Group 2 - Approach and methodology - Gashaw

The project will use a mix of approaches and methodologies to cater for the range of research and development activities of the project:

1. A regional collaborative project: The project is a regional collaborative initiative covering four countries, namely, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The collaboration is through universities and their country based partners.
2. Research and development oriented: The research component includes conducting inventory of ICT tools currently in use among the target rural communities and the level of penetration of the tools in the community. The development component is the provision of information and knowledge that translates into change towards improved livelihood. In other words, it will be an action oriented research that seeks to influence development change during the pursuit of research activities.
3. Participatory design and implementation: The project follows a participatory approach in the design and implementation of the project, drawing on the potentials of the various partners including the rural communities who are the primary target beneficiaries. This is in recognition of the contribution of various actors to bring about meaningful change in community.
4. Capacity building: The project integrates capacity building through MSc training in each country. At each of the project sites there will Research students of relevant MSc programs to assist in the operation of the agriculture and environment resource centers either as a part of their practical and/or conducting their research on issues related to the project. The outcome of this is professionals exposed to application of ICT in rural development and who can effectively manage rural resource centers.
5. Participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E): PM&E schemes will be built in into the project to be implemented at different phases of the project, including project completion evaluations