[IAALD-L] First IAALD Africa Chapter Conference, May 2006 - 1st Announcement and Call for Papers

[Chisenga, Justin (FAORAF)]

> [Apologies for cross-posting]
> 
> Managing Agricultural Information for Sustainable Food Security and
> Improved Livelihoods in Africa
> 
> 21-26 May 2006
> Nairobi, Kenya
> 
> First Announcement & Call for Papers
> 
> 
> BACKGROUND
> 
> Agricultural information professionals in Africa need to actively
> contribute to the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development
> Goals (MDGs), especially Goal No. 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger,
> whose targets are to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less
> than a dollar a day, and reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer
> from hunger, and to the various efforts being made to improve food security
> and livelihoods especially among the rural poor or communities who depend
> on rural activities for large parts of their livelihoods, on the continent,
> notably those by the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) and
> the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and others.  However,
> this can only be possible if information professionals on the continent
> have the capacities to manage and deliver appropriate and relevant
> information services to various stakeholders in the agricultural
> information consumption chain.  This calls for the use of a combination of
> already established and effective information and knowledge communication
> systems with the new information and communication technologies and
> techniques to produce, manage, and disseminate information in an efficient
> and effective way.  At the same time, there is a need to pay attention to
> the ever widening digital divide between agricultural information consumers
> who can afford access to the new technologies and digital information
> resources and those who cannot.
> 
> Agricultural information professionals in Africa, under the aegis of the
> International Association for Agricultural Information Professionals
> (IAALD), will be organizing a conference from 21 to 26 May, 2006 in
> Nairobi, Kenya to address some of the issues related to agricultural
> information management in Africa. Other objectives of the conference are:
> 
> 	*	To exchange ideas and help develop the skills of African
> agricultural information managers in information handling and management to
> facilitate access to available vital resource.
> 
> 	*	To create a platform where agriculture information
> professionals, scientists and other stakeholders interested in African
> agricultural information for research development can interact and learn
> from each other's experiences.
> 
> 	*	To establish and launch an African chapter of IAALD 
> 
> The Conference Organizing Committee is inviting agricultural information
> management professionals, agricultural information service providers,
> national and international partners to attend the conference either as a
> speaker or as a participant. Contributions (papers and posters) should
> address the conference theme "Managing Agricultural Information for
> Sustainable Food Security and Improved Livelihoods in Africa'' or any of
> the following five broad sub-themes (visit the conference website for
> detailed information on the theme and sub-themes at
> http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/index.html):
> 
> 	*	Building capacity in agricultural information resources
> management 
> 	*	Enabling policy for agricultural information management 
> 	*	Narrowing the digital divide 
> 	*	Knowledge sharing and information systems for networking and
> partnerships
> 	*	Meeting the information needs of stakeholders
> 
> WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS
> 
> The Organizing Committee has reserved the following days/dates for
> workshops, seminars and special meetings:
> 
> 	*	Sunday, 21 May 2006
> 	*	Monday, 22 May 2006
> 	*	Thursday, 25 May 2006 (Half-day)
> 
> Individuals and organizations wishing to hold workshops, seminars or
> special meetings on any of the above dates, should send their proposals to
> Mr. Clement Entsua-Mensah, to the Convener of the Conference Programme
> Committee, email: paakwesi71 at yahoo.co.uk. While every effort will be made
> by the Organizing Committee to assist workshop organizers with local
> arrangements (i.e. securing workshop rooms, arranging for facilities such
> as video projectors, etc), all costs associated with holding workshops,
> seminars and meetings not covered in the conference package/budget will be
> borne by the organizers of such events.  Requests for costs estimates
> should be sent to Dr. Joseph Kiplang'at, Chairman of the Local Organizing
> Committee, email: jkngetich at yahoo.co.uk 
> 
> SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
> 
> Submissions of conference papers should be in MS Word format and should
> include the author's name(s), affiliation, address, e-mail address,
> telephone and fax numbers, a short one-paragraph biographical note, the
> title of the paper, and an abstract of 400 to 500 words. Papers accepted
> will be published on the conference website and later on the site of the
> IAALD Africa Chapter, provided authors present their work at the
> conference. 
