W4RA is poised to take the next steps in 2011. We along with Stephane and Max are preparing to kick-start a very exciting phase of the project. In few days from now the project team would be undertaking a trip across Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana.

The expected outcome of W4RA is to use the Web to accelerate the ability to communicate local agricultural innovations, provide training to large number of farming communities, and enable better communication within the agricultural ecosystem.

To achieve this it is important to utilize the existing infrastructure and expertise of local community & stakeholders to provide useful and relevant information.

Taking a step further from Workshop on Mobile Web for Rural Development in Burkina Faso, we have now developed a package of technology based tools targeted at specific end users. In the following weeks we would be demonstrating IVR based voice application to an audience constituting NGO partners, farmers, extension agents and ICT practitioners. This constitutes a set of services that also include map based visual information for farmers and extension agents, community radio and a mobile training workshop for ICT practitioners.

Along the way we would be capturing the requirements and voices of people who matter the most. They include The Man Who Stopped the Desert. Watch out this space for what we are doing and learning in this project as we embark on this journey together.