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<TITLE>First IAALD Africa Chapter Conference, May 2006 - 1st Announcement and Call for Papers</TITLE>
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<P ALIGN=CENTER><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Tahoma">[Apologies for cross-posting]</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Managing Agricultural Information for Sustainable Food Security and Improved Livelihoods in Africa</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">21-26 May 2006</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Nairobi, Kenya</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=CENTER><SPAN LANG="en-gb"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" SIZE=4 FACE="Bookman Old Style">First Announcement & Call for Papers</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">BACKGROUND</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Agricultural information professionals in Africa need to actively contribute to the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially<I> Goal No. 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger,</I> whose targets are<I> to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day</I>, and<I> reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger,</I> 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.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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:</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">· 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.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">· 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.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">· To establish and launch an African chapter of IAALD </FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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 “</FONT><I><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Managing Agricultural Information for Sustainable Food Security and Improved Livelihoods in Africa’</FONT></I><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">’ or any of the following five broad sub-themes (visit the conference website for detailed information on the theme and sub-themes at</FONT> </SPAN><A HREF="http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/index.html"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U></U><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Bookman Old Style">http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/index.html</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">):</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Building capacity in agricultural information resources management </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Enabling policy for agricultural information management </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Narrowing the digital divide </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Knowledge sharing and information systems for networking and partnerships</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Meeting the information needs of stakeholders</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS</FONT></B></SPAN>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">The Organizing Committee has reserved the following days/dates for workshops, seminars and special meetings:</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Sunday, 21 May 2006</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Monday, 22 May 2006</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Thursday, 25 May 2006 (Half-day)</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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@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@yahoo.co.uk </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">SUBMISSION PROCEDURE</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Notification of acceptance of the abstracts and proposals for workshops, seminars and meetings; and instructions for poster presentations and manuscripts, will be sent by</FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">10 December 2005</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">. Instructions for authors and poster presentations will also be available on the conference website [</FONT></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U></U><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Bookman Old Style">http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">].</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">All abstracts (400 – 500 words) and proposals for posters, workshops, seminars and meetings should be submitted in electronic format by</FONT><B> <FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">15 November 2005</FONT></B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style"> to: Mr. Clement Entsua-Mensah, Email: paakwesi71@yahoo.co.uk</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">There are several sponsorship opportunities available at the conference. Sponsors will enjoy the following benefits</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· 1 free registration to the conference</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Insertion of marketing/information materials in conference bags </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Recognition in the conference programme and on panels/banners at the event </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Recognition in the press releases </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Organization's name and logo will appear on the conference website with a link to the organisation's own web site.</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Potential sponsors should contact Ms. Dorothy Mukhebi (d.mukhebi@asareca.org) for details on sponsorship opportunities.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Conference Registration</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">· IAALD members - early registration</FONT><B> <FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">US$90.00</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">, late registration</FONT><B> <FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">US$120.00</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style"> </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Non-IAALD members - early registration</FONT><B> <FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">US$110.00</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">, late registration</FONT><B> <FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">US$130.00</FONT></B><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">· Students -</FONT><B> <FONT FACE="Bookman Old Style">US$30.00</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">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 [</FONT></SPAN><A HREF="http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/index.html"><SPAN LANG="en-us"><U></U><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Bookman Old Style">http://www.asareca.org/iaald-africa/index.html</FONT></U></SPAN></A><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">]. </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">IMPORTANT DATES</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">First conference announcement : 09 September 2005</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Second conference announcement : 05 November 2005</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Submission of all proposals : 15 November 2005</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Notification of proposal acceptance : 10 December 2005</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Final copy of full paper : 24 February 2006</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Notification of paper/poster acceptance : 15 March 2006</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Final conference programme : 03 April 2006</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Pre-conference workshops : 21 – 22 May 2006</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Conference : 23 – 26 May 2006</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Report on the conference : July 2006</FONT></SPAN>
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<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">CONTACTS</FONT></B></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">1. Queries of an organizational nature</FONT></B> </SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Dr. Joseph Kiplang'at</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Moi University</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">School of Information Sciences</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Department of Library, Records Management and Information Studies</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">P.O. Box 3900</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Eldoret, Kenya</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Mobile: +254-722223872</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Office: 254-53-43620 Ex 333</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Fax: 254-53-43047</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">E-mail: jkngetich@yahoo.co.uk </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">2. Submission of proposals for papers, posters, workshops, etc</FONT></B> </SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Mr. Clement Entsua-Mensah</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Director</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (INSTI)</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">P.O. Box M. 32</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Accra, Ghana</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Tel: +233 21 764822</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Fax: +233 21 779809/777655</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">E-mail: paakwesi71@yahoo.co.uk </FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><B><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">3. Sponsorship information</FONT></B> </SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Ms. Dorothy Mukhebi</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Coordinator</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Regional Agricultural Information Network</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">RAIN/ASARECA</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Plot 5, Mpigi Road</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">PO Box 765, Entebbe, Uganda</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Tel: 256-41-322129</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">Fax: 256-41-322593/321777</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P ALIGN=JUSTIFY><SPAN LANG="it"><FONT COLOR="#000000" FACE="Bookman Old Style">E-mail: d.mukhebi@asareca.org</FONT></SPAN></P>
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<P><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Bookman Old Style">======================================================</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Bookman Old Style">Justin Chisenga</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN LANG="en-us"><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Bookman Old Style">======================================================</FONT></SPAN>
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