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1. Introduction The Planning and Strategic Services Department within the Technical Centre for Agriculture and Rural Cooperation (CTA) has been conducting needs assessment studies, workshops and priority-setting activities across the Africa, Pacific and Caribbean regions involving hundreds of senior policy makers, planners and decision-makers, operational staff including information and extension workers from a wide cross-section of agricultural and rural development institutions. These activities have revealed deficiencies in the area of information sharing and dissemination at the planning level within institutions, which makes it difficult for institutions to effectively monitor, evaluate and learn lessons for the future. The lack of proper Information and Communication Management (ICM) policies and plans is a fundamental concern and is viewed as one of the main reasons for the lack of appropriate human and other resources, and the poor formulation and implementation of ICM activities. A better understanding of the role of effective ICM among administrators and planners, and the consequent development of ICM policies and plans will likely lead to improved resource allocation and utilisation, for the ultimate benefit of researchers and farmers alike. The ICM workshop in Namibia built on these past experiences and drew upon lessons learned from similar workshops held in the Caribbean in October 2008 and from the recent ICM workshop held in the Pacific in September 2009. The main purpose of the workshop was to explore ways to increase the level of collaboration and sharing of information among organisations in southern Africa, as well as equipping them with the tools to develop an information policy. Objectives The specific objectives of the workshop were to: • Sensitise decision-makers on the value and importance of effective and efficient ICM • Equip participants with the tools to develop ICM policies and strategies in such a way that they are willing and able to develop policies and plans within their respective institutions and in partnership with other organisations • Broaden the net of stakeholders, as well as increase awareness and collaboration among stakeholders of opportunities for sharing and exchanging information and data. Participants The comprised policy and decision-makers from the southern Africa agriculture and natural resources sector, drawn from: • CTA’s national and regional partner institutions • Those institutions that participated in the needs assessments and priority-setting exercises • Institutions that have subsequently been identified as playing a key role in agriculture and rural development in the concerned regions. 4 | P age
2. Workshop Proceedings 2.1 Plenary Sessions 2.1.1 Welcome Address – Dr Hansjörg Neun, Director CTA The CTA Director highlighted that information and communication management (ICM) is often the “forgotten budget line”. There was need to sensitise policy makers, decision makers to include ICM/ICT in the budgets and allocate resources. The Director also noted the following points in relation to the workshop: • CTA annual seminar 2009 highlighted the role of the media in agriculture and rural development; • The media have an important role to play in creating awareness; • The media are vital instruments when organisations want to talk to the wider public; • There was need for right strategies to communicate with the media; • There was need to build trust between journalists and the people; • There was need for communication plans in organisations; • A strategy document remains a working document due to the pace of changes in ICTs; • That information is the number one commodity which multiplies when being shared. 2.1.2 Opening Remarks – Dr. Ibrahim Khadar, Manager, Planning and Strategic Services, CTA Dr Khadar welcomed the participants to the workshop and suggested that the workshop should be renamed “Executive Training Programme” for the following reasons: • It was participatory and aimed at presentation of ideas, suggestions and introduction of concepts; • It was a skills-based training programme to benefit individual participants and their organisations; The workshop was being held concurrently with three others on trade, a training course on use of the Smart Toolkit for monitoring and evaluation and knowledge management and development in Africa during the Information and Knowledge for Development (InK4Dev) joint meeting week in Windhoek, Namibia. The workshop should therefore help participants to think and understand the concepts of planning knowledge management. Dr Khadar highlighted three domains that would be provided by the workshop, and these are: • Strategic planning; • Operational; and • Interpersonal relationships. There was therefore need to understand the integration of the above three domains. This helps to create a strong team building comprising the three domains. Lastly, the workshop was also aimed at discovering the missing links through collaborative efforts. 5 | P age
Page 1 and 2: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION MANAG
Page 3: Executive Summary The Planning and
Page 7 and 8: 3. Setting the Stage 3.1 Why do an
Page 9 and 10: • Organising information • Repa
Page 11 and 12: The following points should be note
Page 13 and 14: 7. Information Dissemination / Orga
Page 15 and 16: • Negating threats? • Does it f
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Page 19 and 20: 19 | P age Appendices Appendix 1: P
Page 21 and 22: Question: What information technolo
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Page 25 and 26: Q1: Yes, to satisfy consumer and to
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Page 29 and 30: 3.45 pm - 4.00 pm Tea / coffee brea
Page 31 and 32: NAMIBIA Ms. Sylvia Karorua Katjepun
Page 33: SPECIAL GUESTS FAO Dr Justin Chisen

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