november 2010

Science and Technology Meeting n the third day, AC members focused their deliberations on the issues surrounding the convergence of indigenous and scientific knowledge for the sustainable use of biodiversity and the future of agricultural and rural development. It was noted that most of the past advances made in food and agriculture, was built on indigenous plants and animal that were subsequently domesticated and which now are the major commodities that are consumed and traded.

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Women are the primary custodians of traditional knowledge, and this was clearly demonstrated by the case that was presented on community based coastal aquatic resources management in Ghana. Technologically advanced commercial methods of exploiting natural resources have contributed to the decline of fisheries and other biological resources. New and innovative methods which build on traditional practices and engage multiple perspectives, women and youth, have to be considered for sustainably managing the natural resource base. e success of such initiatives was reflected in the presentation on Science, Arts, Local Knowledge and Youth by the representative of Mundus Marie Science. With appropriate research, “wild” animals (indigenous neo-tropical breeds) of today can be domesticated and be the main sources of meat and incomes in the future. A strong plea for research funding for developing indigenous breeds was made by UWI lecturer, Dr. Gary Garcia. However, a value chain approach should be used to address the research to commercialization and in-

come generation continuum. Research efforts should not only focus on advancing the pool of scientific knowledge, but on improving productivity of indigenous genetic resources. e need to respect and value traditional practices and ensure the holders of indigenous knowledge benefit from opportunities created through science, were emphasized. e AC further noted that returns from investments in research and development require a considerable gestation period, sometimes 20 – 100 years, before meaningful impact is felt and tangible results are obtained. is must be communicated to

policy and decision makers by the scientific community working in consultation with key stakeholders. e ACP research, science, technology and innovation agenda must address both current and future needs, and this is important if agriculture is to meet the future needs of the growing human population. South-south and north -south collaboration is important to keep pace with current advances in science. ere is also a need to strengthen south-south partnerships for sharing genetic resources and exchanging knowledge, experience and lessons learned. Indigenous and scientific knowledge must converge for the future of the ACP region. l

Seeing is believing… e proof of the pudding is in the eating, so ursday’s field trip to Cullinan went to the farm of Mma Tsepo Khumbane to see some of the innovative technologies.

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DAILY UPDATE, COMBINED ISSUE

Days 3 & 4 24 - 25 november 2010

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DAILY UPDATE, COMBINED ISSUE

Days 3 & 4 24 - 25 november 2010