INTERNATIONAL FUND FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF IFAD TO THE EXECUTIVE BOARD FOR FUNDING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANT TO THE INTERNATIONAL FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH NETWORK (ONG RIMISP)
FOR THE FIDAMERICA NETWORK - PHASE II

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPENDIX

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF IFAD TO THE EXECUTIVE BOARD FOR FUNDING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANT TO THE INTERNATIONAL FARMING SYSTEMS RESEARCH NETWORK (ONG RIMISP)
FOR THE FIDAMERICA NETWORK - PHASE II

I submit the following Report and Recommendation on a proposed technical assistance grant (TAG) to the International Farming Systems Research Methodology Network (ONG RIMISP) to support the FIDAMERICA Network - Phase II, in the amount of USD 800,000 for a three-year period.

PART I – BACKGROUND

1. The Executive Board of IFAD, in its 55^th Session (13 and 14 September 1995), approved a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG N° 310-RIMISP), to support the creation of FIDAMERICA, a network of IFAD-supported projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. Actual operations of FIDAMERICA started in November 1995. The institution in charge of organizing and coordination FIDAMERICA is ONG RIMISP.

2. During February and March 1998, a Pre-Terminal Evaluation of FIDAMERICA was conducted by IFAD’s Office of Evaluation and Studies. The main achievements of TAG 310-RIMISP, include: (a) The program was very rapidly designed, set up and started, thanks to the excellent coordination achieved between IFAD’s Latin American and Caribbean Division, and ONG RIMISP; (b) As of March 1998, 31 out of 41 of IFAD’s programs and projects in LAC, are linked to the FIDAMERICA network. This is 80% more projects and programs than the target. (c) A Web Site has been established, containing detailed information about 24 of IFAD’s projects and programs in LAC. It also includes about 220 electronically-published documents, a majority of which have been written by staff of IFAD’s projects and programs. The site also contains a Virtual Farmers’ Market and a Virtual Rural Development Library. The site also contains a well categorized list of other sites of the Internet, including about 350 links. (d) An average 670 individuals per month visit FIDAMERICA’s web site. An average 93,000 kilobytes of information per month are downloaded by these visitors from FIDAMERICA’s Web site. (e) A total of seven electronic lists have been set up, including: FIDAVANCE (80 subscribers), is used mainly to exchange messages between IFAD projects in LAC; CONFERENCIAS (257 subscribers), is the site of FIDAMERICA’s Electronic Conferences; MERCADOS (45 subscribers), is a list specialized on marketing of agricultural products; PREVAL is a list established in support of the TAG (302) of the same name, with 130 subscribers, specialized on monitoring and evaluation issues. Together, these electronic lists provide an impressive system supporting the communications and the exchange of knowledge and information between IFAD’s projects and programs, and between them a dozens of other organizations and experts throughout LAC and other regions of the world. (f) As of March 1998, FIDAMERICA has organized four major electronic conferences, on the following topics: "Role of farmers’ organizations in the management of new opportunities for rural development", "Financial services for the rural poor", "Innovative marketing schemes for agricultural products from poor rural communities", and "Privatized and decentralized extension and technical assistance services for the rural poor". FIDAMERICA also organized a Virtual Latin American Contest of Autobiographies of Women Peasant Leaders, with 103 contestants and over 200 participants. In addition, four short electronic debates have taken place. FIDAMERICA has also provided the electronic facilities for electronic conferences of other IFAD-supported programs, such as PREVAL and the PRORECA TAG. About 180 documents and case studies have been prepared for these electronic meetings, in which over 1000 messages have been exchanged with comments and questions. The total number of participants in these electronic meetings is of 954, coming from virtually all of the LAC countries. (g) As of March 1998, FIDAMERICA has organized nine training workshops: four in 1996 (Bolivia, Mexico, Chile and Venezuela), three in 1997 (Chile, Costa Rica and Bolivia), and one in 1998 (Bolivia). A Virtual Training Workshop was organized in 1998 jointly with the TAG’s PROCASUR and FIDA-CIARA. Since the fifth workshop, all these activities have been organized in response to explicit and formal demands from IFAD’s programs and projects. In all the workshops, the participants have paid a large part of the cost of their participation. In total, 173 persons from IFAD’s projects and programs have been trained in the use of Internet in support of rural and agricultural development activities. An Advanced Workshop will be held in August, 1998. Two training workshops for leaders of farmers’ organizations will be held in the near future, one in July and one in October, 1998. (h) A 200 page Training Manual was prepared in 1996, and revised in 1998.

