CTA moves in to promote agribusiness for tourism in the Pacific

Food is big business. When harnessed, the potential of the food and AgroProduce industry  to transform developing nations in Africa and the Pacific community is unimaginable! Producing high quality produce and using local ingredients in recipes can add the much needed value to make food a tourist attraction!

If current  positive tourism trends continue, the  Islands in the Pacific  region are expected to net   nearly US$4 billion (€3.58 billion) of revenue from tourism by 2019.

In order to explore  these opportunities for increasing rural revenus and improving local health by promoting agribusiness linked to the tourism sector, a three-day event being staged in Fiji by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), the Pacific Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC). The Agribusiness Forum themed Linking the agrifood sector to the tourism-related markets, will run from July 1 to 3 as part of the Pacific Community Agritourism Week, being held in Nadi from June 29 June to July 3 this is according to a press release issued by CTA dated June 30th 2015.

According to the statement, this is the first such event to be held in the Pacific, the Forum is part of a CTA strategy to encourage agribusiness for island communities in ACP regions as a source of sustainable development. Many of these face similar challenges, including declining revenues from agriculture, small-scale economies, remote locations that are vulnerable to climate change and a strong reliance on imported food, with negative repercussions on local health and revenues.

“The Agribusiness Forum, which is being jointly organised by CTA, PIPSO and SPC, will investigate the scope for sharing knowledge and experiences between small island states in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean and the Pacific regions, as part of the Intra ACP Agricultural Policy Programme, of which CTA is a key partner,” says CTA in the release.

It adds that a major focus of the Forum will involve finding ways to boost agribusiness by linking local production to the rapidly developing growing tourism industry. The meeting will address how to fill knowledge and data gaps in the agribusiness sector and will identify the support needed to strengthen links between the various actors in the value chain – small-scale farmers, processors, finance institutions and tourism and hospitality sector officials.

Products with strong potential for driving growth in the agribusiness sector of the Pacific region include food sourced from local crops, livestock and fisheries, as well as beverages, crafts, cosmetics, flowers, ornamentals and essential oils. Other income generating opportunities include agritourism accommodation, farm and vineyard tours, visits to agricultural processing and plantation activities and agriculture fairs and festivals.

 “CTA is delighted to host this Forum with SPC and PIPSO. The Forum will highlight successes in strengthening links between the agriculture and tourism industries in the Pacific region, especially with the aim of promoting local sourcing and decreasing the huge import bill of most countries in the region,” says CTA Director Michael Hailu in the release.

 “The meeting will analyse and discuss successful business models in linking agriculture and fisheries to the tourism industry for improved market access, local income generation and regional trade.”

Adding fresh spice to the event  are celebrity chefs Shalesh Naidu, Colin Chung and Robert Oliver who will be interacting with farmers and  other chefs at the event which is also featuring private sector representatives, policy-makers, researchers and international development practitioners attending the Agribusiness Forum includes sessions on opportunities for the Pacific agrifood sector in tourist markets, linking fisheries to tourist markets, strengthening agribusiness information and collaboration with development and financial partners.

CTA has promised that success stories and lessons learned will feature strongly at the Forum, which will also present an agrifood trade display, a buyer-seller exchange and cooking demonstrations by top chefs using local products.

A significant group of Malawians including myself have been selected to be part of a team of young social reporters supported by CTA and SPC will be producing daily blogs on the Fiji event.

With the global nature of life today, Malawi has a lot to benefit from insights into Agritourism from the event. Such information is expected to position the nation’s food and hospitality industry to be able compete favourably with other players in Agritourism across the world.

 For more on AgriTourism see and remember to follow the news and discourse on the Pacific AgriTourism Week on Twitter #PacAgriTo

• http://brusselsbriefings.net/past-briefings/building-resilience-of-sids-through-trade-agribusiness/linking-agriculture-to-tourism-markets-in-pacific
• http://blogs.cta.int
• www.cta.int

 

Bringing the radiologist to the fingertips for Malawi’s population

Pic:Courtesy of innovationsformnch.org

Malawi has a doctor patient ratio of one doctor for every 33 000 people and 34 nurses only for serving every 100, 000 people, according to Malawian Radiologist Dr Sam Kampondeni.

The situation seems to be a more impossible medical predicament for those with serious illnesses requiring specialist radiology services and there are many such complex illnesses as the country has a huge disease burden.

The paradox is  that there are less than a handful of radiologists like Dr Kampondeni to combat the situation.

