American University of Beirut

KariaNet: Knowledge Access for Rural Interconnected Areas Network

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What is KariaNet?


KariaNet – Knowledge Access for Rural Inter-connected Areas Network - (www.karianet.org)​, is a regional network for the management and sharing of knowledge, information and experience in agriculture and rural development, covering  10 countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen.

KariaNet is a multi-stakeholder partnership between IFAD ( www.ifad.org), IDRC (www.idrc.ca), and IFAD-financed projects in the NENA region (Near East and North Africa). Activities are coordinated across the networks and throughout the MENA region through a small, regionally based, secretariat.

Hosting of KariaNet


In October 2012, IDRC issued a call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) to host the KariaNet regional secretariat. The International Institute for Sustainable Development was chosen to provide an independent scoring and assessment of the EOIs on the basis of its previous work with KariaNet.

ESDU’s application presented a strong case for institutional alignment and long term ownership of KariaNet, based on its prior experience with proactively setting up and running other networks where they saw to be a need and opportunity, and seeking ongoing support for those activities, because they were considered to be important to ESDU’s mission. ESDU’s technical capacity for knowledge management (KM) and knowledge sharing (KS) is strong, with (a) demonstrated experience in running centers of excellence and communities of practice, and (b) a designated KM officer in place as a long term commitment to the role of KM in development. The organizational capacity to operate across the region was well documented and met all the requirements.  The documentation provided suggests ESDU has an extensive reach into a number of countries in MENA and are recognized as a regional organization. They are “implementation ready”, based on infrastructure, available staff, contracting ability and prior experience contracting with IDRC.

Objectives​​

  • Mainstream Knowledge Management/Knowledge Sharing (KM/KS) on Local Food Systems. 
  • Give smallholder farmers, especially rural women and youth, access to information on best practices, technologies, funding opportunities, etc.
  • Enable rural and agricultural development practitioners across Middle East and North Africa to improve the performance of projects across the region through enabling systems at the local, national and regional levels. 
  • Support smallholder farming, sustainable agricultural practices and local economic development. 
  • Raise awareness on best practices promoting the conservation of natural resources, the promotion of local food systems and the adoption of sustainable livelihoods​

Benefits

KariaNet is an online open access knowledge sharing platform that provides endless benefits. Here are KariaNet key advantages. 

  • ​Promoting best practices and alternative sustainable solutions for rural and agricultural purposes
  • Easing search of and access to relevant information and resources
  • Making knowledge available to small-scale farmers, development practitioners, government agencies, researchers, private sector, and national and regional NGOs involved in rural development
  • Linking up the knowledge providers with knowledge seekers
  • Enhancing the effectiveness of development projects and programs that serve vulnerable communities
  • Empowering membersthrough the use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and non-ICT tools
  • Enabling rural and agricultural development practitioners across Middle East and Africa to promote sustainability
  • Promoting capacity building, smallholder farming, sustainable agricultural practices and local economic development.​

Partner Countries

KariaNet was set up as a regional knowledge management and sharing network expanding over 10 countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, and Yemen. 

Over the years, these countries have actively taken part in KariaNet previous activities through their representatives liaising with ESDU to provide up-to-date information on local rural development and share relevant data to strengthen KariaNet’s regional knowledge.

Learn more about this project on KarinaNet Website​


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