<div dir="ltr">Thanks, Suchith for the kind words and the good memories of where we have come from!<div><br></div><div>I am humbled to be invited to this forum and to join the community of the people keen to change the world through knowledge sharing. It is a pursuit we all share.</div><div><br></div><div>The challenge in Africa is not just learning the use of ICTs and GIS tools alone, but even maintaining traction with the foundational courses like Agriculture or veterinary as an extension and hence the creation of champion farmers from which others can learn is a challenge. We have therefore jointly with partners like CTA, Wageningen UR, and GODAN decided to create rural Hubs where integrating ICTs, Data, and Agriculture all happen at the same time. We encourage you to visit us when you have the opportunity to do so to learn more from what we are doing.</div><div><br></div><div>Since the extension is a challenge, we are using students who will be domiciled in our Hubs to practice what they learn experientially and extend the knowledge to farmers as they also collect data that we then use to drive technology-based innovations. It is for this reason that we have partnered with RCMRD/AfriGEO and now mooting collaboration with Digital Earth Africa, to promote GIS anchored solutions development. We shall, therefore, need support in diverse ways which Suchith well captured in his introduction.</div><div><br></div><div>This December, RUFORUM will hold their continental forum in Accra, Ghana and want to listen to what we are doing and proposing universities to do. We would like to go there with some case studies that we are discussing with RCMRD and some of the universities that we are working with.</div><div><br></div><div>We also have another forum on <a href="https://www.godan.info/events/africa-geospatial-data-and-internet-conference-2019">Geospatial Data and Internet Conference</a> in October that we invite you to join in and explore how we can support many of the African Countries that shall be participating in this conference.</div><div><br></div><div>I will be able to share more with any individuals that may seek to learn more.</div><div><br></div><div>Sincerely,</div><div><br></div><div>Kiringai Kamau</div><div>GODAN Africa Lead</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Aug 21, 2019 at 2:30 PM Suchith Anand <<a href="mailto:Suchith.Anand@nottingham.ac.uk">Suchith.Anand@nottingham.ac.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Dear colleagues,</span><br>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">The Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN) supports the proactive sharing of open data to make information about agriculture and nutrition available, accessible and usable to deal with the
urgent challenge of ensuring world food security. </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">As part of GODAN’s Capacity Development Working Group[1], we ran AgriGIS ThinkTank in Nairobi (2016) and Washington (2017) to get inputs from the community.
Details at </span><a href="https://www.godan.info/documents/summary-godan-think-tank-open-geo-data-and-open-tools-achieve-food-security-and-sustainable-agriculture" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk20140" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(228,175,10)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://www.godan.info/documents/summary-godan-think-tank-open-geo-data-and-open-tools-achieve-food-security-and-sustainable-agriculture</span></span></a></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">As requested by participants at the GODAN ThinkTanks , we have provided links and resources for free and open tools for AgriGIS at the GODAN website and started promoting OSGeo software to our community members.
There is big demand from the GODAN capacity development community</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">for GeoForAll training resources [2] ,</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">OSGeoLive, open data tutorials etc.
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">GODAN Capacity Development community consists of over 4000 members globally</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">from policy makers to students.</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">As majority of our members are from developing world and from economically poor communities , there is internet bandwidth issues esp. for downloading big files like OSGeo Live (4GB!), so we have decided to
provide them through USBs to our partners (RCMRD, RUFORUM etc) for their AgriGIS training in Africa and I would like to request help from the OSGeo community for this. We will also be helping the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture
(RUFORUM) colleagues to establish GeoForAll labs in their universities. The Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM), established by ten Vice Chancellors in 2004, is a consortium of 113 African universities operating within
38 countries spanning the African continent. RUFORUM is coordinated by a Secretariat hosted by Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. RUFORUM supports universities to address the important and largely unfulfilled role that universities play in contributing
to the well‐being of small‐scale farmers and economic development of countries . Details at
</span><a href="https://www.ruforum.org/about-us" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk401296" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://www.ruforum.org/about-us</span></a></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">In 2018, I was invited by RUFORUM to</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">address on the topic of</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">“Harnessing the digital potential to drive</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span></b><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt"><b>higher education transformation in Africa”</b></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt"> [3].</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">I shared GeoForAll principles to ensure geo digital economy opportunities are also available to economically poor countries and economically poor people worldwide.</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">I would like to introduce you to
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Kiringai Kamau ( GODAN Africa lead) and request you to help him and</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">all colleagues in Africa to build up capacity in AgriGIS. Kiringai is also </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Programme Lead for
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">University of Nairobi’s Center for Agricultural Networking and Information Sharing (CANIS). He is the
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Executive Director for
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Programme for Capacity Development in Africa (P4CDA) where he is involved in a new thinking in African Agriculture - the Student Led Agricultural Extension (SLAE).</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">I had the opportunity to meet Kiringai at the GODAN AgriGIS ThinkTank In Nairobi in 2016 [4]. He went on to establish GeoforAll at University of Nairobi’s Center for Agricultural Networking and Information
