Submitted by Michael Riggs on Wed, 12/02/2009 - 16:55
SUBJECT MATTER & FACILITATORS INTRODUCTIONS HERE Hello everyone. I am Michael, the lead facilitator of the e-Agriculture community of practice. Welcome to this, our 7th online forum! I have been working in the area of ICT4D for about ten years now, starting with [url=http://www.aphca.org]APHCA[/url], then as the regional Information Management Officer for [url=http://www.fao.org]FAO[/url], and now based in FAO's headquarters. We are very fortunate to have eight distinguished subject matter experts from around the world, representing a diverse set of perspectives and experiences, to enliven and enlighten our discussion in this forum. Please engage them fully. If you have any suggestions, comments or questions, please let me or one of the other facilitators (Charlotte or Lisa) know at any time. To learn more about me online, take a look at [url=http://unhub.com/mongkolroek]http://unhub.com/mongkolroek[/url]
Submitted by Facilitator User on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 02:08
Hello! My name is Lisa M. Cespedes, Social Media and Communications Facilitator for e-Agriculture.org It is a pleasure to participate in this forum. I am looking forward to meet you and learn from all of you. Please let me know if there is anything that I may help you with. A bit more about me: http://www.google.com/profiles/LisaMCespedes Kind regards, Lisa M. Cespedes
Submitted by Sapna A Narula on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 11:23
Hi all! Welcome to the forum! This is Sapna, one of your subject matter expert at the forum. I am working as Asstt. Professor in agribusiness management at a leading agriculture university in India. I teach courses such as agribusiness marketing, rural marketing, e-marketing, strategic management to MBA ( agribusiness )students. involved in research and extension activities at grass root level. I have around eleven years experience of working with rural communities regarding agri-input marketing, technology dissemination and supply chain management etc. One of my research areas is ICTs and agribusiness. I have worked on consultancy projects funded by Govt. of india on the same theme. I have also conducted many studies on how ICTs can effectively be used for agricultural supply chain development. I am here to learn as well as share my experience on this very relevant and contemporary theme.Please feel free to ask and share anything related to the forum. Wish you all a happy learning!!! Sapna
Submitted by Henry Benavides on Thu, 12/03/2009 - 16:36
Subject Matter Expert I'm Henry Benavides, Costarican, Agricultural Economist, Magister in Agribusiness and Specialist in Policies and Trade of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). I have worked with agri-food chain of commodities in Central America and others American Regions; supporting this agri-food chains with the issues of agricultural trade (multilateral and bilateral agreements). I'm part of the IICA ICT Team.
Submitted by Jawahar Kanjilal on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 13:16
Hello everyone! I lead Nokia's Life Tools service globally. Nokia Life Tools attempts to bring the benefits of the Internet and mobile services to enhance the daily lives and livelihoods of the millions in the emerging markets. Nokia Life Tools is a range of Agriculture, Education and Entertainment services addressing the millions of mobile consumers without timely access to their daily information needs, who probably would never use a PC. Before taking up this new challenge, I was the Director of Multimedia Experiences for Nokia in Asia Pacific bringing to market consumer services and experiences on Nokia mobile devices spanning across Music, Imaging, Games, Internet, Mobile TV and Location based experiences. I am looking forward to the disucssion in this forum![img]
Submitted by Francois Laureys on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 22:14
Hi everyone, My name is Francois Laureys. Dutch, 49 years old, father of 3 children. I'm currently Country Programme Manager for IICD (International Institute for Communications and Development) in Mali and Burkina Faso. My background is Communication Studies (University of Amsterdam), and radio journalism - I've worked as a journalist for several radio stations between 1980 and 2000. At IICD, I've been working on Capacity Development and on Knowledge Sharing Programmes before I became Country Programme Manager in 2004. In mali and in Burkina Faso, IICD started ICT4D programmes in Agriculture in 2005. Since then, I have been advising, coaching and monitoring approximately 15 projects with local partners in this sector.
Submitted by Raul Hopkins on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 22:51
Hello to everyone, I am Raul Hopkins, the Regional Economist of IFAD for Latin America and the Caribbean. Currently I am involved in two initiatives related to e-agriculture: a pilot project promoting access to ICTs in rural communities (supported by Finnish Supplementary Funds); and an IFAD Intranet site on market access and value chains to facilitate the exchange of information and best practices within the organization. The experience of rural development projects supported by IFAD indicates the great potential of the Internet and the use of ICTs as a tool for rural development. Much of our effort now is to find out the type of activities, institutional framework and new partnerships that are needed to promote successfully the use of information technologies in rural areas. I look foward to this forum. An excellent opportunity for sharing and learning!
Submitted by Thao Nguyen on Fri, 12/04/2009 - 23:03
Hello everyone My name is Thao Nguyen and I am a Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow working with Professor Tim Unwin at the ICT4D Collective, Royal Holloway University of London (http://www.ict4d.org.uk) on a new ICT-enabled business model that benefits women-owned microenterprises in poor communities. I'm currently working on the development of the model, with field work planned in Brazil, Kenya and Bangladesh and a pilot in Vietnam. I'm also a women entrepreneur who co-founded Star Anise Foods (http://staranisefoods.com), a San Francisco-based company that focuses on bringing high quality, all natural, sustainably grown food products from Vietnam to the international market. At the moment Star Anise Foods' focus is to market its products in the Northern California market. I'm looking forward to learning and sharing with you on this forum. Thao