The project design provided for country PMUs, the Regional Coordination Office (RCO) and other groups as appropriate to input documents, data, and metadata into SAIMS via the Internet. In most other cases, other users will be limited to viewing information. The PMUs would navigate the SAIMS Website to retrieve information from other PMUs and technical and operating guidelines provided by the RCO and FAO. The RCO, governments of project countries, FAO and the donor can use SAIMS to monitor the progress, developments, and outputs of the project sites through one single information system. The general community of public users would access SAIMS to learn about SPFS implementation and how it is improving food security in Asia.
Hence, SAIMS was originally conceived as: (i) a central information repository for the four national projects; and (ii) as a common Web-based platform for accessing information and data produced by each PMU, associated experts, and consultants. The repository would include general information about SPFS Asia and the national projects, reports and data from assessment, fieldwork and monitoring activities, and tested field technologies. In the course of the project, difficulties in incorporating a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) sub-system within SAIMS became evident and eventually were put on hold before being Beta tested. The information that was uploaded and made available in the public SPFS site became limited to program highlight and field-tested technologies (Riggs, 2002).
Reasons for Establishment
SAIMS was primarily established to provide information support to SPFS Asia. One of the major obstacles to the enabling function of the SPFS is the lack of access to relevant information, as well as standardized classifications and
definitions that would insure comparability and integration of the results of SPFS projects.
SAIMS was meant to reduce the time spent to fulfill reporting requirements and responding to information requests. It was supposed to serve as an authoritative source of information on SPFS Asia activities and outputs for project stakeholders and a wider public audience. It would offer comparisons and consolidations of success stories and technologies produced by the four different countries, and improve communication among the project stakeholders.
The main objective of the Special Program on Food Security (SPFS) is to help Low-Income Food-Deficit Countries
(LIFDCs) to improve their national food security - through rapid increases in productivity and food production, and by reducing year-to-year variability in production - on an economically and environmentally sustainable basis. The extent to which recipient countries derive lasting benefits from the SPFS, and their own national efforts to promote and enhance food-security, depends to a great extent on their ability to collect, analyze, interpret, disseminate, and provide access to information relating to nutrition, food security, and agricultural development among all sectors of society. This in its turn depends upon their ability to acquire and develop the technologies to add value to these resources, by integrating modern information technology and applications into their development strategies.
It was argued that SAIMS will be useful for better coordination of efforts and overall effectiveness of the SPFS at the national and regional levels, and thereby have direct impact in
improving food security. The grassroots level data collected and exchanged would be important for getting timely and accurate assessments of the situation in the recipient country.
It will also be useful for the donor community in formulating their own programs (Riggs, 2002).
Stakeholders
As conceptualized, SAIMS targets a range of stakeholders in the SPFS, including farmers’ organizations, information professionals, researchers, senior managers, and policy makers. However, these are potential stakeholders whose participation is contingent to a number of factors that are beyond the system’s control. The primary stakeholders are the end-users: SPFS staff at the PMU level that would profit most from the system.
Thorough consultations with the stakeholders were conducted during the initial phase:
We were acutely aware from the outset of this project of the need to ensure the usefulness of SAIMS to the PMUs while balancing the needs of other stakeholders. The initial activities in the project included a thorough consultation with all the stakeholders, especially the PMUs, to determine the functional requirements of the system from all perspectives. The design that resulted was circulated for comment, and there was considerable consultation during the development of the website/system (Rudgard, 2005).
Inputs
Project inputs may be categorized under four main headings:
System Design and Development. The system was
designed, developed, and launched by GILW with the active participation of FAORAP.
Hardware/ Software Provision. Work stations, notebook computers, and digital cameras were provided to each PMU and the RCO.
System Maintenance and Backend Administration.
The system is maintained from Rome. The Information Management Officer of FAORAP administers the backend.
Capacity Building. Training programs on SAIMS were
conducted for each of the four PMUs and for the RCO. During these programs PMU editors, PMU approvers, RC editors and RC approvers were identified and trained on their roles and functions. Simulations were conducted as well as specialized follow-on training courses.
Helpdesk and List Serve Support. The help desk is manned by the Information Management Officer of FAORAP with the assistance of GILF. A list serve was initiated in 2003 for the sharing of comments and suggestions on the workflow.
Technical Assistance. Technical assistance is regularly provided by the Information Management Officer of FAORAP and staff from GILF supplemented by occasional consultant’s inputs. Short-term consultants were engaged for capacity building and content development.
Outputs
The intended outputs of the project were:
· a database of technologies developed/tested and lessons learned through the SPFS;
· improved national capacities of the four countries to manage information for food security and agricultural development; and
· collaborative links for information exchange in the Asia/
Pacific to special interest networks, non-governmental organizations and other relevant international, regional, and national organizations, building upon the experience and knowledge available in FAO’s WAICENT.
The outputs were intended to be sustainable through
improved capacities at the national and regional level and the continuing support from FAO’s Program of Work.
Products
SAIMS publishes information in the four national SPFS Asia WebPages and the regional SPFS Asia Website. As stated, the system generates two types of information for these Websites:
SPFS Program Highlights at the country and regional levels;
and SPFS Technologies.
A Highlight is an SPFS program or project event or an activity that should be documented and shared. This event may be at the regional or national level. A Technology, on the other hand, is a method or material employed in SPFS projects. It may be a process, a procedure, an ingredient, or an element that would contribute to food security. It may be a product of scientific research or it may be generated by local or indigenous knowledge.
Upon completing a process of entering and approving at the PMU and RCO levels, the Highlight or Technology is published in the public site. An example of a published highlight is found in Frame 4-2.
Workflows
There are two workflows employed to publish Highlights in SAIMS: the national and the regional. Figure 4-1 gives the algorithm for the publishing of SAIMS Highlights.