3. According to the evaluation, FIDAMERICA has had the following effects on the access of IFAD’s projects and programs to information and knowledge, and on their decision-making processes: (a) Activities such as the electronic conferences, have allowed IFAD’s projects to disseminate, exchange, share and debate experiences, problems and ideas. (b) FIDAMERICA’s web site has provided a cost effective means to disseminate information about the approaches, activities and achievements of IFAD’s projects and programs in LAC. It has also been an efficient entry point into the Internet, with numerous links to sites specializing in issues and topics relevant to IFAD’s projects and programs. (c) Thanks to the generalized used of electronic mail, and to the electronic lists established by the program, communications have been significantly improved, at low costs, and as a consequence, decision making processes are now faster and more efficient in IFAD’s projects and programs in LAC. (d) A very large proportion (75%) of the ongoing operation of IFAD in LAC, are actively linked to the Internet, allowing them daily access to the vast information and knowledge resources available in that network. It is a certain fact that no other multilateral organization in any region of the developing world, has provided access in such as scale to the Internet to its projects and programs.

4. The existence of FIDAMERICA has significantly contributed to the visibility of IFAD in the region. Hundreds of grassroots organizations, NGOs, governmental and international institutions, have participated in one or more of the electronic meetings, have downloaded information and documents from the web site, etc. IFAD is now seen as a leader in putting modern, Internet-based knowledge and information management systems, at the service of agricultural development and rural poverty alleviation. This leadership position has been reported by such influential media as The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times.

PART II – RATIONALE AND RELEVANCE

5. In this age, rural and agricultural development are processes which reflect and depend on the decision-making ability of local communities. Timely access to relevant knowledge and information, as well as an improved social capability to make use of these resources, are key factors in making effective use of "traditional" assets (i.e., land, labor, capital) to meet development goals and objectives. IFAD's strategy recognizes this, and therefore, IFAD projects always include components, such as training and technical assistance, which aim at expanding the knowledge and information base of local communities. To improve the capabilities of these communities to make an effective and sustainable use of enhanced knowledge and information, IFAD projects also stress concepts, such as participation, decentralization and strengthening of local organizations and leadership systems. As shown by the results of the first phase of the FIDAMERICA network, the traditional approaches to enhancing local decision-making capacities can now be radically improved by making use of modern technologies in the fields of electronic

PART III – THE PROPOSED PROGRAM

6. The general objective of this program will be to support the decision making processes of IFAD’s operations in LAC, by facilitating the systematization, documentation, archive, capture, communication and exchange of knowledge and information through Internet-based electronic tools and services. The specific objectives of this program will be: (a) To support the development of human resources within IFAD’s operations in LAC, capable of using Internet-based tools and services to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their projects and programs. (b) To stimulate and organize dynamic and sustainable processes of information and knowledge systematization, documentation, archive, capture, communication and exchange, covering specific topics selected as being of high priority for IFAD’s operations in LAC. (c) To adapt or design specific Internet-based electronic tools and services to support the processes described in specific objectives (a) and (b). (d) To create conditions for the financial and institutional sustainability of FIDAMERICA after the end of this activity.

7. Expected direct beneficiaries will include: a) No less than 100 organizations of the rural poor in LAC, which are working with IFAD projects and programs, who will receive the assistance of FIDAMERICA to have access to Internet-based tools and services in support of their economic and social activities; b) All of IFAD’s projects and programs in Latin America, who will improve their decision-making processes by having better and more timely access to relevant and high quality knowledge and information; c) Several dozen public and private institutions in LAC, which work directly with IFAD’s projects and programs in the delivery of technical and financial services to the rural poor, who will also have full participation in the activities of this program; d) IFAD, which will benefit from less costly and more efficient communications with its operations in LAC, as well as from the information and knowledge generated or systematized through FIDAMERICA’s activities.

