Malawi commits to supporting CCARDESA’s Southern Africa Agricultural Information & Knowledge System (SAAIKS) Knowledge Hub

The Centre for Coordination for Agricultural Research and Development (CCARDESA) has continued its Information, Communication & Knowledge Management (ICKM) promotion mission in selected SADC member states. The most recent workshop was held in Lilongwe, Malawi.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. David Luka, the Deputy Director of Agricultural Research and Services from the Ministry of Agriculture in Malawi commended CCARDESA for coming up with the SAAIKS Knowledge Hub and website which avails climate smart agricultural research to SADC member states. He further mentioned that the workshop could not have come at a better time when organizations and institutions are overwhelmed with information that is being generated and do not know how to package it as well as share it with wider and relevant audiences.

Mr. Luka encouraged the participants to make use of the information on the knowledge hub for informed decisions. He encouraged participants to translate the research and package it in user friendly formats so that they are useful to local farmers. He also assured CCARDESA of the Ministry’s support and commitment to ensure information regarding agriculture research on the website is shared among relevant stakeholders. He further encouraged all the participants to engage in the discussions so that they learn how information from the website is shared with the end users who are the small-scale farmers.

The participants who included communication and knowledge management specialists from local and international NGOs, agricultural research institutions, and local and international media. These stakeholders enthusiastically participated in the workshop and committed to sharing information about the CCARDESA with wider audiences and within their networks.

During the workshop, Hector Malaidza the Malawi CCARDESA ICKM focal point person and Technology Transfer Officer in the Department of Agricultural Research navigated through the system and exposed participants of its functionalities.

At the same workshop, Malawi CCARDESA focal point person Mrs. Upile Muhariwa and the Knowledge Management and Communication Specialist shared the importance of communities of practice and how Malawi can benefit from them. She referenced to the participants of the ICKM workshop as being a community of practice of communication experts with a special tilt towards agricultural research who should hold high the banner of CCARDESA to ensure its visibility.

Mr. Luka closed the workshop by thanking the participants for attending the workshop and called the participants to action by making the system alive with contributions from Malawi. The workshop ended with all the expectations of the participants fully met and a Malawi WhatsApp group formed for using and sharing information on the CCARDESA website.

The ICKM promotion tour has seen CCARDESA go to 4 countries to promote the website and knowledge hub. At the helm of the promotion is Rudi Hintermeister the consultant from Hatfield Consultants Africa, who developed the CCARDESA ICKM Platform and Bridget Kakuwa the ICKM Technical Advisor which supports CCARDESA.