ICARDA Annual Report 2001

The Communication, Documentation and Information Services (CODIS) Unit is responsible for maintaining two-way communication with ICARDA’s diverse audiences, including donors, research and development partners, policy makers and the general public in the CWANA region and beyond.

The year saw increased interest of the media in the Center’s work. Research on crop improvement and natural resource management, particularly in the context of combating drought and climate change, was covered extensively in the regional media. The center’s initiative to launch the “Future Harvest Consortium to Rebuild Agriculture in Afghanistan” received strong attention from the international media.

The Center’s website (www.icarda.cgiar.org) continued to serve the important role of information dissemination and exchange. Web pages for the Center’s Arabian Peninsula Regional Program were launched, and several new items were added to the site to improve its usefulness, including field guides, a list of crop varieties released, and even a legume cookbook. A new service, called e-NewsAlert, was launched to inform donors and cooperators by email when new material is posted. The website is also the gateway to

ICARDA’s library, with links to in-house and external databases, including the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) AGRIS and CARIS databases, USDA/NAL AGRICOLA, CAB International, CRIS/USDA for Current Research Projects and CGIAR’s SINGER. The Unit was busy in 2001 working with CGIAR and FAO cooperators in the development of an inter-center web-based “Information Finder.” The system, to be launched in mid 2002, will allow key-word searches of the library collections of the CGIAR’s 16 centers.

CODIS produced a variety of publications during the year, including the Center’s Annual Report. The Week at ICARDA, published in English and Arabic, keeps donors, research and development partners, and the press uptodate on the Center’s activities and accomplishments, while Caravan, a glossy, full-color magazine presents the Center’s research in clear and compelling style intended for a diverse audience. An uptodate list of publications is available on ICARDA’s website. In addition, the Unit provided support the Center’s researchers in processing their journal articles and conference presentations, as well as in designing and producing scientific posters.

Human resource development is another vital service provided by CODIS. Two national staff members from the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization received training in multimedia and audio-visual production. Another 13 participants from 10 countries were trained in scientific writing and data presentation. Five self-learning training modules were produced on CD-ROMs in key areas of research to support young researchers in the CWANA region.

Also, CODIS took the opportunity to raise the Center’s profile by mounting prominent displays of publications, posters and multimedia products at the Damascus International Agricultural Fair, and at the Annual General Meeting of the CGIAR in Washington, DC.