Managing an SDI programme for agricultural researchers

CTA and the West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA) recently organized a course on "Selective Dissemination of Information (SDl)" for agriculture. The course was designed for people who manage this type of programme and who had access to a local database or CD-ROM. There were 13 participants from Benin, Chad, Cd'lvoire, Gabon, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo.

The first week was devoted to techniques of 'selling' en SDI service and to its organization and management. Participants then looked at a step-by-step approach to setting up a service. In the final week participants actually set up a programme for five WARDA scientists and for staff of the Savanna Institute (IDESSA - Institut des Savanes) at BouakDuring the exercise participants discovered some of the difficulties associated with developing a programme, the problems to be avoided and, above all, the need to design each stage clearly before putting the whole thing into effect.

A course for English-speaking countries will be organized for June-July 1996. ·