The World Bank
With 185 member countries and an annual lending portfolio of approximately US$20 billion, the World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. The Bank's mission is one of global poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards. Within the Bank, the Agriculture and Rural Development Department (ARD) oversees the implementation of Reaching the Rural Poor, the Bank's rural development strategy. Through a combination of research and analysis, investment support, and strategic planning, ARD supports the Bank's mission by 1) fostering an enabling environment for broad-based growth; 2) enhancing agricultural productivity and competitiveness; 3) fostering non-farm economic growth; 4) improving social well-being, managing risk and reducing vulnerability; and 5) enhancing the sustainability of natural resources.
e-Agriculture Activities of ARD
Improved information and knowledge systems are essential for achievingsustainable rural development and livelihoods, and ARD and many Thematic Groups across the Bank are looking at these issues. The e-agriculture activities are being championed by one of these groups, the Sustainable Agriculture Systems, Knowledge and Institutions (SASKI) Thematic Group, which serves as the key knowledge management node and virtual platform for sustainable agricultural production, processing and marketing systems through producer responsive knowledge institutions, improved linkages between research, extension, education and the end-users as well as reaches staff members engaged in these issues across the Bank, both in headquarters and country operations. SASKI develops and disseminates good practices, promotes shared learning, monitors the portfolio, and carries out studies and workshops, and engages more than 400 members involved and interested in the design and implementation of information and knowledge systems in agriculture and rural development operations of the Bank. In addition, ARD (and SASKI) collaborates with infoDev to assess the knowledge needs of the World Banks rural staff and those of other donors and client country partners on ICT for rural livelihoods that feed into a development of a joint work program on ICT for rural livelihoods.
