Farmers' initiatives in land husbandry: promising ... - Prolinnova

Technical Report No. 27
2.3.7 A global network with decentralised organization
WOCAT is a network of soil and water conservation specialists from all over the
world. It is organized as a consortium of national and international institutions and
operates in a decentralised manner. At the global level, WOCAT is co-ordinated by a
management group, assisted by the global secretariat. Annual international workshops
and steering meetings provide a basis for exchange on progress and for directing future
activities. There is considerable experience available on how to start, organize and
maintain national and regional initiatives. This experience is made available in the
form of guidelines and through the personal support of members of the WOCAT
consortium.
One of the strongest features of WOCAT is the network of individuals and
organizations who are already involved, committed and interacting together.
2.3.8 More WOCAT initiatives are welcome
The WOCAT network is open to all individuals and organizations. The core of the
network consists of specialists, programmes, projects and NGOs. The WOCAT
knowledge base is in the public domain: anyone is invited to share and use it.
Newcomers can use the WOCAT database and WOCAT products to gain better
understanding of SWC, make better decisions in the field, and enhance planning at
the regional or national level. The feedback they provide to WOCAT is greatly
appreciated. WOCAT network collaborators contribute relatively little in relation to
what they gain.
In a way this last sentence has yet to be widely demonstrated, and many contributors
(of data) have wondered how and when they will benefit. It is through rapid feedback
of ‘hard’ products – as well as access to the database that this objective will be achieved.
WOCAT thus is an ambitious programme, but one with a weight of professional
commitment and personal dedication behind it, and with considerable institutional
backing. As in all programmes of this nature there are complications (terminology;
language; consistency in answers, need for maintenance of standards etc) which mean
that progress has been, inevitably, steady rather than rapid. Nevertheless WOCAT
has made strides in data collection (from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern
Europe), in setting up a database and query systems. By mid 2001 over 180 SWC
technologies, and more than 100 approaches have been documented. WOCAT has
produced two CD-ROMs with databases of technologies, approaches and images.
An external evaluation in 1998 gave considerable support to the concept, and to the
project itself, while making constructive suggestions for the future. One of the
recommendations was for the rapid development of products – of which this document
is an example.
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