> 
> Proposals for posters should include an abstract (maximum length is one
> page) describing the topic of the poster, a title, presenter's name and
> affiliation.
> 
> Proposals for workshops, seminars and meetings should include name and
> address of the institution/organization; contact person responsible for the
> proposed meeting, position/title and email address; title of the workshop,
> meeting, or seminar; objectives; expected outcomes; target audience(s) and
> expected number of participants; facilities required, i.e. number of rooms,
> computers, data projectors, Internet access, etc. 
> 
> Notification of acceptance of the abstracts and proposals for workshops,
> seminars and meetings; and instructions for poster presentations and
> manuscripts, will be sent by 10 December 2005. Instructions for authors and
> poster presentations will also be available on the conference website
> [http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/].
> 
> All abstracts (400 - 500 words) and proposals for posters, workshops,
> seminars and meetings should be submitted in electronic format by 15
> November 2005 to: Mr. Clement Entsua-Mensah, Email: paakwesi71 at yahoo.co.uk
> 
> SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
> 
> There are several sponsorship opportunities available at the conference.
> Sponsors will enjoy the following benefits
> 
> 	*	1 free registration to the conference
> 	*	Insertion of marketing/information materials in conference
> bags 
> 	*	Recognition in the conference programme and on panels/banners
> at the event 
> 	*	Recognition in the press releases 
> 	*	Organization's name and logo will appear on the conference
> website with a link to the organisation's own web site.
> 
> Potential sponsors should contact Ms. Dorothy Mukhebi
> (d.mukhebi at asareca.org) for details on sponsorship opportunities.
> 
> Conference Registration
> 
> 	*	IAALD members - early registration US$90.00, late
> registration US$120.00 
> 	*	Non-IAALD members - early registration US$110.00, late
> registration US$130.00. 
> 	*	Students - US$30.00
> 
> The registration fee covers conference bag, badge, opening cocktail,
> conference proceedings, daily tea/coffee breaks and lunches. The
> registration form, with payment instructions, will soon be available on the
> conference website [http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/index.html]. 
> 
> IMPORTANT DATES
> 
> First conference announcement			:	09 September 2005
> Second conference announcement			:	05 November
> 2005
> Submission of all proposals					:	15
> November 2005
> Notification of proposal acceptance			:	10 December
> 2005
> Final copy of full paper						:
> 24 February 2006
> Notification of paper/poster acceptance	:	15 March 2006
> Final conference programme				:	03 April 2006
> Pre-conference workshops					: 	21 -
> 22 May 2006
> Conference
> :	23 - 26 May 2006
> Report on the conference						:
> July 2006
> 
> CONTACTS
> 
> 1. Queries of an organizational nature 
> 
> Dr. Joseph Kiplang'at
> Moi University
> School of Information Sciences
> Department of Library, Records Management and Information Studies
> P.O. Box 3900
> Eldoret, Kenya
> Mobile: +254-722223872
> Office: 254-53-43620 Ex 333
> Fax: 254-53-43047
> E-mail: jkngetich at yahoo.co.uk 
> 
> 2. Submission of proposals for papers, posters, workshops, etc 
> 
> Mr. Clement Entsua-Mensah
> Director
> Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (INSTI)
> Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
> P.O. Box M. 32
> Accra, Ghana
> Tel: +233 21 764822
> Fax: +233 21 779809/777655
> E-mail: paakwesi71 at yahoo.co.uk 
> 
> 3. Sponsorship information 
> 
> Ms. Dorothy Mukhebi
> Coordinator
> Regional Agricultural Information Network
> RAIN/ASARECA
> Plot 5, Mpigi Road
> PO Box 765, Entebbe, Uganda
> Tel: 256-41-322129
> Fax: 256-41-322593/321777
> E-mail: d.mukhebi at asareca.org
> 
> 
> ======================================================
> Justin Chisenga
> ======================================================
> 
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