Save for mobile health initiatives such as Moyo Wanga, it would most certainly be a death sentence  for the many with complex illnesses in Malawi.

Dr Sam Kampondeni of Moyo Wanga Private Clinic and one of Malawi’s two  radiologists  currently practicing in the country, started the Mobile Health Initiative to bridge this oceanic gap in the delivery of  health care services but also in creating awareness through health education.

With any basic or feature mobile phone connected to any one of Malawi’s major mobile phone companies, TNM or Airtel a patient or client can simply send an SMS  and consult Dr Kampondeni via the mobile phone in either Chichewa or English at a very minimal cost.  The  Initiative looks promising judging by a  surging mobile phone penetration where over 34 % of the 15.9 million people in Malawi use cell phones.

The partnership between the mobile phone companies and Moyo Wanga Private Clinic is helping to save thousands of lives through easy access to  otherwise hard-to-access medical expertise. At the same it is cutting costs of travel as well as physical consultation.

During the wake of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa  in 2014, Moyo Wanga conducted a nationwide Ebola health education campaign that became viral. People rapidly spread the Ebola awareness messages by forwarding the SMSs  to friends, family and neighbours at a fraction of  the time and money what it would have cost government or indeed development partners to reach the most of Malawi.

I met Dr Kampondeni during IST-Africa 2015 where he explained more on this wonder Mhealth Innitiative.

The radiologist thoroughly explained that the initiatives works by enabling clients to follow easy steps on their mobile phone to send their inquiry which he responds by providing his expert opinion based on what the patient explains and guiding the patient on future action  through a text message.
“ The mobile SMS is permanent and can be read many times and  can be forwarded with no internet at all. More people are helped just reading the SMSs and do not even come to physically consult,” said Dr Kampondeni.

The Moyo Wanga mobile initiative is breaking through Malawi’s deadly culture of silence, shame and fear of discrimination that has killed many Malawians who have opted not to seek help or indeed withhold some useful information to the doctors at the hospitals.

Apart from patients, doctors and clinicians too are able to send their SMS’s and consult Dr Kampondeni as they deliver medical care. Moyo Wanga is a major boost at the point of caring for patients, again reducing the time and money that it would take for the highly demanded for Dr to travel to all the different referral hospitals that require his medical expertise.
“ With Moyo Wanga people are more open as it is semi-anonymous. Even the people I go to church with can freely consult me via SMS,” says Dr Kampondeni.

Dr Kampondeni is quick to call for partnerships to scale out this wonder initiative and to leverage on Malawi’s bursting mobile phone penetration to solve the health country’s health challenges. He admits that  he cannot serve the millions of Malawians alone even with the Mhealth Initiative.

According to Dr Kampondeni, there is need for technical as well as financial support to bring on  a few more medical professionals who can collaboratively assist in responding to patient queries.

In the wake of the recently  introduced 10% tax on mobile SMS and Internet in Malawi, it seems that this and other promising Mhealth initiative in the country have another uphill battle to overcome before the country start to leverage on  emerging ICT4D.

Strong NRENS will grow Africa’s Information Society

The Information society in Europe, Asia  and South America and other world regions  is advancing by the day. Whereby the creation, distribution use and application  of information is a central aspect of daily life be in political. economical and cultural; all these are already leveraging on Information Technologies.

Africa is lagging behind mainly due to lack of affordable and reliable connectivity which is now a fundamental human right. CEO of UbuntuNet Alliance , Dr Pascal Hoba says this can be remedied if African governments begin  to offer greater support to the growth  of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), which are the people networks of researchers and others in the education sector as well as the high speed physical, fiber networks that support their use, sharing and manipulation of big data sets.

Dr Hoba said, in a high level panel at IST-Africa that developing Africa’s knowledge society hugely lies with nurturing well established and functioning NRENS.

And representing the African Union Adil Suleiman indicated that one way in which the African Union is working to support improving connectivity is by encouraging nations to set up Internet Exchange points. On the policy landscape, Ms  Suleiman indicated that the AU is already creating a supportive policy environment by developing  the Regional Connectivity Policy.

On his part Anthony Muyepa, Director General  for the National Commission for Science and Technology  said Malawi as a country was ready to work implementing the information society  by  rejuvenating  the Malawi National Research and Education Network but that the Commission lacks adequate  financial support to carry out its activities.

 Such high level dialogue is expected to translate to a favourable environment for growing Africa’s Information  Society by prompting African nations to remove prevailing challenges.

