Final Report

A WORD OF THANKS

List of Abbreviations

1. Introduction and Background

2. Objectives of the Workshop

3. Participants

4. The Recommendations from the Workshop

4.1. Network
4.2. Contents
4.3. Training
4.4. North-South and South-South Cooperation
4.5. National Structures
4.6. Partnerships
4.7. Mobilization of Funds
4.8. Others: Recommendations Aimed at FAO

5. The Collaboration Proposals and the Projects to Be Developed

A WORD OF THANKS

The Workshop organizers would like to express their thanks to all those persons who generously gave of their time, their energy and their resources in order to contribute to its success:

• The FAO representatives in the following countries: Ghana, Ethiopia, Benin, Uganda, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Madagascar and South Africa, who provided very valuable logistical and administrative support during the Workshop's organizational phase.
  
  
• The Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA), the Ford Foundation and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) for their valuable financial support, which supported many of the Workshop participants.
  
  
• The members of the FAO Task Force (SDRE/GIIM).
  
  
• The FAO technical divisions (ESAF, SDRN, AGSI, AGSM, GILF, GILD and ESCG) who presented papers during the course of the Workshop.
  
  
• The Chairpersons and Secretaries of the Workshop's plenary sessions and working groups.
  
  
• The SDRE Workshop Secretariat (Sandra Tardioli and Evelyne Kestenbaum).
  
  
• The US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
  
  
• The translators and interpreters.

Special gratitude goes to Mr. Jacques-Paul Eckebil, Assistant Director-General of the FAO Sustainable Development Department, and Ms. Carleen Gardner, Assistant Director-General of the FAO General Affairs and Information Department, who kindly accepted to chair respectively the opening and closing ceremonies.

A special thank you also to Ambassador George McGovern, United States Ambassador to the United Nations Missions in Rome, who was kind enough to provide a reception at his residence. His address to the Workshop participants on food security and the role of communication, in particular radio, was very relevant and inspiring.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ICTs	Information and Communication Technologies
ACMAD	African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development
AIF	Intergovernmental Agency of French-Speaking Countries
AMARC	World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters
ARDA	African Radio Drama Association
CCD	Centre of Communication for Development
CGIAR	Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
CIERRO	Inter-African Centre for Rural Radio Studies of Ouagadougou
CTA	Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development
DCFN	Developing Countries Farm Radio Network
FAMW	Federation of African Media Women
FAO	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
IDRC	International Development Research Centre
IFAD	International Fund for Agricultural Development
IMS	Institute for Media and Society
IPAO	Panos Institute for West Africa
IPS	Inter Press Service
ISNAR	International Service for National Agricultural Research
JADE	African Journalists for Development Network
NCRF	National Community Radio Forum
SACRIN	South African Community Radio Information Network
SADC-CCD	Southern African Development Community- Centre of Communication for Development
URTEL	Union of Radio and Television Broadcasting of Mali
URTNA	Union of Radio and Television Broadcasting of Africa
USDA	U.S. Department of Agriculture
WAICENT	World Agricultural Information Centre (FAO)

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

The International Workshop on Farm Radio Broadcasting¹, titled "Information and Communication Technologies Servicing Rural Radio: New Contents, New Partnerships", was held from 19 to 22 February, 2001, at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy.

The Workshop, prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), was attended by more than fifty North-American, African and European participants, all of whom are experts in the area of farm or rural radio broadcasting. The sharing of experiences that resulted helped to reinforce North-South and South-South collaboration.

The Context

More than two billion men and women live in the rural areas of the developing countries. For all of these people, radio is still the most popular, the most economic and the most accessible means of communication. Radio's mission and the services it offers are many and varied: communicating on vital subjects such as agriculture and public health, educating people about new practices, allowing the actors in rural development to express themselves in their local languages, building social consciousness and mobilizing and accelerating change.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, a very active partner of rural community and association radio networks for more than thirty years, chose through the Workshop to dedicate a special meeting to this extraordinary communication tool, while at the same time opening new perspectives on its use for development.

