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TRIP REPORT AfricaLink Implementation by the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) May 4 to 15, 1998 Jeffrey A. Cochrane USAID/AfricaLink Advisor June 3, 1998 The AfricaLink Advisor in Washington joined the AfricaLink liaison of the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA), Mr. Alassane Diallo, to visit rural agricultural research institutes in Burkina Faso and Mali that have received Internet connectivity assistance under the AfricaLink program. Mr. Diallo at WARDA is the administrator of a $310,000 grant from USAID to support West and Central African agricultural research networking. As of October 1997 some $180,000 has been disbursed. The purpose of the visits was to assess the effectiveness of connectivity interventions under the WARDA/AfricaLink program, and to determine how further AfricaLink assistance might facilitate more effective information management. At each institute, a questionnaire was administered to senior research scientists and to technical staff charged with operating networking equipment. The results of the survey will be compiled in a database for further analysis. Conclusions from this and preceding assessment surveys are discussed in a separate report. Specific observations and site-specific conclusions from the visits are contained here. INERA: Farako-Ba (Bobo Dioulasso), Burkina Faso Tuesday May 5, 1998 The Farako-Ba station of the Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA) is located on the outskirts of Bobo Dioulasso off the main road from the south. Interviews were conducted with several members of staff, who report that equipment has been purchased for the research station and is presently in Ouagadougou awaiting delivery to Bobo Dioulasso. A computer and modem will be installed in a computer room that has been identified. Staff will then visit the computer room to retrieve and send their messages. Presently, staff must drive several kilometers into Bobo Dioulasso to access accounts from a terminal at another office. Staff are eager to have access onsite, and expect the volume of email traffic to increase greatly. Persons Contacted: Jacob Sanou, Maize Research Scientist Drissa Hema, Rice Breeder Alidiata Sanou, Secretary INERA: Nyangoloko, Burkina Faso Wednesday May 6, 1998 The town of Nyangoloko is one of the first major towns in Burkina Faso on the road from Côte d'Ivoire, and the Nyangoloko INERA station is just south of town. Staff report that equipment has been purchased and is to be delivered from Ouagadougou. No senior researchers were on site the day of our visit. Junior staff escorted the AfricaLink team on a brief tour of facilities. There is as yet no link to the nation's electric power grid, though electricity poles are in place. A large generator provides power in the evenings to the onsite residences, including the station chief's home. We speculate that it may be best to place the email access computer in the station chief's home for security. A voltage regulator will be required for use with the generator. Persons Contacted: Bomane Soura, Agricultural Extension Agent INERA: Banfora, Burkina Faso Wednesday May 6, 1998 Banfora is the second major town in Burkina Faso on the road from Côte d'Ivoire, and the Banfora INERA station is near the center of town. Staff report that equipment has been purchased and is to be delivered from Ouagadougou. The probable site of installation will be the station chief's receptionist office where the three senior members of staff will have access. The station has recently undergone a major change in personnel, and the newly arrived station chief had not yet articulated a research program. Persons Contacted: Amadou Diabaté, Station Chief and Agricultural Economist IER: Niono, Mali Friday May 8, 1998 Niono is a small town some 100 kilometers north of Ségou in Central Mali. A dam across the Niger River near Ségou supports a bridge for the road leading to Niono, and also diverts water into a series of large canals. One of these canals transports water to Niono. The Niono station of the (Institut d'Economie Rural (IER) is along the edge of a rice field, irrigated from one of the Niger canals, and stretching as far as the eye can see across a perfectly flat terrain. The Niono station appears well supported, with a new block of office buildings, and access to the national telephone and electricity networks. Computers were visible in many of the offices we visited. A small concentration of computers were in evidence in a central computer room. All offices are being wired for a local area network. Email is presently accessed from the computer room. With the advent of the LAN, it may be possible to deliver email to desktops in offices equipped with computers. Cost for Web browsing is a concern, though it was reported that the Mali telephone company will be reducing charges to remote stations such as Niono for telephone access to Internet service providers. Utilization of email seemed to vary by person, though in principle all had access. Staff spoke of a "culture" of email. Voice telephone is preferred, particularly for communications