The plenary was moderated by Paul Cunningham and other panelists included Mrs Lonely Magreta, Permanent Secretary for Education Science and Technology in Malawi, Andrew Kumbatira who is Director General at Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority,  (MACRA), Victor Malewa the Deputy Director of the Malawi e-Government, Dr Harry Gombachika CEO of  Malawi Telecommunications Limited, Kasirim Nwuke, Innovation and Technology, UNECA, Dr Paulos Nyrend CEO  of Malawi’s SDNP , and Concultant Bessie Nyrenda from the Malawi Institute of Management.

IST –AFRICA 2015 is the tenth  in the series of IST-Africa Conferences which are aimed at bringing together  senior representatives  from leading government, industry and research institutions around the world in order to  share knowledge and experience related to Information society, ICT, Innovation, Adoption, Policy and Research. The 2015 Conference was organizes by a an international team comprising various partners  including the European Commission, African Union, UbuntuNet Alliance and local organizers NCST as well as local partner organizations such as  MACRA, MTL, Skyband, the Ministry of Education and  various others.

Malawi, the innovation hub in-the-making

Looking at the recent high level ICT events that Malawi has attracted in the month of May, it is clear that Malawi is more than just a participant in Africa's ICT revolution.  From IST-Africa to the Africa Regional Meeting on Digital health, Malawi is  fast becoming a hub for innovation.

But as  ICT4D stakeholders themselves put it, more support for research, more  innovation hubs and partnerships are needed to foster scaling of innovative ideas  from Malawi as well as  to ensure standards and interoperability among ICT4D initiatives in the country. 

Malawi's mhealth champions were keen to learn from  BD Technologies' Adam Curry on the potential of using unmanned vehicles to  promote maternal and child health at the recent Africa Regional Meeting on Digital Health held in Lilongwe. 

Collaboration and further investment into research are key to building Africa's information society said experts at  a high level panel at IST-Africa 2015 in Lilongwe, Malawi. At the far right is Dr Pascal Hoba the UbuntuNet Alliance CEO

Showcasing Africa, the digital health hub

Eric Gaju presents major health initiatives in Rwanda

Africa can be dubbed the world’s new mobile for development M4D hub if the digital initiatives and experiences being shared at the four-day Africa Digital Health Meeting,  supported by USAID, currently underway in Lilongwe Malawi  are anything to go by.

With a rich showcase of around 120 mhealth interventions at the Meeting and participation from every corner of Africa including; Malawi, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Madagascar, Kenya,  and others including USAID officials, African government representative,  leading private sector firms and innovators from around the world the conference is booming with innovation and insights into the future.

To learn that one of the reasons why Rwanda has achieved MDGs 4 and MD5 is  is partly due to the country's early adoption and efficient use of digital technology in its national  health  initiatives, makes ICT4D all the more worth it for promoters, practitioners, innovators and students of ICT4D.

This was highlighted in one of the mind-stirring discussions themed Digital Health Tools  for Frontline Health Workers which included  panelist; Marco Horta of Dimagi,  Eric Gaju of the Ministry of Health in Rwanda and Maeghan Orton of MedicMobile.

Panelist Eric Gaju explained that one of the digital health initiative Rapid SMS in Rwanda which was among two other  ehealth  programmes. Rapid SMS is mainly targeted at reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates through health sensitization and tracking of expectant mothers and their cases greatly helped Rwanda to reach the MDG targets years before the 2015 expiry of the Development Goals..

Gaju said political advocacy through a Rwanda technical working group greatly helped to gain political will and support for the digital health initiatives.

Asked on the costs incurred in implementing the initiative, Gaju  said “ we are now in favour of open source software  because ofcourse the licensed software were expensive.”

On his part Marco Horta from the developer’s view said that open source platforms such as Comcare are greatly assisting to ensure quality in healthcare systems due to their inclusive usability from data collection stages of mhealth projects to point-of care and medical supplies monitoring and other logistical support. Marco ofcourse called for the need for interoperability of mhealth tools.

The Meeting ends Friday May 15, 2015 with an awards ceremony of the best paper. Follow insights from  the Digital Health Meeting by using #DHAfrica on Twitter. 

Mobile money for improved maternal health, the African story

Pic:Courtesy of D-Tree

Healthcare in Africa is reaching a whole new dimension with the introduction of  mobile money to health systems. 