The initiative for the Workshop was originally the idea of Mr. Gus Schumacher, former U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture, and of Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director General of the FAO. The two leaders conceived of a meeting between "two worlds" that are apparently different - American farm radio specialists on the one hand, and African rural radio professionals on the other - but who share a common passion and expertise. The idea was that by sharing their ideas and experiences, these professionals would be able to work together in favor of agricultural production and rural development.

As regards perspectives and new approaches, communication for development cannot ignore the new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Most people are aware of the success that has been achieved by rural radio in Africa. However, we cannot remain silent with regard to the seriousness of the "digital divide", namely, the huge disparity that exists between the rich and poor countries in the area of information and new technologies. Ninety- five percent (95%) of the persons who use the Internet live in North-America, Europe or Asia, while only 0.75% live in Africa.

But technology is not the only issue. There is another threat facing the world. Can we accept the fact that only a small minority of the people in the world have access to knowledge, to the vast field of research favoring agricultural production, public health, economic development, political freedom and the continuing improvement in living conditions, while the majority are excluded from the new knowledge revolution? What is at stake here is far more than mere technology. It involves the appropriation of knowledge and the access to vital content itself, for in communication content, knowledge and information are inseparable.

Radio can be a superb intermediary, one that easily reaches rural communities, sending out knowledge, and is also able to profit from new technologies.

Do information and communication technologies constitute a threat or an opportunity to the world? Can they serve rural radio? And if so, how can they do it? Finally, what solutions do we have to the problem of the digital divide?

All of these questions were addressed during the course of the International Workshop on "Information and Communication Technologies Servicing Rural Radio: New Contents, New Partnerships".

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE WORKSHOP

The main objective of the Workshop was to organize an encounter between rural radio experts from developing countries on one hand and North-American farm radio specialists on the other.

African rural radio professionals met with American agricultural broadcasters in order to share their experiences, both in terms of the approaches to be taken as well as the lessons to be learned in disseminating knowledge and information that would help in promoting rural and agricultural development.

The Workshop was also intended to be a venue for developing North-South collaboration, and for encouraging eventual partnerships.

3. PARTICIPANTS

The Workshop was fortunate in having the participation of more than fifty persons coming from Africa, Europe and the United States. These participants represented a variety of networks, unions and federations of rural radio stations as well as institutions which support the development of rural radio. In addition, staff from FAO technical divisions attended the Workshop.

The following countries were represented in the Workshop:

Canada, United States, France, Italy, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

And the following institutions, networks and organizations also participated:

USAID, the USDA, AMARC, ACMAD, UNESCO, the FORD FOUNDATION, FAMW/SADC, IMS (Nigeria), PANOS (IPAO), CTA, AIF, CIERRO/URTNA, DCFN, ISNAR, the BBC, the SADC-CCD, French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, SYFIA/JADE, ARDA, URTEL Mali, the Madagascar Rural Radio Network, the Benin Local Radio Network, UNALFA (Burkina), SIDAMA Educational Radio (Ethiopia), Learfield Communications, the Southeast AgNet Radio Network and the AgRadio Network.

4. THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE WORKSHOP

During the Workshop, three Working Groups were created on the following subjects:

1. Working Group I: Creation of a Network Linking the African Rural Radio Broadcasters with the American Farm Radio Broadcasters via the Internet.
2. Working Group II: The Challenges of New Technologies and New Contents.
3. Working Group III: Activities in terms of North-South and South-South Cooperation.

The participants at these Working Groups made recommendations in the following fields:

• Network
• Contents
• Training
• North-South and South-South Cooperation
• National Structures
• Partnerships
• Mobilization of Financial Resources
• Others: Recommendations Aimed at FAO.

4.1. Network

The Workshop, on the subject of networking, recommended to:

• Allow African rural radio broadcasters to access information that would facilitate the production of content as well as the exchange of data among the Network members.
  
  
• Include in the Network producers, since they are dealing "on the ground" with the local people. Other potential members of the network might be the national, regional and continental hubs, depending on the type of content that the Network would produce.
  
