ShareFair: Submission result

20/01/2009 : 13:45 - 15:00 (I1015)	India Room (Building A, A-327)
School on-the-air: Promoting good farming practices using rural radio
The school-on-the-air (SOA) is a communication strategy designed to provide farmers with data and information essential to the pursuit of agriculture and rural development. It was adopted by the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture (DA) to disseminate information on new technologies and to promote its agricultural programs and projects among its constituents. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) estimated that more than 11 million Filipinos or 36 percent of total labour force are engaged in agriculture contributing to approximately 18 percent to Gross National Product (GNP). According to the Philippine Information Agency, the majority of the population in the rural areas gets their information and entertainment from radio. Portable radio is a farmer’s companion in the home and in the farm. The IFAD-funded Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resources Management Project (CHARMP) implemented a school-on-the-air (SOA) project in the provinces of Abra, Benguet and Mountain Province to disseminate the lessons learned. The programme focused primarily on the learning experience and was conducted similar to a classroom experience. The SOA students typically farmers, housewives and the youth reside in the project area. Most of the participants were relatively young and literate. The majority had completed secondary education and women constituted a high percentage of the participants. The SOA curriculum was based on the good sustainable agriculture and natural resource management best practices which were written as episodes with specific topics. Twenty-minutes episodes were aired three-times a week, on two radio stations for three months. An additional 10 minutes was used for program identification, disseminating market information and other announcements. The programme was broadcast in two prime time slots:5:30-6:00 A.M and 6:00-6:30 P.M. The farmer-students were required to complete assignments and sit for tests. The tests, assignments and queries were broadcast on the radio. The participants were able to submit their assignments to the radio station which were subsequently collected and collated on a weekly basis. The farmer-students and other listeners sent their queries to the radio station which were forwarded to the agriculture authorities at municipal and provincial level. At the end of each programme, a time was allocated for answering to the listeners queries. The graduation of the farmer-students was one of the highlights of the SOA progamme. The graduating students praised the programme and advocated for it to continue.. The programme conducted an evaluation to assess the impact of the programme. Almost 80% of the participants who tuned in regularly to the programme responded to the evaluation. The evaluation confirmed that: • radio is the most accessible medium as it can reach great number of population in the rural areas • radio is still the most preferred source of information compared to other information sources like agricultural technician, newspapers and other sources. Given the success of this knowledge sharing programme, IFAD and the Government of Philippines will be expanding this programme during the second phase of CHARM. The second phase will be implemented in collaboration with the DA-RFU-CAR Regional Agriculture and Fisheries Information Division (RAFID) of the Department of Agriculture Regional Field Unit, Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-RFU-CAR) and the programme will be broadcast in four community radio stations in the provinces of Abra, Kalinga, Ifugao and Mountain Province; and one regional radio station in Baguio City. Like its predecessor, the CHARMP-2 SOA programmes will be 30-minutes with 20-minutes focusing on the lessons learned during CHARMP-1 and the last 10-minutes devoted to CHARMP-2 updates and price monitoring in the first quarter of FY-2009. CHARMP-2 SOA will aso be made available in CD format and made available to extension workers and provided to SOA enrollees who do not have access to radio. The episodes will also be uploaded on the CHARMP-2 website.
Session: Using Radios to support Rural Communications
Theme: K for rural communications
Organization: IFAD - International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
Author: Robert L. Domoguen Contact emails: rld_sunshine (at) yahoo.com.ph
Facilitator: Luca Servo (FAO)

20/01/2009 : 13:45 - 15:00 (F1001)	India Room (Building A, A-327)
Traditional technologies of distance education, radio, and presents examples of educational and community radio usage in Asia and Africa

Session: Using Radios to support Rural Communications
Theme: K for rural communications
Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization
Author: Sally Berman (FAO) Contact emails: Sally.berman (at) fao.org
Facilitator: Luca Servo (FAO)

20/01/2009 : 13:45 - 15:00 (F1045)	India Room (Building A, A-327)
Rural Communication Systems
FAO has implemented several Rural Communication Systems (RCS) dealing with community outreach, technology innovation and natural resources management in developing countries. RCS are based on the use of Communication for Development methods and tools, integrating participatory methodologies with appropriate media ranging from rural radio to new ICTs. They aim to make relevant information available to technical staff and communities, and to facilitate knowledge sharing in support of agriculture and sustainable rural development. While using various media and information technologies, RCS emphasize the importance of the human network and participatory communication approaches for effective knowledge sharing.
Session: Using Radios to support Rural Communications
Theme: K for rural communications
Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization
Author: May Hani, Mario Acunzo, Riccardo DelCastello, Clare OFarrell Contact emails: May.Hani (at) fao.org; Mario .Acunzo (at) fao.org;Riccardo.DelCastello (at) fao.org; Clare.OFarrell (at) fao.org
Facilitator: Luca Servo (FAO)