Brief on On-going Activities

The 2003 – 2006 Business Plan

During the 4 th Conference of Ministers which was held in Windhoek, Namibia in December 2002, the Centre’s 5 th Business Plan (2003 – 2006) was officially launched. The theme of the Plan is, “To Promote the Development, Application and Dissemination of Geo-information for Sustainable Development of Africa”. This theme was chosen to highlight the importance of geo-information in planning and decision-making processes for sustainable development. To achieve sustainable development, Africa requires access to data, information, knowledge and understanding about the environment and natural resources including socio-economic activities. Therefore, there is an urgent need for African countries to build geo-information infrastructure, which is as important as building roads, telecommunication networks, and provision of basic services.

The proposed activities of this Plan are:

• Creation of awareness among the decision makers on the importance of geoinformation in sustainable development.

• Building of capacity and capability in geoinformation at the Centre and in the member States.

• Promotion of the development of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) in the member states.

• Promotion of the use of space technology in food security, integrated ecosystem management, environmental monitoring and disaster management.

• Development of metadata on transboundary resources of the IGAD sub-region.

• Provision of advisory services on geoinformation.

• Promotion of application of geoinformation in sustainable development through networking

Apart from the above activities, income generating activities and marketing of the Centre’s services and products will be undertaken during the plan period.

This Plan will be implemented in collaboration with the member States, development partners and cooperating institutions and organizations. Its implementation will be through the preparation of annual work plans, which will be based on priority activities and availability of resources. The funding of the activities will come from different sources. These include funds from member States contributions, funds internally generated and funding of projects by different bilateral and multilateral development partners.

Lastly the implementation of this plan will continuously be monitored on annual basis and progress reports prepared and submitted to the Governing Council.

ON-GOING ACTIVITIES

After restructuring in 2000, the Centre embarked on the implementation of various programmes/ activities starting 2001. These programmes/activities include:

Training Programme

Training of nationals from our member States in the application of geo-information in sustainable development is our core business. We undertake short courses (two weeks to three months) that focus mainly on the application of geo-information technologies in resource mapping, planning and management; environmental management and monitoring; database development and management and servicing of surveying and mapping equipment. We also undertake customer tailored training courses. The following are our general training courses, which are conducted throughout each year:

• Land Use, Land Degradation Assessment and Monitoring using Remote Sensing and GIS (February and July)

• Application of Remote Sensing and GIS to Early Warning Systems for Food Security and Environmental Monitoring (March and August)

• Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Natural Resources Assessment and Management (April and September)

• Geo Spatial Database Development and Management for use in planning process and decision making (May and October)

• Introduction to the principles of Geomatics (Integrated course in RS, GIS and GPS)

• GIS and Digital Cartography (June and November)

• Fundamentals of Modern Land Surveying and Positioning Systems (March and August) Maintenance of electronic and optical-mechanical surveying instruments (throughout the year)

Promotion of Establishment of National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)

In collaboration with UN-ECA, USGS and member States we are promoting the establishment of NSDI in our member States and Africa as a whole through holding of national workshops and sensitization of relevant decision makers.

Project implementation

In collaboration with our member states, development partners and clients we have or are in the process of implementing different projects. Among the projects are:

• Land cover mapping of eastern African countries (FAO-AFRICOVER Project)

• Preparation of National Wind Atlas for the Ministry of energy, Kenya (2002-3).

• Preparation of Landover Database and Maps for South Sudan (Contracted by GIBB ( Africa) and Yam Consultants Ltd, Sudan)(2003-4)

• Development of Somalia Hydrological Database for FAO, Nairobi office (2003).

• Preparation and dissemination of Greater Horn of Africa (GHA) Bulletin on Food Security. The bulletin is prepared in collaboration with FEWSNET, DMC, ILRI, WFP, USGS, DLCO and USAID.(on-going)

• The coordination of African Reference Frame (AFREF) Project in collaboration with IAG, ECA, AOCRS and other Regional Centres (on-going).

• Development of Digital Urban Databases for Nairobi , Kisumu, Eldoret and Malindi in Kenya . (2003). Contracted by Physical planning Division of Ministry of Lands and Settlement, Kenya

• Lake Victoria Wetland Mapping (2005), funded by Lake Victoria Environment map Programme

• Development of Djibouti Spatial Database (2005), funded by USAID

• Gums and Resins Resource mapping in the Greater Horn of Africa, funded by FAO (2005)

• Mapping of 11 towns in Sourthern Sudan , funded by USAID (2005-2006)

• Mapping of 14 towns on the shores of Lake Victoria , funded by UN Habitat (2006)

• Creation of Digital Spatial database for Mumias Sugar Company, Kenya (2006)