  
• Produce an inventory of the existing networks, link them together, and support the creation of local networks in those countries, which do not have them at the present time.
  
  
• Use the Internet, satellite transmissions, and other telecommunications facilities (fax, telephone, etc.) for this network.
  
  
• Evaluate the impact of the network to see if the problems encountered turn out to be greater than the successes achieved.

It was also recommended by the North-American delegation to create a network linking the African rural radio broadcasters with their American farm radio counterparts. This idea of a network refers to an association that already exists in the United States². This network will begin its operations by establishing an electronic list of its members, and then will distribute information to each member regarding training courses available, exchange programmes, study grants, etc.

4.2. Contents

With regard to contents, the Workshop made the following recommendations:

• Radio broadcasters should have to assess farmers' needs in terms of information in a more systematic way as well as needs of vulnerable social groups, such as women and children.
  
  
• African rural people should be informed on top priorities: 1) Market prices and meteorology. 2) Agriculture. 3) Pest and disease control.
  
  
• International agencies - such as the FAO, the CGIAR and ACMAD - should inform African people, and particularly the journalists, that international information exists, and indicate to them the Internet websites or databases where the information can be found.
  
  
• National and local interpretation of this information will be usually needed, as the information from these agencies, available on the Internet, is frequently at a fairly general level.
  
  
• Finally, if the information needed does not exist in global databases at the present time, it should be researched, and broadcasted from the field.

4.3. Training

With regard to training, the Workshop recommended to:

• Open up training to the private radio stations, as training should no longer be the exclusive domain of the public networks.
  
  
• Meet objectives in the following order of priority:
  1. Train the trainers in rural radio
  2. Provide training to the personnel of the rural and community radio stations
  3. Offer study grants to those persons who would like to study radio broadcasting and journalism.
• Focus training on the new technologies, the use of the Internet, and on researching information from websites.
  
  
• Give preference to specialised training and of very short duration.
  
  
• For efficiency reasons, give priority to training the trainers. This economic solution allows radio stations to send one of their staff to follow a quality training course, after which this staff member can share this training with his or her colleagues at the radio station, or in the country.
  
  
• Make full use of the Southern training institutions - CIERRO and SADC-CCD - and help them to train more of the rural radio station personnel.

4.4. North-South and South-South Cooperation

In terms of North-South cooperation, the Workshop recommended to develop exchanges and training courses in order to reinforce the technical abilities of African journalists in radio broadcasting in general and in the rural radio domain in particular. The BBC, for example, might accept English-speaking trainees, and Radio France might open its doors to French-speaking Africans. Moreover, the American government may offer and finance training modules in the field of farm and rural radio.

Regarding, South-South cooperation, the Workshop recommended to strengthen sharing of experience on the continent, so that English-speaking Africa profits from the wider experience that the French-speaking countries have with regard to rural radio training. Therefore, CIERRO (French-speaking institute) will share methods, personnel and teaching material with SADC-CCD (English-speaking counterpart).

4.5. National Structures

The Workshop recommended to build teams, at a national level, to make the link between local communities on one hand and international networks/organizations on the other hand.

These country-level teams of technical and communication specialists will:

• Maintain contact with the local populations, by collecting their needs in order to define the kind of contents that should be broadcast by local radio stations.
  
  
• Collect, produce or package some of the information.
  
  
• Help in the interpretation of highly technical information³, and the packaging of this information for radio, possibly involving the sorting out of scientific knowledge in local languages.
  
  
• Finally, they will make sure that networking, archiving, fund-raising and local training activities are carried out.

4.6. Partnerships

The Workshop strongly recommends to develop technical and financial partnerships and to obtain the support of international bodies which already exist, rather than creating new structures.

Potential partners have been identified:

• Institutes for scientific research, like ISNAR and ACMAD, as well as technical divisions of the FAO, regarding access to information (CONTENT).
• Associations like NAFB and radio networks such as AMARC, to help create an international network (NETWORK).
• African institutions for rural radio training, namely CIERRO and SADC-CCD (TRAINING).

