TRIP REPORT
AfricaLink and WARDA
November 1997

The AfricaLink Advisor visited the West African Rice Development Association (WARDA) liaison office in Abidjan to kick off an assessment of AfricaLink activities and results in five countries in West Africa, comprising Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. The meeting was brief, about two hours, because of an imminent conference for which the presence of WARDA staff was required to set up a display and demonstration.

Discussions were also held with staff of the Network for Environmentally Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA) and the Environmental Information Systems (EIS) Programme. Brief discussions focused on the relations of these programs to USAID, and on collaboration with AfricaLink. Further brief meetings were held with Bob Barad, regional telecommunications officer for the World Food Program (WFP), and with Kathryn Toure of AfricaOnline. Dennis Panther in USAID/REDSO was briefed at the end of the visit to Côte d’Ivoire.

WARDA

Expectations for activities through the end of the grant period in September 1998 were discussed, and a program was delineated, with the following major points agreed by staff of WARDA:

• Information management activities will take precedence in the months ahead, focusing on the movement of information, now that connectivity has been established at a large number of major research institutions in West Africa – see the WARDA progress report just submitted.

• WARDA will participate more fully in AfricaLink deliberations and discussions of policy and strategy. In particular, by the end of this calendar year, WARDA will present a statement of its perspective on the Help Desk concept and how it should be adapted to suit the particular needs of West African networks.

• WARDA will assure that sufficient internal resources (equipment, staff) are allocated to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of its activities under AfricaLink. Monitoring will include entering and then maintaining records in the AfricaLink Directory. [After the meeting, a WARDA staff member was trained by the AfricaLink Advisor in the data management modules of the Directory.]

With respect to the visits proposed for the AfricaLink Advisor to several West African grant recipients, WARDA had previously contacted five of its grantees. Responses were received from two of these. WARDA asked in particular that the AfricaLink Advisor investigate a technical problem at the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute in Tamale, Northern Ghana, where it is reported that the telephone system is incompatible with Internet access even though the Institute is able to receive faxes.

NESDA and the EIS Program

Informal discussions were held the evening of November 27. Issues addressed included the present status of the different programs covered, including MELISSA and local environmental action planning, as well as NESDA and national environmental action planning. Procedures for soliciting AfricaLink support were reviewed.

AfricaOnline

The present status of AfricaOnline’s operations in Abidjan was discussed, along with the state of telecommunications generally in Côte d’Ivoire.

WFP

In informal discussions, the present status of WFP’s work in West Africa with wireless technologies was explored. Electronic mail via HF radio is now routine to a number of stations in the region from Guinea to northwestern Cote d’Ivoire. Mobile units for email from vehicles will be installed soon.

Persons Visited

• Alassane Diallo
  AfricaLink Project Coordinator for West and Central Africa
  West African Rice Development Association
  a.diallo@cgnet.com
  Tel: +225 634514/633242/632396
  Fax: +225 634714/227865
  01 BP 2551, Bouake 01, Cote d’Ivoire

• Abou Bamba
  NESDA

• Koffi Kouakou
  EIS Programme

• Kathryn Toure
  AfricaOnline

• Bob Barad
  WFP Regional Telecommunications Officer

• Dennis Panther
  USAID/REDSO