ITOCA (Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa) is a capacity building organization aimed at enhancing information and communications technology (ICT) skills for African librarians, information specialists, scientists, researchers and students in Sub-Sahara Africa. Formerly, TEEAL Africa Office, ITOCA was established in February 1999 as a marketing and support office for Cornell University 's Albert R. Mann Library TEEAL (The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library) programme for Africa . Now, ITOCA spearheads programme support for TEEAL, AGORA, HINARI and OARE in the region.
Latest News
Portal for Agriculture Education and Training in Africa launched!!!
The gap existing in the access to and knowledge of Agriculture Education and Training resources and information is one of the major concerns in Africa and the world today. The World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and other members of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have recognized the urgent need for building capacities for agricultural education and training, especially in Africa. There is need to provide public access to the AET system in Africa in terms of the types, names, actual information and statistics.
It is with such a concern that the AET-Africa portal was developed. This is all the more necessary in view of changing biophysical, socio-cultural and policy environments, the rapid advances in science and technology and the increasing knowledge gap and digital divide. AET systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are commonly structured around at least four different components at the postsecondary level: universities, colleges, technical/vocational schools, and nonformal educational organizations and activities.
The AET –Africa portal gives you access to not only the components of the system but the actual names, contact details, information on the institutions, historical statistics and current statistics pertaining to the enrolments, staffing ,programmes offered and descriptions of such information and programmes. The portal is ideal for researchers, students, information specialists and anyone with an interest in agriculture education and training in Africa.
The portal is an ongoing project which is updated almost daily with new information. It is with great pleasure that we launch the portal and make it accessible to the whole world to access and retrieve the information on agriculture education and training in Africa. Welcome and please feel free to contact us for any feedback, comments or questions paetafrica@itoca.org
ITOCA conducts successful workshops in Northern and Southern Sudan
Two OARE Training-of-Trainers Workshops were held in Sudan at the Documentation and Information Centre (DIC), National Centre for Research NCR, Khartoum from April 29 to May 1, 2008 and the second workshop was held at the University of Juba in Juba from May 5 to May 7, 2008. The two workshops were made possible through funding from United Nations Environment Programme – Sudan. The local hosting, organization and planning was undertaken by the Agricultural Research Corporation (ARC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Physical Development (MEPD) in Khartoum and the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife Conservation and Tourism. And the University of Juba organized and hosted the Juba event.
A total of forty seven (47) participants attended the two workshops from the environmental, agricultural, and health sectors . Amongst them were researchers, lecturers, environmentalists, medical doctors, agriculturalists, librarians and information specialists. Participants gained skills on how to take full advantage of scholarship available through HINARI, AGORA and OARE.
The opening ceremony in Khartoum was graced by Her Excellency, Ms. Theresa Siricio Iro, State Minister of Environment and Physical Development (MEPD) and His Excellency Dr. Issa Beshri, State Minister of Science and Technology
During her address Ms Theresa Sirico Iro had this to say: "…UNEP’s efforts to convene the workshop at this juncture is a right step towards a right direction. There is every need to update our knowledge on par with the current state of art technology and impart education and knowledge with best standards to the Sudanese community to enable informed decision …. Being cognizant of the huge potential of OARE in acting as a link between science, practice and decision making, I call upon the participants to make use of this opportune workshop to harness the invaluable repository of scientific information in support of sustainable development…"
Let Your Voice be Heard on Electronic Scientific Journals Access and Use in Africa!
The HINARI, AGORA, and OARE (HINAGOA) Africa User Community Forum kicked off with enthusiasm in 2007, and saw users from all over the continent expressing interest to join. The aims of the forum are:
To network and share information and experiences
To keep abreast with developments in the field of information and learn about breakthroughs in e-resource access and management through the HINAGOA gateways
To collectively provide feedback to the HINAGOA programmes and help shape the future of the initiatives
To learn and update user skills on electronic resources so that they can effectively benefit from the HINAGOA programmes
HINAGOA programmes were developed to answer the need to improve access to up-to-date scientific scholarly literature in biomedical, health sciences, agriculture, environmental sciences and related fields for scientists, researchers and information managers in low income countries.
At the beginning of 2008, a themed approach to the discussions was introduced on the forum. Topical issues were raised on:
Are you using HINARI-AGORA-OARE resources? If you are, tell us how and what are you using the information you get from the HINAGOA resources for?
What are the limitations/challenges that you and your users encounter in using the HINARI-AGORA-OARE resources?
What investments have been made by the institution to promote and facilitate access to HINARI-AGORA-OARE resources?
What improvements regarding the HINARI-AGORA-OARE programmes would you like to see in order for the HINAGOA resources to make a positive impact in your work?
Lessons learned/Best practices and Recommendations in order to move the HINARI-AGORA-OARE process forward.
In order to be part of the discussions and have a chance of influencing future developments of the HINARI-AGORA-OARE programmes on the African continent, please join the User Community Forum by going to: http://www.itoca.org/hinagoa_usercommunity.htm
Partner Programmes
TEEAL
TEEAL (The Essential Electronic Agricultural Library) program www.teeal.org is an innovative scholarly scientific database .... more
AGORA
AGORA (Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture) is an online program www.aginternetwork.org that gives educational, government departments .... more
HINARI
Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative (HINARI) www.who.int/hinari is part of the United Nation’s ... more
OARE
Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE)
www.oaresciences.org an international
public-private consortium co-ordinated by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Yale University,
and leading science and technology publishers ...
more
Funding
and resource guide for African students
For students wishing to apply for fellowships, plan
ahead. Application deadlines are often at least one
year in advance, and some deadlines listed here may change.....more (pdf only)
Training Workshops
Our training workshops are currently scheduled
as per table below (these are subject to change). Detailed information can be obtained
by writing to itoca@itoca.org
