Events hosted by ITOCA

• Strengthening Capacities of young farmers organizations in Capacity development Workshop: Pretoria, South Africa (12-14 April, 2023).

ITOCA in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) hosted a three-day International Workshop on Strengthening Capacities of young farmers organizations in Capacity development. The event was part of a blended interactive learning program designed by FAO in collaboration wThe trained selected participants from six eastern and southern Africa countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).ith ITOCA and focuses on designing effective capacity development programs at country level. The BLP introduced participants to capacity development, allowing them to practice approaches, methods, and tools to develop effective capacity development programs and facilitate capacity development multi-stakeholder processes.

• The 13th International Congress of Medical Librarianship (ICML): Pretoria, South Africa (15-19 March, 2022).

ITOCA in partnership with the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA) and several leading southern African universities organized and hosted the 13th International Congress Medical Librarianship. This global event held every four years provides an important platform to hear about the latest research, share learning and discuss best practice. It was hosted as a hybrid event, open to participants and sponsors both in person and online. The congress theme for the ICML congress was “A call for action: Engaging to save lives” was chosen as it relates to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) especially those that relate to health such as SDG3: “Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages” · Accessibility: providing access to timely, affordable, and reliable health information · Collaboration and Partnerships: forming effective bonds to enable successful implementation · Epidemics and Pandemics: anticipating and responding to health crises · Science- and Evidence-based Practice: incorporating best data and information to achieve improved health · Sustainability: building structure and capacity for the future · Current actions in response to SDGs

• Boosting responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Africa –Good practices to #buildbackbetter”: Dakar, Senegal (29-30 June, 2022).

The workshop was organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA). Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a substantial increase in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems (RAI). The event's purpose was to bring together key stakeholders from government, non-governmental organizations and agribusinesses from Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Tunisia. The objectives of the event were: • Identifying, showcasing, and discussing good practices that boost responsible investment in agriculture and food systems in Africa. • Contributing to knowledge exchange among experts and practitioners from different African countries, and encouraging the emergence of a community of practitioners; and • Fostering commitment from dedicated stakeholders to contribute to boosting responsible agri-food systems investments and applying the CFS-RAI Principles.

• Creating and enabling environment for responsible investment in agriculture and food systems: Pretoria, South Africa, (23-25 November, 2020)

The Information Training and Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA), in collaboration with Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), worked with state and non-state actors to support them in the application of the CFS Principles for Responsible Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems (CFS-RAI). Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires a substantial increase in responsible investment in agriculture and food systems (RAI). As part of these efforts, ITOCA and FAO carried out a learning program on "creating and enabling environments for responsible investment in agriculture and food systems," with a specific focus on youth. The program was informed by a series of baseline studies focusing on "key challenges that needed to be addressed to create an enabling environment that empowers young agri-entrepreneurs to carry out responsible investment in agriculture and food systems". The learning program was delivered for selected Masters and Doctoral students from local universities in Liberia, Namibia, Tunisia, and South Africa.

• The fourth conference of the International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD) Africa was held in Pretoria, South Africa (31 May –1 June , 2018)

Supporting organizations and partners, including CTA, Research4Life, TEEAL, IAALD, ITOCA, CABI, and AgEcon Search, organized and hosted the fourth conference. The purpose of the conference was to provide a platform for agricultural information and knowledge specialists in Africa to discuss and strategize their contributions to the global 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the African Union's Agenda 2063, focusing on the conference theme and sub-themes. The conference was guided by the theme "Agricultural Innovations, Information, and Knowledge: Catalyzing the Attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063. The specific objectives were: To build awareness of the importance of opening access to agricultural information and knowledge in Africa among key stakeholders, i.e., research policy makers, agricultural research scientists, authors, information professionals, and information users. To share experiences, information, and lessons learned about open access and archives initiatives and projects being undertaken in the agricultural sciences and technology inside and outside the continent. To develop an advocacy strategy for opening access to information and knowledge in agricultural sciences and technology in Africa to be implemented by the IAALD Africa Chapter, its members, and other partners.

• The Training Event and Symposium on Farmers’ Access to Data Project: Pretoria, South Africa (20 - 24 November 2017)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on behalf of Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Innovation (GFAR) engaged Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa (ITOCA) to organize a four- day face-to-face course on farmers’ access to data and a one day Symposium. The course and symposium targeted selected farmers and farmers’ organizations, government representatives, machinery and software suppliers and intermediaries from across the globe who role in the agriculture value chain. The findings from the farmers’ access to data intended at informing FAO’s “catalyzing actions contributing towards agricultural research and innovation for development” plan and an overall strategy to support the application of the Global Forum on Agriculture Research efforts towards “processes delivered for opening of access to information systems for sharing, transforming and using agricultural knowledge”. The training and symposium focus were aimed at: discovering the level of awareness and usage of different types of open and closed data, information and knowledge by the workshop attendees creating awareness on open and closed data farmers and farmers’ organizations, government representatives, machinery and software suppliers and intermediaries. The participants and speakers came from different continents, including Africa, Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States of America. The countries represented in Africa were Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.