NERC/04/INF/10

Twenty-seventh FAO Regional Conference for the Near East

Table of Contents

I. SUMMARY

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

III. RATIONALE AND APPROACH

IV. RECOGNIZING THE CHALLENGES

V. INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS THE “RURAL DIGITAL DIVIDE”

VI. THE PROPOSED PROGRAMME

A. National Components
B. Regional Component

VII. ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

VIII. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

I. SUMMARY

1. Knowledge is central to development, and there are considerable resources of knowledge and information that could be more effectively exchanged in support of poor people struggling to deal with the root causes of their poverty. The new information and communication technologies (ICT), and increased priority and resources for information exchange, have the potential to improve the access to and benefits from this accumulated knowledge for the rural poor, as well as creating a more informed policy environment. However, a “digital divide” separates those most in need from the world’s information and knowledge resources. The “Programme for Bridging the Rural Digital Divide to Reduce Food Insecurity and Poverty” makes the case for a new strategic Programme through which FAO will facilitate a global partnership to address the rural digital divide. The Programme will strengthen human and institutional capacities to harness information and knowledge more effectively for agricultural and rural development in Near East Region.

II. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

2. FAO has taken the initiative to develop a new strategic Programme for “Bridging the Rural Digital Divide” to reduce food insecurity and poverty, through which the Organization will coordinate an international partnership to address this important development issue. The Programme will strengthen human and institutional capacities to harness information and knowledge more effectively for agricultural and rural development. The rural digital divide is not only concerned with improving infrastructure and connectivity, but rather is a multi-faceted problem of ineffective knowledge exchange and management of content, lack of human resources and institutional capacity, compounded, obviously by an acute scarcity of financial resources.

3. By FAO definition, the term ‘Digital Divide’ refers to “inequitable access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) both between wealthy and poor countries, and within all countries, between relatively privileged and underprivileged social groups.” Like many communication technologies before it, the Internet enables rural communities to receive information and assistance from outside development organizations. Most importantly, it can support bottom-up articulation of development needs and perceptions.

III. RATIONALE AND APPROACH

4. The rationale for this Programme is that the rural digital divide is not only concerned with technology infrastructure and connectivity, but rather is a multi-faceted problem of ineffective knowledge exchange and management of information content, as well as the lack of human resources, institutional capacity, and gender sensitivity. The rural digital divide will persist longer if users are unable to grapple with the problems of uptake and effective knowledge exchange. A crucial agent of change developed through this Programme will be the mobilization and harnessing of previously inaccessible knowledge and information in digital form, derived from or adapted to the local context. Innovative participatory approaches to knowledge exchange will be implemented by the Programme in several countries, and will provide access to appropriate content. Three broadly defined groups of Programme stakeholders within Member Countries have been envisaged. These are: rural communities and households; rural service providers in the public and private sectors providing agricultural, financial, and communications services; and policy-makers and their advisers.

IV. RECOGNIZING THE CHALLENGES

5. FAO has identified the following critical issues for improving the impact of information and communication, particularly for poor people in rural areas, which will guide the Programme:

• Locally-adapted content and context.Building on existing systems.
• Building and strengthening capacity of institutions and people involved in information provision; as swell as building the capacities of the information users to access a wider range of information and communication.
• Access and empowerment to ensure that relevant information actually reaches and empowers poor people, especially women.
• Strengthening the new horizontal and vertical partnerships to ensure information is available to all stakeholders.
• Realistic approaches to technologies to support information and communication for building sustainable systems by enhancing the existing systems to be expandable and extendable, with multiple exploitation and diverse communication tools , by utilizing the full range of existing media.
• Information costs, value and financial continuity to value and finance the establishment of appropriate information infrastructure and the provision of appropriate information content, particularly in remote rural areas.

V. INTERVENTIONS TO ADDRESS THE “RURAL DIGITAL DIVIDE”

6. A wide variety of strategies and activities will be formulated and implemented, ranging from new public policies and infrastructure development, to the community-based and user-focused projects. The novel and innovative elements of this Programme are firstly the emphasis on the rural environment, and secondly the focus on information itself and mechanisms for accessing and exchanging it, in addition to infrastructure needed for the information/communication technology. The following broad domains of intervention are proposed:

1. Content mobilization - enabling all FAO Members to mobilize, access and use the vast resources of information and knowledge in agriculture, forestry, fisheries and related fields, that are available in FAO , as well as in countries and the international community.
2. Capacity-building, human and institutional resources development - focusing on improving access to and the application of this technology in agricultural and rural development.
3. Improving the effectiveness of FAO’s own operational programme in the field - integrating information and communication processes within FAO’s national and regional food insecurity and poverty reduction programmes, such as the Special Programme for Food Security, in Farmer Field Schools and in other interventions that directly involve poor rural people as the primary beneficiaries.

