14 May 2012, Rome – A global online community on the use of information and communication technologies in agriculture (called "e-Agriculture") run by FAO has received a prestigious award from the organizing body of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), called the WSIS Project Prize 2012.
The e-Agriculture Community today has grown to more than 8 500 registered members from over 165 countries, including development practitioners, policymakers, representatives of farmer organizations, researchers, and information and communication specialists involved in agriculture and rural development. The e-Agriculture Community is active on three levels. A web-based, multilingual (English, French, Spanish) platform (www.e-agriculture.org) provides a neutral space for knowledge sharing and collaboration. The Community also participates in face-to-face events organized around the world, and through in-country interventions lead by Community members and their institutions.
The project descriptions of winners are highlighted in the 2012 edition of the WSIS Stocktaking Report on Success Stories.
The ceremony was followed by a day-long series of presentation sessions on project implementation by managers from the winning organizations that were invited to showcase their projects to the public by focusing on the impact of their projects for the development of the Information Society and achieving WSIS targets:
WSIS Stocktaking: WSIS Project Prices Showcasing-Part 1
WSIS Stocktaking: WSIS Project Prices Showcasing-Part 2