The workshop  is aimed to assist the member NARS with new capacities for better agricultural  information management through revitalizing APARIS activities and through which strengthening global ICM4ARD initiatives to improve effective use of  information by all ARD stakeholders in the region and the world over. The specific objectives are as follows:

Workshop Objectives:

• To orient participants to the potential opportunities of new ICT/ICM for AR4D (in the areas of research,  extension, marketing and agri-business).
• To orient participants to the Coherence in Information for Agricultural Research for Development (CIARD) initiative and equip them to contribute to the CIARD Roadmap to Information Nodes and Gateways (CIARD RING)
•  To identify mechanisms to strengthen Asia-Pacific Agricultural Research Information System (APARIS) for efficient exchange of data, knowledge and technologies in the region and present the status of ICT/ICM in AR4D in the Asia-Pacific region.

Outcomes:

• Increase in the awareness on new ICT/ICM initiatives among Information and Communication Managers of NAIS.
• Promotion of CIARD initiative, capacity building for NAIS in the Asia-Pacific region to contribute to the CIARD initiative and registration of NAIS services in the CIARD RING.
• Mechanisms for strengthening APARIS to undertake better advocacy, networking, partnerships and human & institutional capacity strengthening programs in the region and a status report on ICT/ICM in AR4D in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Workshop Methodology:

• Presentations by resource persons to provide an overview of new and contemporary ICT/ICM tools and technologies; report on APARIS activities; other concepts as indicated in the themes (by APAARI, GFAR, FAO, Regional Fora, NAIS, AIT, Kesatsart University)
• Sharing of experiences /case studies / success stories on ICT/ICM in agriculture and rural development by resource persons from select NAIS/GFAR/FAO/Private sector
• Group work by the participants to identify areas and mechanisms to strengthen APARIS in the region; and strategies for contributing to the global initiatives in the region followed by panel discussions
• Presentation on the status of ICT/ICM in AR4D in NARS by the participants
• Demonstration of CIARD RING and making NAIS to register their services.

Program Themes:

• ICM4ARD Agenda; Global ICM4ARD trends especially after GCARD 2010 and IAALD Congress 2010 – the way ahead
• Content coherence; integration of information systems and service; policy support scenario; research on ICT in agriculture; institutional changes; infrastructure; investment in ICT/ICM for AR4D
• How to strengthen APARIS activities; Report on APARIS – sharing of outcomes from: Communication Strategy for AR4D in A-P; Status Report on ICT/ICM in AR4D in A-P; ICT Success Stories
• CIARD Advocacy and Capacity Building for NAIS in the Asia-Pacific region - CIARD: A New Way Forward-Concept, Values, CIARD Manifesto, and Checklist. How it is useful and how to contribute to it; equipping NAIS to adopt suitable tools and for making information sharable on CIARD RING platform.
• Content management issues - metadata standards, agricultural vocabularies, AGROVOC and the AGROVOC concept server workbench, description of digital resources, interoperability issues, intellectual property rights etc.
• Opportunities and Innovations in ICT-enabled Knowledge Management in AR4D through experience sharing on Agricultural Information and Learning Systems, Agricultural Institutional Knowledge Repositories (AGRIS DSpace, AGROVOC Plug-in for AGRIS DSpace).
• Awareness on new and contemporary ICT/ICM tools and technologies (emerging technologies, 3G / 4G technologies, Cloud computing, semantic technologies, web 2.0, social networking, GIS and precision farming applications etc.)

For more information or to register, visit the event webpage: http://www.apaari.org/events/ict-icm-for-naris.html