within Mali. It was noted that a telephone sits on a person's desk and is therefore easily accessed. Email must be accessed sometimes from a separate building in a computer room. Regular work habits that incorporate email have yet to be established. Persons Contacted: Mohamed Diarra, Librarian Gaston Sangare, Station Accountant Doré Guindo, Rice Program Chief Amadou Cissé, Director of the Regional Center Mamadou Kabirou Ndiaye, National Coordinator for the PSI program (soils) A. Budelman, Technical Advisor (Holland) Aly Soumaré, Rice Researcher Julien Simon, Information Specialist (Holland) IER: Bamako, Mali Monday May 11, 1998 The IER headquarters in Bamako plays a largely coordinating and supervising function. The informatics engineer coordinates access to the Internet for all IER stations, and was the person who applied in their behalf for AfricaLink assistance from WARDA. She reports equipment installed and connections established in Kayes, Sotuba, Sikasso, Niono, Mopti, Gao and Bamako, though in Gao and Kayes there are reportedly problems with electricity and telephone service. An information strategy for IER was discussed. Based on those discussions, it seemed best to concentrate resources to assure that the coordinating informatics engineer is herself fully prepared to take advantage of Internet technologies and to design an effective information management system. Under this overall strategy, it will be her responsibility to organize special training events for staff at individual stations. WARDA/AfricaLink will provide support for her specific training, likely to include travel to Bouaké for consultations with WARDA scientists and with WARDA's documentation center staff. Additional support will also be provided for the training needs she identifies among the various IER stations. The cost for sustaining Internet access for the various IER stations is centrally funded, and seems at first glance to be excessively high for the services being provided. It was noted that a portion of AfricaLink funds had been allocated to pay past access bills rather than to provide the specific equipment and services in the budget submitted to WARDA/AfricaLink. This was a cause for concern, and was discussed with senior IER staff. The IER Director noted that the present contract with a local Internet services firm will soon expire, and he anticipates visiting several of the other competing firms to see if a more economical service contract can be elicited. One cost-effective solution discussed would require a fairly high level of technical expertise on the part of the IER informatics engineer, specifically to operate a mail server. If this is deemed the best solution, additional training may be provided to her in this area. Another solution discussed was the decentralization of funding for Internet access, making each station responsible for its own access accounts. This, too, will be considered by IER, in consultation with AfricaLink/WARDA. Persons Contacted: Oumar Dansogo, Information and Documentation Chief Ibrahima Ndiaye, Forestry Production Coordinator Cheick Dia, Information/Documentation/Publications Chief Amadou Diarra, Vegetable Production Science Coordinator Bino Teme, Scientific Director Ouleymatou Traoré Sissoko, Informatics Engineer IER: Sotuba, Mali Tuesday May 12, 1998 The Sotuba station is located about 30 minutes from Bamako. The complex is as large as that in Niono, though the buildings and equipment seem much older and less recently renovated. There is access to the national telephone and electricity grid Quite a number of researchers at this station have participated in the CRSP program and have studied in America. Nearly all scientists indicated regular communications with professors and scientists at their collaborating American universities, almost always by email. Communications within Mali were reported generally to take place by telephone or at physical meetings. Communications within the subregion, however, were said to be extremely limited, and rarely by email. We asked one scientist if this was because he did not know the email addresses of his colleagues in the region. He responded that at every regional meeting email addresses are exchanged. Asked why he did not communicate with the colleagues attending these meetings, he replied that he really had no particular reason to do so. A firmer conclusion awaits compilation of the questionnaire data, however a preliminary implication drawn is that key lines of communication pass from field station technicians to national researchers and then to international donors. The fostering of regional collaboration, e.g. among sorghum scientists in West Africa, does not appear to be a priority. Perhaps there are no fiscal, programmatic, or career incentives for such collaboration. Or perhaps it is simply because the technology to facilitate regional collaboration is too new. This issue warrants further study. Persons Contacted: Niamoye Yaro Diarisso, Sorghum Entomology Researcher Cheick Hamala Diakité, Soil Laboratory and Remote Sensing Unit Bouréma Dembelé, Sorghum Program Chief Aminata Sidibé, Research Assistant (Soils) Sidi Bekaye