ITU has published its recent newsletter, the WSIS Flash which focuses mainly on the WSIS Forum 2018. This Issue reviews the WSIS Forum 2018 Open Consultation Process , outlining the preparatory process. The WSIS Forum is a unique event of its kind where the programme and agenda are completely crowdsourced. The organizers of the process are ITU, UNESCO,UNCTAD and UNDP. In this issue of their newsletter , one can read the following topics:- WSIS Forum 2018: Contribute to the Open Consultation Process WSIS Stocktaking Process: Call for New Entries and Regional Reports WSIS Prizes 2018: New Call...
ICTs have a huge potential in imporving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the developing world, especially in the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP). ICTs can give access to market and weather information, allow farmers to transfer money and negotiate prices with traders. Moreover, the use of mobile phones is rapidly incresing. But some obstacles remain, such as poor network connectivity in rural areas, non-existing information, or lack of technology knowledge by potential users. This article summarizes seven ICT4Ag projects developed in the context of CTA's ICT4Ag...
This announcement is as originally announced on AIMS AGRIS team at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) takes this opportunity to inform all interested parties that in September 2017 AGRIS has exceeded the threshold of 9 million records ! (9,025,192 records). AGRIS team continues to work on consolidating the AGRIS (INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR THE AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY) platform and its services to provide better access and visibility to the information resources that are being disseminated through AGRIS. AGRIS content (which comes from than...
In this blog post, Ajit Maru describes all the requirements an ICT product has to have to be usable for the farmer: the hardware, the software, connectivity, skills, content, security and safety in use, privacy and a profitable and productive environment. But, he points out, some problems can rise up: for example, in many countries women are frowned upon or even prohibited to have a smartphone. Another problem is the cost: for a smallholder farmer in India earning about INR 60.000 per year, a smartphone costs no less than INR 5.000, and connectivity costs around INR 100 per month. According...
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will strenghten their partnership to boost the the usage of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in agricultural development and by doing so, supporting the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals . FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and ITU Secretary General Houlin Zhao signed on September 18th in New York a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the development of e-Agriculture policies...
"Empower women and girls through digital technology" was the call to action in the high-level multi-stakeholder meeting of EQUALS Partners that took place on 16 September in New York City on the eve of United Nations General Assembly meetings. EQUALS is a global initiative founded by a network partnership of businesses, governments, non-profit organizations, foundations, academia, media and individuals around the world working together to bridge the digital gender divide. The main areas of work of EQUALS are: Addressing the divide between men and women’s access to digital tech resources...
Practicing the principles for digital development Date Thu, October 12, 2017 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM EAT Location Hyatt Regency, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Desciption The Principles for Digital Development are the distilled knowledge of hundreds of professionals and thousands of projects into nine best...
Four international companies were awarded with the Global Data-Driven Farming Prize by the US government’s Feed the Future Initiative on Thursday, September 7th, 2017, for their innovative solutions in using information and communications technology to improve agricultural productivity. The solutions will be tested in Nepal, as the competition aims to give the opportunity to find innovations from around the world and link them to less developed economies, where these solutions have not yet arrived. The four winners were two Nepali firms and a German and a Candian company. Db2Map and PEAT won...
Wikifarmer is the greatest user generated online farming library. Its mission is to help all farmers across the globe to find valuable information regarding their existing or potential crops and livestock. Through the information it provides, Wikifarmer aims to give practical solutions to farmers. Contributions can be provided from professional or amateur farmers, beekepers, gardeners and professors sharing their knowledge and best practices. Users can submit a new article, edit an existing article, add pictures or videos, request a new article, ask a question about a related issue, or just...
On the 12th of September, two free courses on Human-centered Design will start hosted by IDEO.org. This is a great opportunity to learn from IDEO.org how to use human-centered design for social innovation. The courses have an intensive programme to enable the participants to really understand what human-centered design is about and how to apply it to overcome challenges and find innovative solutions. Both courses are free. Students are encouraged to form their own teams to work through the content. You can enroll using the following links. Introduction to human-centered design - 4 weeks -...
Practicing the principles for digital development Date Thu, October 12, 2017 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM EAT Location Hyatt Regency, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Desciption The Principles for Digital Development are the distilled knowledge of hundreds of professionals and thousands of projects into nine best...