Regional Workshop For Strengthening National Information Communication Management

These proceedings relate to a regional workshop which was held in Muscat, Oman, in January 2008. The worshop was designed to strengthen the capabilities of representatives of NIFUs (National Information Focal Units) for analyzing the situations of their  National Agricultural Information Systems (NAIS), and to use their national experiences to identify strengths, weaknesses, and threats/challenges affecting seven key areas influencing development of NAIS, namely: (i) strategy/policy, (ii) institutional aspects, (iii) stakeholders, (iv) content, (v) people, (vi) infrastructure, and (vii) financial aspects. Possible solutions for the key weaknesses and threats/challenges were defined by participants. Finally, the countries’ priorities for early implementation were identified drawing on the list of solutions/ recommendations in their own contexts. The regional workshop was also designed to follow-up on the progress made on the NERAKIN (Near East and North Africa Rural and Agricultural Knowledge and Information Network) knowledge sharing and collaboration platform, in terms of providing training to the stakeholders in the region.