1. setting information priorities

1. Setting Information Priorities

Priority Information Themes for ACP Agriculture and Rural Development

This lesson will help you answer three questions.

•Why is it important for your organisation to set information priorities?

•Who are your target users and what will they use your information for?

•What are the first steps and decisions that you must take?

1



Dr. Carama is the Director of Information Services at the Mulalo Maize Research Institute (MMRI). MMRI has three mandates: one for research, one for outreach, and one for training.

2



Research.

MMRI carries out research in many locations. Most takes place in fields and labs at the central campus near the capital city. Some happens at provincial research stations. More-and-more is being done in cooperation with farmers on their own fields. And some is even done outside the country, as part of cooperative maize research programmes between countries in the region.

2a



Outreach.

MMRI recognizes that its research will only be valuable if it reaches people who can use it. These potential audiences range from farmers, to teachers at agricultural schools and universities, to scientists within MMRI and outside, to managers in agricultural development organizations, to policymakers, to NGOs, and to international donors.

2b

training1. Setting Information Priorities


Training.

MMRI conducts an active education programme. Participants in its courses and seminars include mostly farmers and extension workers, and sometimes policymakers.

2c



Dr. Carama has just received an urgent request from the Director General of MMRI. The DG wants a clear statement of information priorities for the institute.

3



Dr. Carama:

I have just received your budget request for next year. You have proposed an ambitious programme. I commend the enthusiasm of you and your staff, and I congratulate you for the progress you have made in making MMRI one of the leading providers of agricultural information in our country.

My only concern is vision. Where is the MMRI information programme going? Where should we be in five years? What are our priorities?

3a



Your request contains budget lines for hardware and software, improved Internet access, subscriptions to hardcopy and electronic journals, publications in hardcopy and electronic formats, training of MMRI staff and our clients, and content development. But can we afford all these activities and improvements? Again my question: what are our highest priorities?

The purpose of this letter is to request you to undertake a systematic priority-setting exercise. I have two specific reasons for this request at this time.

3b



First, the Ministry has asked MMRI to develop a 5-year information plan, and I believe that priority-setting is a good first step. Second, MMRI is running a budget deficit this year, as you know, and some people have suggested that we might consider reducing the size of our information programme. I am not in favour of this last alternative, but I need systematic priority-setting data in order to support my case.

Please think urgently about your "Priority Information Themes". I look forward to receiving a progress report from you within the next two weeks.

Yours sincerely

3c



4

Dr. Carama is proud of the Information Services Department.

In his three years as Director, he has increased the number of computers in the institute so that there is now one for every two MMRI staff. Each computer is part of an institute-wide network, which in turn is connected to the Internet.

He has also encouraged MMRI scientists to use electronic journals for their research. (If you are connected, you may click to see two of the major resources that he suggests.)

• AGORA, Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture, www.aginternetwork.org/en

• TEEAL, The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library, teeal.cornell.edu



5

Dr. Carama has also developed an active MMRI publications programme, as well as an information training programme.

•His monthly newsletter, MAIZE NEWS, reaches approximately 5,000 producers, wholesalers, and scientists. He publishes a semi-annual scientific journal and many extension brochures.

•In cooperation with the MMRI Training Department, he and his staff conducted more than 15 courses, workshops, and seminars last year for institute users.



6

What to do about the request from the Director General?

Dr. Carama decides to call two MMRI staff to his office for a brainstorming session. Shema is a scientist in the Department of Breeding and Genetics, and Akil is in charge of publications within the Information Services Department.

Dr. Carama has questions. How should MMRI best use the information resources that the Department has been able to make available? Will MMRI information users and uses be the same in three years as they are now?



7

Shema and Akil have three responses to Dr. Carama's questions.



8

Dr. Carama is convinced.

He decides that MMRI will undertake a systematic exercise try to set its information priorities.

But he still has two more questions.



9

Will not different information USERS have different SUBJECT priorities?

The problem is that a farmer may think that information on pests is a high priority, while a scientist will be most interested in material on breeding, and a policymaker will want data on marketing.

Can we make just ONE list of information priorities?



10

Dr. Carama wonders...

Do we need to do a priority-setting exercise for EACH of these user groups?



11

I can think of three questions that we should try to answer.



12

Dr. Carama is beginning to see that a priority-setting process should take many different considerations into account.



13



14

Dr. Carama is becoming more-and-more committed to a priority-setting process. He likes the bottom-up approach.

He decides that they should go for a one-day meeting and he proposes three actions.



15

Akil returns to his office. He decides that he will actually make two lists of potential participants.



16

Meanwhile, back in her lab, Shema gets started on two draft lists of information subjects.

She knows that these lists are only preliminary. Dr. Carama will use them as starting points for discussion in the meeting, and participants will be invited to change them in the course of the priority-setting process.



17

While his two colleagues are working on their assignments, Dr. Carama drafts an announcement for the meeting.



17a

Dear Colleagues,

We are at the beginning of an "information revolution" for agriculture in our country. Organizations like MMRI have invested heavily in new information technology, new means of accessing scientific journals and databases, new types of electronic publications, and new approaches to training.

But where is MMRI going with its information programmes?



17b

Where would we like to be in five years?

I have decided to call a one-day meeting to discuss these issues. I hope that the output of the meeting will be agreement on a series of information investment PRIORITIES for MMRI.

This meeting will be both timely and urgent. Our Ministry has asked MMRI to develop a 5-year information plan. It wants to know how we intend to reach agricultural producers with our information products and services.



17c

We are inviting about 20 people. We would like to keep the group small. Participants will include MMRI staff, representatives of the farming community, as well as officials from government organisations, NGOs, and commercial companies.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Yours sincerely,Dr. A.B. CaramaDirector of Information Services, MMRI



18

Dr. Carama, Shema, and Akil are pleased with their preparations for the meeting.



Summary

In this lesson, we have covered five topics

• The rationale for setting information priorities (Screens 6-7)

• Different audiences, different needs = Different priorities(Screens 8-10)

• Resource constraints (Screen 11)

• A participatory approach to priority-setting(Screens 12-13)

• Stakeholders, themes, and a call-to-meeting(Screens 14-18)

1. setting information priorities

Documents

mmri information programme

training of mmri staff

director general of

priority information

year information plan

budget request

ayour request

urgent request