Annual Report 2005 Annual Report 2005 CTA headquarters Agro Business Park 2 6708 PW Wageningen The Netherlands Tel: +31 317 467100; fax: +31 317 460067; e-mail: [email protected] Postal address: Postbus 380 6700 AJ Wageningen The Netherlands Brussels Branch Office Rue Montoyer 39 1000 Brussels Belgium Tel: +32 2 513 7436/2 502 2319; fax: +32 2 511 3868 E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] Caribbean Regional Branch Office Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) University Campus St Augustine Trinidad WI Tel: +1 868 645 1205; fax: +1 868 645 1208; e-mail: [email protected] Pacific Regional Branch Office Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture (IRETA) University of the South Pacific Alafua Campus Private Mail Bag Apia Samoa Tel: +0685 22372/21882; fax: +0685 22933/22347; e-mail: [email protected] CTA is the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP-EU Website: www.cta.int Contents Foreword v Hansjörg Neun Introduction ix CTA Activities and Highlights 1 Information Products and Services Department (IPSD) 2 The role of intermediaries in information dissemination: reaching others through others 3 Highlights 10 Communication Channels and Services Department (CCSD) 12 Rural radio: creating conditions to cement its place in African development 13 Highlights 20 CTA Seminar 2005: Linking ICTs with food and nutrition security 22 Information and Communication Management Skills and Systems Department (ICMSSD) 24 The role of information and communication in the development of rural communities 25 Highlights 32 Planning and Corporate Services (P&CS) 34 Balancing needs and strategy: stakeholders have their say 35 Highlights 42 Regional Branch Offices 44 CARDI: Caribbean branch office furthers regional aims 44 IRETA: Keeping up the pace in the Pacific 45 Brussels Office Strengthening institutional collaborations 46 Administrative Services, Budget and Human Resources (ASBHR) 47 CTA Advisory Committee 53 ACP and EU states 57 CTA Products and Services 59 Information Products and Services Department 60 Communication Channels and Services Department 67 Information and Communication Management Skills and Systems Department 76 Planning and Corporate Services 85 Acronyms and abbreviations 89 Index 94 CTA Annual Report 2005 Compact Disc Foreword In many respects 2005 will be remembered globally as the year of the disaster. It was indelibly marked by terrible events such as the tsunami at the end of 2004, which killed some 230,000 people in south-east Asia; Africa’s ‘silent tsunamis’ in the form of widespread natural disasters and resulting poverty; Hurricane Katrina in the USA; the devastating earthquake in Pakistan (which killed an estimated 90,000 people); a profound crisis regarding the European Union (EU) constitution; terrorist attacks in London and violence in France; sharply rising fuel prices and the global threat posed by avian influenza. Nonetheless, 2005 also lived up to the hopes of those who billed it as ‘the year of development’. The EU, as the world’s biggest donor, agreed to substantially increase development aid and committed itself to deliver more, better and faster. The United Nations’ (UN’s) Millennium Conference in September concluded with strong support for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). And in Hong Kong, the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed at its conference to adopt a Ministerial Declaration recognising the important role of the the finalisation of the 2006 programme of development package, including aid for trade. activities and budget, and preparations to attend the joint ACP-EU Council of Ministers In the midst of these far-reaching global 30th session, which culminated in the signing changes, the 5-year term of my predecessor, of the revised Cotonou Agreement (in Mr Carl Greenidge came to an end in February. Luxembourg on 25 June), which, of course, Following a 2-month phase managed by forms the foundation of our organisation. Mr Jean-Claude Burguet as Interim Director, I joined CTA in May. However, a review of previous annual reports, from 1983 to 2004, reveals that CTA is This was an exciting time to commence constantly challenged to adapt its products and my duties at CTA due to the ongoing services to the evolving environment in the exercises within the Centre. These included African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, v CTA Annual Report 2005 Foreword which results from changing priorities, new and (ii) there is scope for increasing the information and communication technologies impact and sustainability of CTA ’s activities. and a rapidly evolving technical landscape. The Centre has spent considerable time collaborating on these exercises, feeding in not just our own but also our partners’ rich CTA