The Project

Theme: The issues of farming, rearing livestock and their sanitary conditions are at the heart of this project ICVolunteers aims to provide the means to improve the information available to those directly involved in the agricultural sector, a pillar of the local economy for pastoral regions in Mali and Senegal.

Context: The isolated nature of rural zones means a large majority of farmers, herders and fishermen do not have access to information and communication technologies and information that would be very useful for their work and existence.

Our activities: We wish to accompany in the development of practices, such as harvesting of market information by sending a member of a village to the market in order to see who sells, stores, transports and buys which goods and who the intermediate traders are. Among the information given: market prices, bids, purchase / sale, weather alerts and other complementary the information.

We wish to set up, through the present project, an SMS subscription service allowing subscribers to obtain valuable information sent by SMS and detailed on the present web platform. This information may be displayed in different ways, among which a laptop used in a public location in villages.

The ultimate aim is to indirectly and directly assist farmers to better negotiate their specific share of sales, ideally doing direct sales with a merchant rather than through rather rather than to deal with multiple middlemen.

Beneficiaries: Young farmers, journalists of community radios, women, information and communication specialists.     

Partners: Local: Primature; Ministry of Agriculture; Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); National Civil Service of Senegal; Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise (RTS); National Meteorological Office; various local authorities; Farmer organizations; Senegalese Institute of Agricultural Research (ISRA); CRESP; Youth and ICT_Mali. International: International Office of epizootic disease; FAO; Association Africaine de Suivi-Evaluation; CILSS; CIRAD (Agricultural Research for Developing Countries); Fonds inforoutes -- Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF); French Embassies in Mali and Senegal; Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF).

• Transform the digital divide into digital opportunities so as to create a society in which knowledge is shared.
• Create opportunities for young people in rural zones to avoid migration to -and the further overpopulation of- the cities.
• Use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) within ICV’s network to better inform the public, namely journalists from community radio stations, women and young volunteers.
• Develop ICT to adapt to the needs of farmers and their oral tradition.

• Develop training in ICT to help improve husbandry practices.
• Promote better pastoral management and sanitary conditions
• Promote the adoption of sustainable husbandry practices by making farmers aware of their responsibilities (awareness of agricultural methods which respect the environment and biodiversity)
• Acknowledge the value of commercializing products and sub-products in the husbandry industry.
• Create an inventory and set up a monitoring system of livestock and pastures, interface “Green Network”.

• Consult farmers, breeders and other actors in the sector to identify their expectations.
• Set up a system whereby those who have been trained in ICT train others in turn. 
• Create a website, discussion forum and management and information tools for the actors in agriculture, their organizations, exporters, importers and researchers.
• Provide community radio journalists with the information necessary to diffuse radio programs made in collaboration with and intended for farmers.
• Share information and make it accessible to a large audience through group discussions, door-to-door calling, radios, posters, newspapers.
• Carry out research into making the project financially self-sustainable in the long term.

• To provide a model for farming
• To rearing livestock in the targeted area 

Role of ICV: To recruit cybervolunteers and coordinate the various activities of the project.

Project duration: First phase: 18 months   

Number of volunteers involved in the project: 350

Zones in Mali:

• Timbuktu: rice and wheat, livestock, fishing
• Segou: any type of cereal, rice, millet, livestock, fishing
• Sikasso: yams, mangoes, potatoes, fruits in general farming, also cotton, but industrial production

Zones in Senegal:

• Guede-Builder: rice, onions, tomatoes, vegetables
• Mbam (tbc)
• Matam (tbc)

Structure: Advisory Committee:

Composed of individuals who advise on the project and help create synergies with different actors linked to the project.

Calendar:

• April-July 2009: establishment of the website, information gathering, information from various stakeholders and partners (AUF, University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, SNA, ...)
• August 2009: gathering information and organizing meetings in the region of Timbuktu, hearing with the Department of Youth of Mali, the first seminar in Mali
•  Third and fourth quarter of 2009: campaign in Timbuktu exploration mission in Segou
•  February 2010: Official launch day with the authorities of Mali, Team cybervolunteers installed in Dakar
• January-June 2010: Following data collection, training, nutrition website
• June 2010: Evaluation Session Midterm
• Monitoring: continuous based on monthly reports from regions and Bamako / Dakar

Calendar:   

2008: Evaluation of the needs and constraints of the project / assessment of its feasibility.
2009/2010: Project implementation.