Harnessing Radio and Internet Systems to Monitor and Mitigate Agricultural Droughts in Rural African Communities - Monitoring and Predicting Agricultural Drought: A Global Study - page 278

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a standard radio, and its small antenna can be easily held in one hand.
The WDS radio has more than 100 channels of clear digital radio signals
across the whole of Africa. Voice transmissions can be rebroadcast directly
over community-owned FM radio or interpreted by community radio an-
imators and incorporated into locally produced programing. Because the
WDS radio is digital, it can broadcast data files as well as voice transmis-
sions. When attached to the WorldSpace receiver with a special “modem”
known as an adapter card, a common 486 personal computer saves the
transmissions for display in a format that looks like a Web page—a format
ideal for transmitting drought and environmental information, so much of
which is graphical.

Te chnical Configuration
Using the above technologies, RANET transfers information from capi-
tal cities to rural communities in four critical steps: information gather-
ing, transmission, reception and interpretation, and dissemination (figure
21.1). In the first step, scientists at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration (NOAA), ACMAD, national meteorological ser-
vices in Africa, and RANET partners gather vital information on climate,
weather, and food security for drought monitoring and prediction. The in-
formation is managed and maintained by the Climate Information Project
at NOAA's Office of Global Programs, in cooperation with the WorldSpace
Foundation (NOAA, 2002).
In the second step, the information processed by the network of scientists
is delivered to a WorldSpace uplink station via internet and loaded to
the WDS radio. A partner can send a contribution by an e-mail or can
post it to FTP sites on the server. At the top of every hour, the uplink
station sends the most current RANET information to the WDS radio for
broadcast over all of Africa. In the third step, field sites download RANET
information using a WDS radio receiver, adapter card, and computer,
frequently powered by solar energy. Staff at RANET field sites (including
extension agents, development practitioners, and trained members of the
community) interpret RANET information (including drought warnings)
according to the local context and translate it into local languages.
In the fourth step, localized information is disseminated to communities
by word of mouth and FM radio broadcasts. According to local priorities,
communities across Niger and Uganda have devised different methods of
distribution to the most vulnerable families (in particular, female-headed
households). These methods include awarding radios as prizes in a neigh-
borhood hygiene competition, or selling radios to support activities of the
local RANET project (Pratt and Stewart, 2002).
Finally, feedback is generated through training workshops, site visits,
and other person-to-person contacts and communication among RANET
partners via e-mail and Web discussion groups. Two-way technologies
such as satellite-enabled e-mail via portable ground stations are being

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