as a learning organisation1 expertise and experience. In 2005 CTA organised two audits (for 2003 The evaluation’s findings show that CTA is and 2004) and an external evaluation of its endowed with: 5-year Strategic Plan (SP) and the associated Framework for Action (FFA) (2001–2005). • experience in many themes related to These were rewarding exercises whose agriculture, rural development, food security, primary conclusions, in a nutshell, were natural resource management and trade; that while CTA is doing the right thing, it is not always doing things right. This means • expertise in the form of a professional, highly that CTA fulfils its mandate in an effective qualified and motivated workforce; manner but that (i) there is room for further improvements in efficiency (a topic that • networks, both professional and social and a has been reported recurrently in the past) great number of partners; 1 CTA ’s approach to organisational learning, Special Paper, CTA Annual Report 2003 CTA Objectives Objective 1 Objective 2 Improved availability of and access to appropriate (relevant, Improved information and adequate, accurate, timely and well-adapted) information for communication management (ICM) ACP agricultural and rural development capacity of ACP agricultural and rural development organisations Programme 1 Programme 2 Programme 3 Information Products and Communication Channels ICM Skills and Systems Services and Services Increased human capacity to Increased availability of Supporting an integrated use generate and manage agricultural information of communication channels information Increased awareness of Strengthening contacts and Increased capacity to formulate and information sources information exchange develop ICM strategies and models vi CTA Annual Report 2005 Foreword • demand from 79 ACP countries that the identified in the audits and the sensitisation Centre can barely meet in entirety due workshops. to limited operational budgets and human resource constraints; • Re-enforcement of contacts with authorities in Brussels, as well as the systematic • confidence – ACP beneficiaries trust CTA involvement of EU Delegations and ACP and appreciate CTA ’s flexibility and its often governments through their National quick response to their requirements. Authorising Officers (NAOs) in events organised by CTA in ACP countries. The evaluation findings also provide key elements and form a sound basis for further sharpening • Organisation of an internal seminar on new the Centre’s profile, identifying its comparative information technology (IT)-tools such as advantage and its niche, for elaborating the new Weblogs, Wikis, e-mail discussion groups Strategic Plan (SP) 2007–2010. (d-groups) and rich site summaries (RSS) and their relevance for improving communication Based largely on the recommendations that with CTA ’s target groups, an initiative that came out of the two external audits and the will be further explored within the Centre. external evaluation, CTA has initiated a number of changes to its project cycle management Allowing for new advice and guidance from (PCM) process. Immediate improvements have its ACP and EU stakeholders and supervisory been observed in the Centre’s efficiency (saving authorities, CTA ’s next Strategic Plan will pay time and money) through the following efforts: particular attention to the following issues: • Assessment of the experience of CTA ’s • Redefining medium-term priorities that project and management staff in the logical better match CTA ’s limited capacities. To framework (log-frame) methodology for this end, CTA will analyse its comparative project evaluation, and identification of advantage; update and further elaborate training needs. This led to the re-introduction its criteria and strategies on a number of a one-page narrative for all projects. These of issues, including the choice of themes summaries provide all relevant information and sectors, targeting of beneficiaries and in a concise manner including the problems selection of partner organisations; and being addressed, overall objective, project review and strengthen its approaches to purpose, results and activities, budget, needs assessment, impact analysis and the implementation period etc. This information management of feedback from beneficiaries. will form the basis of a database on CTA activities. • Identifying ways, where feasible, of further strengthening information and • Analysis of shortcomings related to project communications management and cycle and project contract management technology( ICM/ICT) in the Centre’s combined with sensitisation workshops on portfolio of interventions, while not losing CTA ’s financial regulations and its Vade track of conventional services such as print mecum, involving all staff. This