Over the course of the last year FAO of the United Nations in conjunction with several international partners has organized a series of Forums on Open Science and Open Data in Agriculture, as well as training workshops on access to agricultural information.

Presentations from the Forum in Namibia and the Myanmar workshop (both in April 2016) are now available to view online on the Open Knowledge in Agricultural Development channel (OKAD).  

Hosted on scientific publishing platform F1000Research, the Open Knowledge in Agricultural Development (OKAD) channel features articles, slides and presentations related to open knowledge initiatives in the context of agriculture, agri-food and agro-biodiversity.  

Namibia Forum presentations:

• “Access to Global Research in Agriculture to Support National and Regional Research and Academic Programmes” (Gracian Chimwaza, Executive Director, ITOCA, South Africa)
• “Agriculture Research in Southern Africa” (Professor Timothy Simalenga, Executive Director, Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA), Botswana)
• “Institutional and National Policy Implications for Adopting Open Access, Open Data and Open Science Strategies South Africa” (Lazarus Matizirofa - Team Leader: Data, Content & Curation Management Services, Knowledge Management Corporate, National Research Foundation (NRF), South Africa)
• “Major Initiatives and Strategies on Open Access to Data Information in Namibia - Challenges and Lessons Learned” (Veno Kauaria, Director, Namibia Library and Archives Service (NLAS), Namibia)
• “Open Data and Open Science - a Brief Overview” (Dr. Justin Chisenga, Capacity Development Officer, FAO of the United Nations, Rome, Italy)
• “Open Data and Open Sciences Challenges and Benefits of Sharing Data in Agriculture” (Imma Subirats, Information Management Officer, FAO of the United Nations, Rome, Italy)
• “Research, Science, Technology and Innovation in Namibia” (Dr. Eino Mvula, Chief Executive Officer, National Commission on Research, Science and Technology, Namibia)

Myanmar workshop presentations:

• “Brief Activities of e-library (27 April, 2016), Status and Challenges” (Dr Hlaing Hlaing Gyi, Librarian, University of Yangon Library, Myanmar)
• “The Automation of Academic and Some Public Libraries” (Dr. Aung Maw, CTO, iGroup, Myanmar)