According to its strategy for 2002-2006, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has given a certain attention to fight rural poverty and enhance capacities of poor people and their organizations in terms of knowledge and technology. In this context, IFAD had, in collaboration with the International Developing Research Center (IDRC), established the Knowledge Access in Rural Interconnected Areas Network (KariaNet) in Middle East and North Africa, with the aim of fostering the use of modern communication means among IFAD-funded projects in this region. The network fosters the use of these technologies as a means to facilitate and support knowledge sharing and exchange of useful experiences and information among its members. For the time-being, the network is composed of ten (10) projects from five (5) countries (Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan).
the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, considering KariaNet proposal, has agreed to establish a national network to link all projects and initiatives acting in the field of rural poverty reduction in Egypt , especially those funded by international donors. KariaNet will give its financial or material support, up to the limit of its capacity, to the setup of this national network, which will be located in the Central Administration for Foreign Agricultural Relations at the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation.
Due to the need to have channels of communications between implemented projects in Egypt through the Ministry of Agriculture in order to exchange experiences and knowledge, identify the success stories of those projects that have helped small farmers to solve the problems they face, introduce new technologies and upgrading agricultural production as well, in order to enable others to benefit from these successes to resolve similar problematic cases ..
In the light of the lessons learned from previous experiences and similar initiatives in other regions of the world, building of a strong and sustainable network requires laying strong foundations at all local and national levels for a maximal benefit and a sustainability reason. In this perspective, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has decided to assist and support the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in establishing a pilot national network through KariaNet to link all developmental projects interested in rural poverty reduction in the country.
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