Mobile money itself takes many local names by the  countries but be it Mpesa in Kenya,  Airtel Money across Africa or Mpamba in Malawi,  the power of these mobile money services is now being  harnessed to take reproductive health services,  health insurance and  and universal health covereage  to those who needed most, the poor masses of  rural Africa.

Sharing her story at the Africa Regional Meeting on Digital  Health, Erica Layer of D-Tree tells the success of  the lives of women in Zanzibar who have had safe deliveries in medical facilities as opposed to the age-old norm of home delivery which has been a part of life in  Zanzibar until recently.

Through a mobile-money based initiative, D-Tree transfers mobile money into the mobile phones held by community health volunteers who monitor pregnant women, the volunteers through the mobile phones closely link the health centres with the expectant mothers by keeping the health officials informed about the numbers and health status of the pregnant women in their areas in between medical centre visits. At the time of delivery, the community volunteers informs the facilities of the women to expects and when to expect the deliveries and this is done  with the collaboration of a network of taxi drivers who provide the transport  to the hospitals.

Despite its huge success, D-Tree’s mhealth initiatives in Zanzibar  are not without challenges as  Erica layer highlighted difficulties in does forecasting transport needs of the mothers as  a challenge and the need for  a culture of digital reporting and accountability among the community volunteers. She also called for improvement in connectivity and an automated medical record system. Nevertheless, the programme has been hugely successful and will be scaled  out to Tanzania. The  four-day meeting is supported by USAID.

News is: UbuntuNet Alliance appoints Dr Pascal Hoba as CEO

UbuntuNet Alliance, the Regional Research and Education Network for Eastern and Southern Africa, on 5th March  announced the appointment of Dr Pascal Hoba as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Alliance with effect from 1st January 2015. Dr Hoba succeeds Eng. Dr Francis (Tusu) Tusubira who retired on 28 February 2015 after successfully leading the Alliance since 2007.

Unlike his predecessor, The new UbuntuNet CEO will be based in Lilongwe and this has send waves of excitement the Malawi research and education community igniting hope for the connecting of the country to the  high speed, UbuntuNet network, funded by the EU ander AfricaConnect project.


Dr Hoba is coming from the Association of African Universities (AAU) in Accra, Ghana where he has been Director of Knowledge Management Information and Communications since 2005. In his role at the AAU, Dr Hoba was also Coordinator of the Europe-Africa quality Connect project and the Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD) programme. He is credited for initiating the Open Access process with the DATAD programme as a regional repository center. 

“Becoming CEO of UbuntuNet Alliance presents a privilege to serve the NREN community which I personally contributed to as first Project Coordinator at the AAU in charge of the RENU (Research Education Networking Unit).” Under this responsibility I organised for AAU, the parallel event at WSIS summit in November 2005 which officially launched UbuntuNet Alliance,” says Dr Hoba.

“It is also a huge responsibility for me. Indeed, there is a positive legacy left by the former CEO and it is my responsibility now to take the Alliance to next level which means consolidating the achievements, bring new services and resources and building a strong regional organisation that supports the NRENs and all organisations that promote education and research networking. With humility, innovation, determination and, of course, hard work, and with the collaboration of the community, I am sure we shall surely write another story of the UbuntuNet Alliance,” says Dr Hoba.

With over 15 years experience in Higher Education, Dr Hoba has served on a number of Africa-wide initiatives and boards such as the ICT Advisory Committee of the Pan African/Indian e-Network Project at the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa; and the Executive Committee of the Pan-African Leadership Institute for Library Management based in Alexandria in Egypt.  What better person to take the Alliance to the next level of being the hub of innovation in ICT and research for propelling Africa to the realisation of its development goals.

He has authored several scientific papers on strategic information and edited a number of books including: The Contribution of Higher Education to National Educational Systems: Current Challenges for Africa published in 2007; Agents in Development, African Higher Education Networks and Policy Entrepreneurship.

The new UbuntuNet Alliance CEO graduated in business law from Law school of Aix en Provence, France he also holds a Masters Degree and PhD in Scientific and Technical Information from the University of Marseilles in France where he also worked as Lecturer in Information Communication from between 1999 and 2005.  His long successful career in communications has also seen him to international development agency ADEA/IIEP/UNESCO as Programme Officer in Paris, France. Dr Hoba presents the dawn of a new era in service provision and efficiency in UbuntuNet Alliance.

Great news  indeed for the the education sector and all ICT players in Sub-Saharan Africa!