The Regional Office for the Near East of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, (FAO), in collaboration with The Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA) will organize the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Nodal Units Workshop, at Muscat, Oman during the period 8 – 10 January 2008. 

Twenty-two Information Management and Networking Specialists will participate in this workshop from eleven regional countries: Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, in addition to (AARINENA) President and Executive Secretary and representatives from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO, the Global Forum On Agricultural Research (GFAR) and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). 

The workshop will include three sessions: the first will identify the main strengths and weaknesses of the agricultural research information systems of the above mentioned eleven regional countries; the second will identify appropriate interventions to strengthen the information systems. In the third session, each of the participating national focal unit will prioritize three interventions and identify how they would intervene to strengthen their national information systems. 

This workshop aims at strengthening and developing the agricultural information systems through the following areas: Policy and strategy development. Institutional aspects in developing and strengthening Information Systems. Identify stakeholders and beneficiaries of information systems, and their needs for information. Managing content especially content generation, its sharing and effective use. Changing the attitude and skills of people involved in information systems especially information systems managers. Meanwhile, building capacities and retaining staff trained in managing ICT would enable information systems. Managing ICT infrastructure effectively especially bandwidth. Attract greater investment in ICT would enable information systems in terms of both finance and human capacities.