Sharing (CANIS) and shared GeoForAll ideas to wider colleagues in Africa. I am impressed by his</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt"> </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">work on Capacity Development at grassroots
level esp. for students and small holder farmers.</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Kiringai, You already know GeoForAll community. May I introduce you to OSGeo Live community. Please join the maillist at
</span><a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/osgeolive" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk615973" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/osgeolive</span></a><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
and send any queries you have to help you in your training needs. Please also request relevant colleagues in RUFORUM, RCMRD and other universities in Africa to join the OSGeolive maillist , so they can get help for their AgriGIS capacity development and training
needs. Thanks.</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">I also request the GeoForAll community to share ideas on developing</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">training materials in Capacity Development in Climate, Landuse, ecosystem services for Agriculture. Thanks.</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Best wishes,</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Suchith</span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Dr. Suchith Anand</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:rgb(69,69,69)">
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Chief Scientist</span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:rgb(69,69,69)">
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition </span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:0px;font-stretch:normal;font-size:12px;line-height:normal;font-family:"Helvetica Neue";color:rgb(228,175,10)">
<span style="text-decoration:underline"><a href="https://www.godan.info/" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk665555" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://www.godan.info</span></a></span><br>
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<span style="color:rgb(69,69,69)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">[1]
</span><a href="https://www.godan.info/working-groups/capacity-development-working-group" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk858394" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(228,175,10)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://www.godan.info/working-groups/capacity-development-working-group</span></span></a></span><br>
</p>
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<span style="color:rgb(69,69,69)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">[2]
</span><a href="https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/please-share-geoforall-teaching-research-resources-colleagues-students/" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk8508" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(228,175,10)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/please-share-geoforall-teaching-research-resources-colleagues-students/</span></span></a></span></p>
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<span style="color:rgb(69,69,69)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">[3]</span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt"> </span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">
</span><a href="https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/harnessing-the-digital-potential-to-drive-higher-education-transformation-in-africa/" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk776504" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/harnessing-the-digital-potential-to-drive-higher-education-transformation-in-africa/</span></a></span><br>
</p>
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<span style="color:rgb(69,69,69)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">[4]
</span><a href="https://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/11/summary-of-agrigis-thinktank-and-workshop-2016-nairobi-kenya/" id="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973LPlnk59982" class="gmail-m_-5454774060443847973OWAAutoLink" target="_blank"><span style="color:rgb(228,175,10)"><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-size:11pt">https://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/11/summary-of-agrigis-thinktank-and-workshop-2016-nairobi-kenya/</span></span></a></span></p>
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<b></b><br>
</p>
</div>
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</blockquote></div><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>_____________________________________________________________________________________________________</div><div dir="ltr">Kiringai Kamau</div><div dir="ltr"><br><div><b style="color:rgb(56,118,29);font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">GODAN Africa Lead</b><br></div><div><font color="#000000" face="verdana, sans-serif">Programme for Capacity Development in Africa (P4CDA Africa)</font></div><div><font color="#000000"><img src="https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=12AWUTz9vDpZ0noUjKIgOkRgn3DFNmMB1&revid=0BzY0XhCFp0GaZC9zTGx0RkJmWDMraFIxQzM3MzJwOGhNbitJPQ"><br></font></div><div><b><span style="color:rgb(18,100,34)">GODAN Head Office</span></b><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial">845 Sherbrooke Street West, <b>Montreal</b>,
Quebec, Canada H3A 0G4<span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt">Macdonald Campus,
McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9</span><span style="font-size:12pt;letter-spacing:0.15pt"><span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:rgb(18,100,34);letter-spacing:0.15pt">Programme for Capacity Development
in Africa (P4CDA)<span></span></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt">PO Box 1618, 00100 GPO Nairobi, 1<sup>st</sup>
Floor, Nyaku House, Argwings Kodhek Road<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt">Cell: +254 722 800 986/+254 733 375 505<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt">Email</span></b><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt">: <b><a href="mailto:kiringai.kamau@godan.info" target="_blank">kiringai.kamau@godan.info</a></b>
or <a href="mailto:kiringai@perfect.africa" target="_blank">kiringai@perfect.africa</a> <span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><b><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt"><i>Website</i></span></b><span style="letter-spacing:0.15pt">: <a href="http://www.godan.info" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">www.godan.info</span></a>
or <a href="http://www.perfect.africa" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext">www.perfect.africa</span></a>,
<b><i>Tweeter</i></b>: @kiringaik, <b><i>Skype</i></b>: kiringai.kamau</span><span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-repeat:initial"><span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>