On 18 May 2017, the 4th International Symposium “Perspectives on ICT for Development (ICT4D)” will be hosted by VU Network Institute, the Netherlands Research School for Information and Knowledge Systems SIKS, the Computer Science Department and VU International Office. This year’s theme is “Sustainability and ICT4D”. Invited speakers from Ghana, […]
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Many farmers in Africa are in urgent need for weather forecasts and rain data services, to better plan and improve their harvests. However, language and illiteracy issues, as well a total lack of computers, smartphones and internet, pose obstacles to access this very relevant information. Last week, the W4RA team […]
From 20 to 24 June 2016, the W4RA team was in Gourcy, Burkina Faso a facilitated a new ICT4D requirements engineering workshop with farmers-innovators of the Yatenga and Zondoma regions, Burkina Faso. The workshop was organized and hosted by W4RA’s local partner, the NGO Réseau MARP. The workshop was dedicated to the theme […]
This was one of the three keynotes at the VU Lustrum Conference “Guide to the Network Society”, Amsterdam, 18 March 2016.
INFORMATION dissemination in its right format and context, especially in rural Africa, is crucial sometimes even for the survival of market value chains and whole communities. However, many proffered and popular solutions, including the WorldWideWeb (WWW), are often outside the reach of rural dwellers in Africa. Africa’s mobile telephony infrastructure […]
Food used to be called a basic human need along with water, peace, shelter, education and primary health care. It has also been called a prerequisite for health. Food security is now listed among the social determinants of health. It is clearly a determinant of a lot of things” life, […]
Gossa and Myrthe, students from VU University Amsterdam are currently in Northern Ghana, doing fieldwork for the interdisciplinary ICT4D research project “Knowledge Sharing for the Rural Poor“. For this project they received a grant from the Network Institute, and are supported by W4RA. The University for Development Studies Ghana – […]
The W4RA team and researchers from the University for Development Studies in Ghana started a new interdisciplinary collaboration to help improve access to information for farmers in rural communities in Northern Ghana. Rural communities in West Africa are vulnerable to food shortages and low incomes due to climate conditions and […]