are to be overcome, one is asked to create a view of the future and then identify the obstacles that will prevent them from achieving the desired future conditions. A short-course with invited decision-makers from educational institutions, NGOs, agencies and representatives of ÒvoicelessÓ (women and children) provided an overview and some hands-on experience in goal-based decision making.
This is perhaps the first project in the development of low-income economic countries devoted to the use of the Internet, for creating an enabling environment. Honduras has undertaken a project, funded by the United National Development Program (UNDP), to install wireless Internet to connect rural municipalities throughout the country.
Introduction
This project focuses on building information delivery and decision-making capacity in Honduras for institutionalizing low-input-based tilapia systems for small- and medium-scale farmers.
There has been a marked increase in tilapia production in Honduras during the last decade. Commercial scale farms provide significantly to export markets. Medium- and small-farms have introduced tilapia for local markets and improving family nutrition. The contribution of earlier research on tilapia production in Honduras, experimental and demonstration ponds, training workshops and short courses for farmers and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are attributed to this growth. However, it remains difficult to identify the needs of small- and medium-scale farmers and provide them with relevant information on a timely basis. Usually these farmers are unable to find and interpret research results for their needs, visit demonstration ponds, or attend short courses. However, numerous NGOs, edu
cational institutions, and extension agents in Honduras are available to provide information and alternatives to farmers. We targeted this group with the role of receiving the latest information and educating farmers with alternatives. In other words, we take the approach of fulfilling the needs of the farmers by training the trainers.
The model for institutionalization is presented in Figure 1. The corners of the triangle are the key actors and the lines show actions to be performed. The farmer is shown to have needs and the one who makes decisions to meet his needs. Information (shown in lower right corner) must be obtained before making decisions. In most cases for small and medium-scale farmers, information has to be interpreted for their use. The trainer in the left lower corner represents a person able to create useful knowledge for the farmer's conditions and to train the farmer. When all actors and actions are performed within a country locally, the enabling environment for informed decision making is achieved.
In this project we have taken the approach to achieve the
overall goals of institutionalization by using the emerging
information age tools to build a web-based information delivery system with content focused for Honduras and Central American countries. This approach also provides facilities for regular communication among stakeholders and access to domain experts. This report summarizes the activities related to the development of the web-based delivery system and a goal-based decision methodology. Methods where training was provided to local NGOs, extension agents and farmers are reported in more detail by Meyer (2003). Additionally, this report presents progress towards forming a consortium of educational institutions, government agencies, NGOs, and farmers for advancing tilapia in Honduras and Central America.
The overall objective of the project was to develop a web-based information delivery system for tilapia for informed decision making locally and to train personnel with the ability to create decision alternatives to advise small- and medium-scale farmers in Honduras and Central American countries. Specifically,
1. Collect all aspects of information needed for evaluating tilapia culture as an alternative for small- and medium-scale farmers;
2. Organize and present information in the Web-based Information Delivery System for Tilapia (WIDeST) that is usable by extension agents and NGOs to train small-scale farmers;
3. Develop methods for receiving stakeholder input, conducting live conversations through the web among farmers and NGOs to share experiences and identifying needs; and
Figure 1. A model to represent our concept of institutionalization. The corners of the triangle are key actors Ð Farmer, Information and Trainer. Lines show actions Ð Need identification, Knowledge acquisition and Decision taken. In an enabling environment that institutionalizes development, all actors and actions are self-motivated and self-implemented.
