About ENRAP
Origins
ENRAP (Knowledge Networking for Rural Development in Asia/Pacific Region), an IFAD-IDRC collaboration, leverages a growing body of useful information generated by development projects and made available on the Internet. The program, now in its third phase and running until 2010, is designed to bring the benefits of accessing and sharing global information resources to IFAD-supported rural development projects in the Asia/Pacific region. Effective use of Internet and electronic communication by project staff and, ultimately, by project communities will contribute to the empowerment of rural people and help them better address their development objectives.
Aims
ENRAP’s goal is to help develop skills to access, manage and share knowledge relevant to IFAD project objectives and implementation, in collaboration with selected groups of IFAD projects and local specialists. Potential users of the knowledge sharing system include project staff and their partners who work directly with rural communities and help make the knowledge available at the grassroots level. ENRAP investigates strategies, processes, methods and technologies to support rural communication and knowledge networking, and develops recommendations for future activities. This project will foster a culture for knowledge sharing and learning amongst all the stakeholders of IFAD projects.
Research
ENRAP initiates research and development in the area of knowledge networking and Internet applications at the local, national and international levels. Special focus is on methods and practical solutions fostering participation at the grassroots level. In practical terms, this means close collaboration with local organizations and consultations with potential users. Local electronic newsletters, agricultural market information dissemination and shared electronic libraries are examples of ENRAP-supported activities.
ENRAP pursues a participatory communications approach. It tries to engage all stakeholders in decision-making and collecting materials to be shared electronically and in traditional ways. The process of designing and implementing new applications is based on field visits, collective needs analysis, and local technical expertise.
The central ENRAP Website (www.enrap.org) provides an electronic space for collaborative work and exchange of information. It allows for interactive database access, posting of documents and photographs in native formats by all users, conducting electronic conferences, and contributing web pages on line.
ENRAP includes selected groups of projects Asia Pacific Region. Other countries not receiving direct assistance from ENRAP can benefit from free training materials, documents and databases available on the ENRAP website, technical advice, and allocation of working space on the ENRAP website. It is expected that in the future all IFAD projects in Asia/Pacific will participate in ENRAP activities and contribute to the knowledge sharing system.
