Reporting for Haiti Regeneration Initiative (HRI), Kate Kennedy
Freeman writes, "The Côte Sud Initiative (CSI) has launched a new
program as part of its agricultural support sector. The Earth
Institute (EI) at Columbia University is working with the Organization
for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (ORE), an NGO with a strong
presence in the Côte Sud region, to pilot a new cell phone based
survey tool to monitor agricultural practices, crop productivity, and
farmer yields of crops."
In October 2011, staff from EI and United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) trained a group of agronomists and staff members from
CSI on ODK. HRI reports that during "the week of the ORE ict4Ag
training, the South Department experienced severe flooding as a result
of heavy rains in the region. Anticipating widespread damage to
personal property and infrastructure, UNEP asked ORE to undertake a
rapid agricultural assessment to gauge the agriculture losses caused
by the flooding. ORE agronomists were able to use their new phones and
take advantage of their new ODK knowledge to undertake a rapid
agricultural assessment."
Congratulations to the ORE team on their quick transition from
training to field usage! Find out more about their work at
http://haitiregeneration.org.