World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) one-day Web 2.0 Learning Opportunities

Venue: World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF‎); United Nations Avenue; Nairobi, Kenya

Date and time: Friday, 21 August 2009, 9:00 – 17:30 (English-speaking session)

Technological innovation is taking place at a breath-taking pace. Simple, open source internet-based applications and services designed to enhance on-line collaboration are now available to the wider public at little or no cost at all.. These new online services known as Web 2.0 applications enable people to collaborate remotely in creating, sharing and publishing information.

The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation EU-ACP (CTA) has a mandate to facilitate access to and dissemination of information in the fields of agriculture and rural development in 78 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP). Supporting the adoption of Web 2.0 applications represents a great opportunity for meeting it.

CTA, in collaboration with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), is organizing two one-day Web 2.0 Learning Opportunity events in the context of the 2^nd World Congress of Agroforestry . The events will take place on Friday 21 August for English-speaking and on Saturday 22 August for French-speaking participants. Attendees will familiarize themselves with selected web 2.0 applications and learn the fundamentals on how to use them. Participation in the congress will offer attendees an immediate opportunity for putting the acquired knowledge and skills into practice.

The Learning Opportunity will cover advanced online searching, getting information served via alerts and RSS, collaborating remotely using wikis and Google Docs, and online mapping. Participants will get a chance to see what others have done, get hands-on experience on how to use innovative applications, and assess how they could adopt these innovations within the context of their work and organisation.

These Learning Opportunities form part of CTA initiatives that support development partners in networking, accessing and disseminating information more effectively.

Programme of the Learning Opportunity

• Introduction to the participatory World Wide Web (Web 2.0)
• Search Magic: How to conduct advance online searches
• Information Self Service: How to get selected information served to you via alerts and RSS feeds
• Remote collaboration: How to develop content remotely using wikis and other platforms
• Online mapping: How to locate your organisation and your projects on a Google Map

Eligibility and responsibilities

Priority is given to people who have paid the registration fees to attend the 2^nd World Congress of Agroforestry and are nationals of one of the 78 ACP countries. Participation in the Learning Opportunity is free of charge, but subject of acceptance by the organisers. Accepted participants will be responsible for all costs related to their subsistence, travel and accommodation. During the event the organisers will offer lunch and refreshments and distribute copies of CTA publications including the latest issue of Participatory Learning and Action (Issue 59) specifically dealing with Web 2.0.

To read more about the Learning Opportunity and download the Application Form, please follow this link.