Regional Agricultural Information & Learning System (RAILS)

Rationale

This six-year (2007 – 2012) African Development Bank (AfDB) funded project is designed to fill current gaps in the rural community–NARS–regional–continental–global information chain.  It adds value to existing systems while avoiding duplication.  It is guided by an assessment of agricultural information systems in Africa and consultations with stakeholders, including SROs and international information service providers.  It will take advantage of the information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructural improvements advocated by the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and national governments, which will improve the utility of web-based information and use of traditional communications tools. FARA's website will be enhanced to become a first-choice portal for African agricultural information.  As such it will provide links to other relevant portals and will act as a strong communication and public relations tool for FARA stakeholders and the FARA Secretariat’s NSFs.   

RAILS Objectives

• To undertake advocacy to encourage increased investment in agricultural information systems (AIS) by African governments and institutions;
• To improve access to information and the ability of African stakeholders to contribute to global agricultural knowledge;
• To facilitate synergies by linking African information conduits to global providers of agricultural information; and
• To develop an African platform for agricultural information and learning systems. 

RAILS Exit Strategy

The need for organisation and infrastructure provided by RAILS will remain a priority for the foreseeable future. RAILS facilitating role in exchange of information and learning across the region will remain a priority and an added value of FARA to its SROs and NARS partners. This is critical if FARA has to be the voice of African ARD.   However, the Secretariat will periodically review the state of Africa’s ICT industry and infrastructure with a view to finding the most effective and efficient mechanisms to provide this service to its stakeholdersRAILS Partners: are NARS, SROs, GFAR, WISARD, CABI, EARD InfoSys+ and other knowledge providers

The purposes, objectives, programme and partners of RAILS have been summarised in a poster: 

-Download RAILS Poster as pdf file
-RAILS Implemetation Workshop, January 2007

Networking Support Function 

RAILS falls under FARA's Access to Knowledge and Technologies function. Please view this page to read more about this function.