VI. THE PROPOSED PROGRAMME

7. The programme goal is to assist Low-Income Food Deficit Countries (LIFDC’s) to bridge the rural digital divide in support of improved food security and to help reducing poverty through the effective use of knowledge and information. The Programme activities will comprise a series of interrelated national, regional and international interventions; while the programme outputs will primarily focus on three key ones cited below, which are considered as cornerstones of the strategic role of information and communication in reducing hunger and fighting poverty.

1. Information content in digital format relevant to agricultural and rural development and food security developed, mobilized and exchanged by governments, rural service providers, and communities.
2. Innovative mechanisms and processes for information exchange among rural policy makers, service providers, communities, and households developed and strengthened, including normative guidelines and tools based on the World Agriculture Information Center (WAICENT) framework.
3. Networks for exchange of these new mechanisms and processes among key stakeholders empowered.

A. National Components

8. The National components of the Programme will comprise a series of national and sub-national interventions. Countries will be selected based on a set of objective criteria through a consultative process involving partners in the Programme. These national components may also involve inputs from international partners to facilitate project implementation. Wherever possible, activities in this element of the Programme will be developed in close co-ordination with existing projects and initiatives of FAO and other organizations working in food security and agricultural development.

9. Interventions under the national component will be formulated in relation to the five priority areas identified in the Anti-Hunger Programme, drawing on FAO’s wealth of experience in its field programme. Some illustrative examples are provided below.

1. Strengthening capacity for knowledge generation and dissemination, for example, the Virtual Extension and Research Communication Network (VERCON) model which is being piloted in Egypt, whereby public and private sector research and extension organizations can exchange information on agricultural technologies and community demands;
2. Improvements in agricultural production in poor rural communities: e.g. the Farmer Information Network (FarmNet model) which will be applied in Egypt, whereby communication networks will be facilitated between and within communities or their representatives and the rural service providers that support their productivity;
3. Expanding rural infrastructure and market access: e.g. microfinance and market information systems, which can support market-oriented systems for agricultural inputs and outputs (including market prices, storage, processing and logistics);
4. Ensuring access to food for the most needy: e.g. Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System (FIVIMS), through which improved methodologies and tools for information management can enhance the identification and targeting of the hungry and vulnerable.

B. Regional Component

10. This component of the Programme will aim to strengthen information exchange and communication technology amongst existing regional economic groupings and networks for improved co-operation in policy development and institutional capacity building related to information management and communication. FAO is involved in a wide range of activities in this area, which can provide case studies and act as pilots. Wherever possible, the regional interventions will also be designed to fit within the scope of, and add value to, the Regional Food Security Framework being developed by FAO and its Members, as well as existing thematic networks in particular subject areas. Interventions have been or are being developed in collaboration with appropriate regional or sub-regional organizations, such as (AOAD, AARINENA, CARDNE, and ESCWA)¹ which will enhance the effectiveness of this component, increase the probability of sustainability, and the replication and expansion of successful outcomes.

VII. ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT

11. FAO would to lead an initiative on bridging the rural digital divide, based on the emphasis in the Plan of Action of the World Food Summit (WFS) on the critical role of information as one of the priority areas in achieving food security. FAO’s specialization in agricultural and rural issues related to the digital divide would mean that partnerships would need to be further developed with the cross-sectoral development agencies such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UNDP, UNESCO, the European Commission, and the World Bank. The greatest need for an integrated approach will be at the national level, where the human resources and institutions involved must work together for capacity building and for the follow-up of policy development and implementation.

VIII. RESOURCE MOBILIZATION

12. FAO’s strategy for mobilizing resources for Bridging the Rural Digital Divide will have two elements that are consistent with the Organization’s overall approach. FAO will:

1. provide certain resources from its Regular Programme, which will include allocation of some funding through the Technical Cooperation Programme to assist a few countries to initiate pilot projects on a small scale, and
2. mobilize unilateral and bilateral trust funds to use the experience gained from pilot projects to leverage additional resources for the expansion of activities to address the constraints to the rural digital divide on a wider scale.

¹ Arab Organization for Agricultural Development (AOAD)
Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA)
Regional Centre on Agrarian Reform and Rural development for the Near East (CARDNE)
Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)