Coulibaly, IntSorMil Project Coordinator Mamourou Diourté, Phytopathologist Abdoul Karim Traoré, Center Director Ramata Diallo Kaba, Secretary IER: Sikasso, Mali Thursday May 14, 1998 Nearly all persons interviewed at the Sikasso IER station took at least minimal advantage of access to email. As at other sites, physical access within the facility was identified as the principal reason why usage levels were low. In particular, scientists who had studied abroad spoke of the ease and convenience with which they used email in other countries, for example at Reading University in the United Kingdom. Nonetheless, usage of email by some persons was relatively frequent. One person reported twice monthly emails to persons in the UK. Another reported as many as 5 emails per month to correspondents in Belgium, Burkina Faso, Holland, and the USA. Email communications with Europe and America were much more common than within the subregion. Persons Contacted: Zana Jean-Luc Sanogo, ESP-GRN Team Chief Bokary Allaye Kelly, Forestry Program Researcher Aminata Diarra Doucoure, Agricultural Research Assistant, ESP-GRN Hamady Djouara, Agricultural Economist Mama B. Kone, Cotton Soil Fertility Abdoulaye Hamadoun, Lowland Rice Program Chief Mamadou Simpara, Lowland Rice Program Hydrology Amadou Malé Kouyate, Forestry Resource Program Delegate Boubacar Diaw, Documentalist N'Golo Coulibaly, Sociologist ESP-GRN Siaka Traoré, ESP-GRN Program Informatics Specialist Fanta Cissé, Administrative Assistant Internet Service Providers in Bamako Tuesday May 12, 1998 There are reportedly four Internet service providers (ISPs) now in operation with licenses under the arrangement negotiated with SoTelMa (Société de Télécommunications de Mali) and the USAID Leland Initiative. USAID/Bamako staff report that the agreement provided for an initial four commercial ISP licenses, and there are reportedly about a dozen more potential market entrants considering their economic chances. DataTech offers 15 hours per month PPP with all the usual Internet services (e.g. email, Web) for F20,000 CFA plus F1,500 for additional hours. The approximate exchange rate is F600 CFA to US$1. DataTech offer unlimited access at F75,000, but there is also about a F20 per minute telephone line usage charge from SoTelMa with which to contend. CEFIB offers a mail-only account for only F10,000 per month, which seems like quite a bargain. Their minimum full-service account is F35,000 for 25 hours per month, with the charge for surplus hours F2000. Their unlimited formula is F75,000. We have no basis for a comparison of service quality. Many speak of MaliNet as being of the highest quality, but when pressed for a reason they simply cite them as having been around the longest. We have encouraged our partners to shop for best price/quality combinations. MaliNet charges F25,000 for up to 30 hours, and F150,000 for unlimited, which reportedly includes unlimited email boxes. We were also told that a local leased line (within Bamako) runs about F1.1 million ($1800) per month. But there was a report of a technician to arrive soon with Leland Initiative funding to upgrade some SoTelMa equipment to permit perhaps better access to their satellite hub. USAID/Bamako Tuesday May 12, 1998 An extended meeting was held with staff of USAID/Bamako. Of particular interest was a discussion of a proposal by a regional USAID mission director for a coordinated referral service within the Agency to assist USAID project officers and contractors in securing information technology and information management assistance from the most appropriate office, e.g. AfricaLink, the Leland Initiative, or a bilateral Mission information program. Concern was expressed by Mission staff that initiatives from Washington are not always as coordinated as the could be with bilateral mission staff, though upon further discussion it did not seem as if this concern was directed toward AfricaLink. Additional discussion centered around the diminishing role of the USAID regional technical support unit (REDSO) which is being closed in Abidjan. In East and Southern Africa, USAID offices with a regional focus are assuming greater responsibility for furnishing information technology and management assistance. In West Africa, the most apparent foci of technical expertise now resides with the bilateral missions. In the case of Mali, a specific strategic objective has been established to focus on bilateral information technology and management issues. As some regional support functions are now to be situated in Bamako, it was suggested that the Mission explore the possibility of hosting regional information management and technology support as well, particular for USAID non-presence countries, in collaboration with AfricaLink and other USAID/Washington programs. The consultative services of IRM/CIS/PTT may be helpful should the Mission choose to explore this possibility. Persons Contacted: Dennis Bilodeau, Information and Communications Team Leader Martine Keita, Information and Communications Team Assa Simbara, Leland Coordinator, Information and Communications Team

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