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2008/ED/UNLD/PI/EP/27UnitedNationsLiteracyDecade

EFFECTIVE PRACTICE

Presented a t the UNESCO sub -reg iona l Conference Ad dressing Literac y Cha llenge s in South,

South West a nd Central Asia: Build ing Partnerships and Promot ing Innova tive Approa ches. (29 30 November 2007, New Delhi, India)

Program me na me: Telec entre-b ased Ag ri-c linics for Rural Farmer Emp owerment in Sri

Lanka

Implemented by: Sarvodaya

Basic fac ts

Co unt ry: Sri Lanka

Sta rting yea r: 2006

Outreac h: 1140 farmers per yea r throug h Village Informat ion CentersTarge t Pop ulat ion: fa rming c om munities

Language of instruction: Sinhala

Op erat ing in: Two Distric ts, Nuwara Eliya and Ana radhapura

Ma in Fund ing: UNESCO Bangkok

Conta c t: Ms Thanuja Ra jakaruna - nethimeth@gma il.com

Brief Descrip tion

The Ag ri-c linics prog ramm e is an integrated fa rmer oriented ICT based information

system , imp lemente d b y Sarvod aya w ith the financ ia l and te c hnic a l suppo rt of

UNESCO Bangkok. Other projec t p artners a re the Fac ulty of Ag riculture of theUniversity of Peradeniya (Audio Visual Unit) and CABI.

Very popular local adult learning and communication centers, Agri-clinics, provide

do c umenta tion a nd e-material related to ag ric ultural problems of the area, such as

pests and d isea ses, and price s and ma rket informa tion. They a re sta ffed with

competent personnel and represent thus a unique chance to enhance farmer

literacy skills, learning situations and information access.

Since this is an ICT-ba sed projec t, it wa s essent ial to imp rove the c om puter literac y of

benef iciaries and use o f ICT tools like c ompute rs and information CDs. This g ives high

value to rural marginalized farmers. When they find out that just by inserting a CD in

the computer a world of information is at their hands distant, they are really

fasc inated . The knowled ge and informat ion p rovided to b enefic iaries by the Ag ri-clinics are directly related to their livelihood and since the services are freely

mailto:nethimeth@gmail.commailto:nethimeth@gmail.commailto:nethimeth@gmail.com

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available in a simple and applicable form that can be directly applied to the field

situa tions, they ha ve been very at trac tive to rura l comm unities.

Rationale

Som e o f the fac to rs c ausing low agricultural prod uc tivity in Sri Lanka inc lude pests,diseases, inefficient farming technologies and lack of knowledge within farming

communities on current situations, technologies, trends and market information. Low

levels of knowledge and information flow make the situation worse and these

prob lems are exac erba ted by a relatively low leve l of literac y. Therefore, there is an

urge nt need to em pow er the ag ric ulture sec tor of Sri Lanka with mod ern and up-to -

date knowledge and technologies to make agriculture sector more profitable and

at trac tive for young ge nerations. The p rog ram me a ims a t em pow ering fa rmers and

farmer families through raising their literacy levels to help them access and

understand up-to-da te ag ric ultural informa tion that they need.

Objectives

The overall aim o f this p rojec t is to p rovide fa rme rs with literac y skills and fac ilitate

their ac c ess to knowledge through a n adapted ICT infrastruc ture. By empow ering

farmers to seek knowledge and information on agricultural problems and find

effec tive solutions, the p rog ramm e increases p rod uc tivity and enc ourages growth of

local businesses and livelihoods.

Concep tual Model and Methodo logy

The c onc ep t of the p rog ramm e is to e stab lish a de d ica ted farmer-oriented IT-informat ion system . The Clinics provide lots of d oc ume nta tion a nd e-ma teria l relate d

to agricultural problems of the area, such as pests and diseases, and prices and

ma rket information. They a re sta ffed with c om petent p ersonnel. They a re thus a

unique chance to enhance farmer literacy skills, learning situations and information

access.

The projec t d ivides into 3 sta ges. In the 1st stag e, c ompute r literacy of young farming

communities including children of farmers is enhanced by given them a basic

compute r c ourse tha t inc luded how to hand le a c ompute r, MS Offic e, use o f internet

and email, production of simple format of audio video clips etc. 100 farmer family

c hild ren who w ork as vo lunteers a t Village Informa tion Cent res (VICs) from 10 villages

in Anuradhapura and Nuwara Eliya districts were trained first. In the 2nd

stage theywere trained to teach what they have learnt to other members of VICs under

supervision of the Agri-c linic field office r and Telec ent re Coo rd inato r. In the 3rd stage,

farmers we re trained to use ava ilab le ICT too ls to find the information they need to

improve their productivity, through training programmes. Group discussions,

workshops, computer/video based dialogs and field trials were conducted to

transfer local and expert knowledge in top bottom and bottom up approaches.

Leaflets, booklets CDs and e-books have been provided to farmers to use and

improve their knowledge in agriculture for better productivity and to obtain

informat ion on fa rm manag em ent a nd susta inability of the a gric ultura l p rac tices.

Innova tive features

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Since this is an ICT-ba sed projec t, it wa s essent ial to imp rove the c om puter literac y of

benefic iaries and use o f ICT tools like c om pute rs and information CDs. This g ives high

value to rural marginalized farmers. When they find out that just by inserting a CD in

the computer a world of information is at their hands distant, they are really

fasc inated . The knowled ge and informat ion p rovided to benefic ia ries by the Ag ri-

clinics are directly related to their livelihood and since the services are freelyavailable in a simple and applicable form that can be directly applied to the field

situa tions, they ha ve been very at trac tive to rura l comm unities.