4.7. Mobilization of Funds

The Workshop recommended a mobilisation of funds, not managed by government, to provide projects that have been brought about through collaboration between organizations such as CIERRO, SADC-CCD, AMARC and NAFB.

These projects could include training, equipment, scholarships and exchanges. Proposals should be precise, with clearly defined objectives.

4.8. Others: Recommendations Aimed at FAO

The Workshop strongly recommended that FAO:

• Concentrate more on using radio to communicate agricultural issues.
• Include the subject of rural radio for development in all of the different FAO technical committee documents.
• Contribute in the institution of a World Day for Radio.
• Edit documentation on rural radio and dedicate a website to this topic.

The Workshop suggests the creation of a "Global Help Desk for Rural Radio" within FAO to:

• Centralise key technical information to be broadcast through rural radio.
• Offer rural radio stations a "tool kit" including many of the tools that have been discussed at the Workshop (like needs assessment and evaluation instruments).
• Design a "map" of the rural radio partnerships that presently exist, to know whether the different African countries have rural radio stations, and if they do, whether these radios are public or commercial.

FAO would utilise the inputs from all the other partners, including radio stations, donor agencies and international agencies, to create this Global "Help Desk".

Finally, the Workshop recommended that FAO, in association with its partners, create a follow-up committee to transform Workshop recommendations into actions, and that FAO take the leadership of this Committee.

5. THE COLLABORATION PROPOSALS AND THE PROJECTS TO BE DEVELOPED

The Workshop gave the opportunity to develop a number of collaboration proposals with the following institutions:

• Intergovernmental Agency of French-Speaking Countries (AIF)
• World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
• The Ford Foundation
• Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Development (CTA)
• African Centre for the Application of Meteorology for Development (ACMAD).

Various collaboration projects were identified and agreed upon as part of the follow-up to the Workshop.

• Create a virtual follow-up committee for carrying out the recommendations decided upon by the Workshop. In addition to FAO, this committee will include the following partners: AIF, AMARC, CIERRO, CTA, the Ford Foundation, IDRC, and the Panos Institute.
  
  
• Connect the rural radio network to the Internet (Farm Radio Network, FARMNET) in Nigeria (financing to be supplied by the Ford Foundation).
  
  
• Launch a project for collective listening by women's listener groups in Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria (the project is financed by the Ford Foundation, with FAO serving as the executive body).
  
  
• Create the equivalent of CIERRO for the English-speaking countries, in order to train rural radio specialists in Africa.
  
  
• Invite two African rural radio specialists to undergo training in Rome in order to set up a food security information service, in collaboration with AMARC (protocol of agreement between AMARC and FAO / Collaboration between different departments of FAO).
  
  
• Recruit a French associate executive, or call in visiting scientists, in order to adapt WAICENT information to the needs of rural radio producers from French-speaking Africa, in collaboration with the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the Inter-Governmental Agency for French-speaking Countries.
  
  
• Participate in rural radio projects in the Congo Democratic Republic (cooperation with the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs), in Niger and in Chad, in collaboration with the Intergovernmental Agency for French-speaking Countries.
  
  
• Create scholarships, exchanges and courses, so that Africans can undergo a training period in the United States (as proposed by the USDA), and acquire radio broadcasting experience in Europe by following training periods at the BBC or at Radio France.
  
  
• Publish a book analysing the training needs of trainers in the domain of rural radio in Africa, develop these training programmes, and organise the training sessions, all in collaboration with CTA, CIERRO, and the SADC-CCD.
  
  
• Launch a project (FAO/ACMAD) dealing with meteorology and environmental information in answer to the questions posed by farmers in Niger, Burkina, Chad, in collaboration with USAID.
  
  
• Mobilise the necessary capital from private North-American foundations, for the purpose of supporting the development of rural radio in Africa (a proposal made by Mr. Gus Schumacher).
  
  
• Publish a book dealing with radio and ICTs.