8. The main output of the program will be an Internet-based knowledge and information system involving no less than 100 organizations of the rural poor in LAC, IFAD, all of IFAD’s programs and projects in LAC, several dozen public and private institutions working with the rural poor in LAC, and several hundred specialists and technical staff, covering all or almost all of the Latin American countries.

9. The proposed program will have three main components:

1. Training. Approxima

2. Knowledge and Information Projects. FIDAMERICA will implement four Knowledge and Information Projects (KIP). Each KIP is a systematic and coherent set of activities designed to reach clear and measurable objectives within a given time frame and applying well defined resources. The activities of these KIP will be directly related to knowledge and information systematization, documentation, archive, capture, communication and exchange, using Internet-based electronic tools and services. Examples of these electronic tools and services include: electronic conferences, electronic newsletters, electronic publishing of gray literature and project documents, online distance training, human resources data bases, institutional resources data bases, online horizontal technical assistance services, data bases of "Recommended Practices", etc. The specific topics to be covered with these four KIP, will be selected in a participatory manner, involving all of IFAD’s programs and projects in LAC, as well as IFAD staff and managers. Only for illustration purposes, the topics of the KIP could be like the following: Financial systems for the rural poor; Peasant economic organizations; Markets for technical assistance services for the rural poor; Sustainable development of arid and semiarid tropical regions; Sustainable management of natural resources in areas of rural poverty; Operationalization of the gender analysis approach; etc.

3. Development of electronic tools and services. In order to support the activities of the KIP, and also to maintain the topics of the training courses up to date, it is essential that FIDAMERICA develops new Internet-based electronic tools and services. The rate of innovation in the Internet is so high, that without this component, the network would very rapidly become obsolete. As has been the case during the first phase (TAG 310), the basic strategy will be to use those resources which are widely available in the Internet free of charge. However, these still need to be adapted, installed, managed, maintained and operated. Some tools and services (such as the online data bases) require the work of specialists.

PART IV - Organization and Coordination

10. A Steering Committee (SC) will be established, that will meet electronically every three months, and will hold three face-to-face meetings during the three-year period of the program. The SC will be made up of one IFAD representative and one ONG RIMISP representative. A Coordination Committee will be established with the participation of the SC members, plus one representative from each of the four KIP. The representative of each KIP will be elected by the Directors of the IFAD projects and programs which have decided to participate in that KIP. The responsibilities of the SC will include: (a) To define the general strategy of the program, within the framework of this President’s Report and the TAG signed between IFAD and ONG RIMISP, (b) To approve the Annual Work Plan to be proposed by ONG RIMISP, and (c) To approve the internal evaluation of the Annual Work Plan.

11. FIDAMERICA will have the following staff: (a) one General Coordinator, paid in part by IFAD and in part by ONG RIMISP, (b) one full-time Administrative Assistant, (c) one half-time Internet Specialist, to develop the required electronic tools and services, (d) one full-time Internet Assistant, to be responsible for the day-to-day administration of the electronic conference systems, the electronic mail lists, updating of the web pages of IFAD projects and programs, etc.

12. Reports, evaluation, audits. ONG RIMISP will present annual progress reports to IFAD. One pre-terminal evaluation of the project will be carried out, with IFAD’s participation, approxima

PART V – PROGRAM COSTS AND FINANCING

13. The estimated total project cost over the three-year period will be of USD 944 350. It will be financed by IFAD with a grant of USD 798 600, and by ONG RIMISP with in kind contributions estimated at USD 145 750.

14. The estimated budget of the program is as follows, in USD, for the three-year period:

PART VI - RECOMMENDATION

15. I recommend that the Executive Board approve the proposed technical assistance grant in terms of the following resolution:

RESOLVED: that the Fund, in order to finance, in part, the FIDAMERICA Network, for three years, commencing in November 1998, shall make a grant not exceeding eight hundred thousand United States dollars (USD 800.000) to the International Farming Systems Research Methodology Network (ONG RIMISP) upon such terms and conditions as shall be substantially in accordance with the terms and conditions presented to the Executive Board in this Report and Recommendation of the President.

Fawzi H. Al-Sultan
President

APPENDIX I

TABLE 1. Matrix of FIDAMERICA’s services and activities