Key findings from field visits to Mali and Zambia

Design team-Africa Mission

3-19 August, 2007

Gracian ChimwazaITOCA-Info Training & Outreach Centre for Africa

gracian@itoca.org

MaliPopulation: 13.9mDesert coverage: 65%Languages: 50+Adult Literacy: 55%GNI:$440

ZambiaPopulation: 11.9mLanguages: 78Adult Literacy: 68%GNI: $630

Presentation •The design-team mission

•Use of ICTs in rural environments•What we asked

•What we learned •Radios

•Cellphones•Community info centres

•Challenges to information flow--------

We visited …..

• villagers• farmers• women groups• cooperatives• government officials• NGO• Faculty• extension

• researchers• policy-makers• librarians• info specialists• private firms• regional trade• educationists

What we asked…….

• What information the smallholder farmers currently access?

• What information farmers would like to access that will enhance agriculture production and improve their livelihoods?

ICT as it supports r

ural livelihoods in

the developing countries

-----

What we learned….

• ICTs supporting Rural development:• Radios• Cell phones• hand-held devices: Ipods, MP3• Community information centres

• Computers, internet, telephones

• Strategies & technologies used to supplement/enable extension

Manabougou, Mali

‘Community’ FM Radio stations

• Mali: 200+ stations• Zambia: 40+ stations• 75-100km radius

coverage • Low startup cost • Mass broadcasts• Multiple local

languages enhance information dissemination

Radio Listening Groups-Zambia

• Radio Farm Forum• listeners, especially

women, listen to broadcasts in groups

• Discuss what has been learned and implement ideas

• Group also embark on socio-economic activities Listen, Discuss & Act

Public- Private initiatives

• National Agricultural Information Service (NAIS) by MOA-Zambia• Established in 1967 to support extension• Link research and extension• Diffuse info on inputs, crop management,

livestock• Trying to address the different farming systems

and diverse regional/local needs for farmers

• NGO, CBO & private sector • Farmer Field days• Inputs schemes

Zambia Educational Radio

• Community radio broadcasts

• 80,000 students• 30-min lessons per

day• Volunteer class

monitors (9-12th grade graduates)

Education Development Center's (EDC) & Ministry of Education

Cellphone: ‘Juice my mobile!’

Growing. popular.

“ The uptake of cell phone technology by societies which never had wide-spread

access to traditional telephones and still don't have predictable access to

electricity or television, is astounding”

From the Report on the WorldAgInfo Visit to Africa 3-19 August 2007 (Mali and Zambia) by Dr. Patrick O’Shea and Prof. Thane Terrill

Rural Community Information Centres

• typing services

• internet

• e-mail

• training

• telephones

• faxing

• photocopying

Centre Local d’Information et de Communication (CLIC)-Mali

Marketing Information System-MALI

• agricultural MIS run by Observatoire du Marché Agricole (OMA).

• collects, disseminate up-to-date produce market info via computerized radio system nationally

Use of Community radios on the increase

• Mali has over 200 community radio stations

• fact that basic literacy is being taught with solar powered radios

Internet Access Limitations

• Inadequate telecommunication infrastructure

• Structural inefficiencies in connectivity

• Govt monopolies and regulatory policies make bandwidth expensive and difficult to access

• The Mali CLIC operation: • located on the outskirts of Bamako• centre established through a grant• subsidized internet connectivity for 1 yr• paying $1250 per month for 128k• relying on typing local students term papers • no clients came during our hour visit• unviable business model

Bandwidth challenges

Highlighted Challenges to info flow

• Low literacy

• Multiple local languages• Mali: 50 (Bambara common)• Zambia: 78 (7 official)

• Infrastructure problems• unavailable or unreliable electricity • broken computers• low and expensive Internet connectivity• mobile recharges (air-time) expensive• unpaved roads to towns/markets

Information-chain problems

• Issues raised:• access• timeliness • adequacy• relevancy• quality• trust

• Lack of feedback mechanisms in order to ensure information services meet the real needs of the farmers

Ideas discussed for consideration…

• Low literacy and multiple language problems:• Need for translation of info to local languages• Need to convert digital/text info to audio to

enhance dissemination and communication• Need to extract high level info and repackage it.• Need for appropriate, relevant curriculum delivery

at different levels.• Use of multimedia technology to deliver content

Weak linkages

Challenges with community radio

• Sustaining programming costs

• High fees for programming slots

• FM radio: limited coverage

• Feedback to programming very limited and ‘takes too long’

Smallholder farmer info problems identified:

• Lack of basic info regarding increasing yields, food security & improving health:• planting times,• inputs (fertilizer, seed, pesticides)• equipment,• crop & livestock management, • market prices,• Credit, • weather conditions (rainfall, droughts, water

harvesting/table)

The segregation of women

• Different rolls for men and women in the villages• Even different products like shea

• Women spend more time in the fields and working on

feeding family

• Info flow is not balanced• Work separately

• Women of Manabougou spoke out about their info

needs

Power in numbers

• Use of cooperatives to pull resources together, raise funding and obtain land

• Used as platforms to provide a number of auxiliary services to their members

• In both Mali & Zambia –used to promote literacy, skills training , market gardening business, etc

Not all work..

Regional Common Concerns

• An impressive level of cross-national cooperation is already taking place across much of the Francophone area of Africa. A common currency (the CFA) is now used in multiple countries. The Institut du Sahel (INSAH) facilitates collaboration across nine member states (Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad and Mauritania)

“ICTs are then viewed not as an end in themselves but as tools to facilitate a range of information, communication and

transaction services that contribute to improving rural livelihoods”

From a workshop for World Bank staff held June 5, 2007 Report titled Using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to support Rural Livelihoods: Evidence, Strategies, Tools