The US Agency for International Development (USAID) Leland Initiative is sponsoring an
agribusiness association pilot project, to help integrate use of the Internet in 20
African countries over a five year period. The need for this project arose from evidence
that the small to medium-scale agribusinesses in Africa lacked the experience and
equipment necessary to use information technologies to make their businesses more
efficient. The overall purpose of the project is to promote and strengthen agribusinesses
and their associations by providing training on how to take advantage of electronic
information and to streamline their access to this technology. To accomplish this, the
project seeks to demonstrate how electronic networking and access to critical market
information can be incorporated into marketing strategies and everyday business practices.
Tasks in Phase One
The tasks for the Leland pilot activity were designed as two separate, but inter-related
phases. Five African countries were involved in phase one of the initial pilot project,
which was initiated in November 1996 and is currently drawing to a close. Three of these
five countries are now readying for phase two. In the first phase, associations and groups
were identified, and networks of interested regional agribusiness were formed. Training
and education efforts (both in the form of workshops and on-site consultations) were
undertaken to teach agribusinesses about the advantages of and methods for incorporating
electronic information into their everyday business activities. On-going training and
mentoring was offered to reinforce learning and to ensure successful implementation of
training. Finally, this phase sought to identify the specific types of information that
would be most useful to the agribusiness associations.
Tasks in Phase Two
The second phase will focus on working with and strengthening two Apex groups (an
agribusiness organization that can coordinate with other agribusiness associations). The
Apex groups will facilitate regional networking efforts and information sharing among
agribusiness associations. Phase two will also assist the Apex organizations in developing
customer service plans for structuring their customized information service. One of the
goals is to demonstrate how these plans, which will create information products, can
generate income for the associations. Regular contact will be maintained with the Apex
staff to assist them in developing local market information collection and dissemination
systems. Finally, technical advice on equipment and software systems will be provided to
the Apex organizations.
Conclusions and Lessons Learned from Phase One
Overall, the first phase of the Leland pilot activity has been an unqualified success. A
broad base of the region's agribusiness associations received information technology
training and are actively applying this knowledge in their daily business practices. Many
now use the Internet to keep abreast of changing trends in the agribusiness industry,
identify trade leads and prospective business partners, and market their products to a
global audience. In addition, the Leland pilot activity also yielded important lessons.
First, because electronic networks must be actively maintained and are constantly evolving
to meet the changing needs of network participants, forging and maintaining a viable,
interactive electronic network requires considerable time and effort. This often involves
both regular and pro-active communication exchanges, and active solicitation and
discernment of participant information needs.
Second, if the Internet is available in an organization, but there is no effort to provide
desktop level access to the resource, it is not well used by that organization. The lack
of Local Area Networks (LANs) is a major inhibitor of electronic information use by these
organizations. When assisting in building Internet capacity in an institution, USAID must
also include an emphasis on LANs and provide technical assistance and simple equipment to
make these internal organizational networks possible.
Third, training must focus first on involving the highest staff levels of these
institutions to reach maximum effectiveness. We found that where lower level staff members
were trained and their managers were not, sustained interest in using the Internet could
not be maintained.
Fourth, follow-up support and ongoing mentoring was critical to increasing the human
capacity development. Workshop and training participants receiving immediate and sustained
follow-up support were more likely to apply their newly acquired skills in solving typical
business problems confronted on a daily basis.
Fifth, human networking skills and reticence to participate in information exchanges
remains one of the greatest obstacles in creating and maintaining an electronic network in
the southern and eastern Africa region. In short, for an electronic network to be
successful, people must first be taught how to share information. Teaching the benefits
and skills of human networking is particularly important in Africa. Across much of the
African continent, both historical experience and lack of national legal systems
supporting freedom of speech have led to a cultural ethos that discourages written forms
of information exchanges typically found on the Internet.
Sixth, access to regional market information is of utmost importance to agribusiness
associations in southern and eastern Africa. The demand is there but not the supply. To
create these needed information resources, market information must first be collected on a
local and regional basis and stored in a readily retrievable format for access by
end-users.
Finally, given the expensive and unreliable Internet connections in many of the southern
and eastern African countries, access to information is often prohibitive for local
agribusiness associations. Consequently, the research and information support services
provided under the Leland pilot project proved to be an extremely valuable commodity to
these agribusiness associations. Until the region's telecommunication infrastructure,
policy environment and pricing situation improves, there will continue to be a sustained
need to assist and expedite information flows into Africa.
For more information, please email: cfi@afrtrade.org
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