RCMRD Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa(GMES and Africa) project organized a phase two kick-off workshop and stakeholders’ needs assessment in Juba, South Sudan from 26th-27th April 2022.  The event which was held at Aron Hotel brought together over 20 participants from various ministries; Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD), Ministry of Environment and Fisheries, National Bureau of Statistics of South Sudan, and Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF). The needs assessment workshop was officially opened by H.E. Isaiah Chol Aruai, the Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) South Sudan.

Figure 1: GMES & Africa Kick-off workshop Group Photo

Front (L-R); Chief Director, Geospatial Information services and ICT, Republic of South Sudan Mr.Charles Mona, RCMRD Director General Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza, Guest of Honor, His Excellency Isaiah Chol Aruai, the Chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) South Sudan and Director of Corporate Service (RCMRD) Mr. Paul Idude

The objective of the Kick off and needs assessment workshop in Juba, South Sudan was first to sensitize the various stakeholders in the natural resources management authorities from the Lands sector, Energy, Water, Mining, Agriculture, and Environment, on the need to understand the status of the natural resources monitoring tools provided by the GMES & Africa first phase. The second objective was to conduct a needs assessment of the local institutions in South Sudan in the three thematic areas of Land Degradation Monitoring and Assessment, Wetland Monitoring and Assessment, and Open Regional  Reference Vector Database for Water and Agro-ecological zones in order to orient services in these thematic areas to their needs.

While opening the two-day workshop, H.E Isiah Chol thanked RCMRD management led by the Director-General Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza who was present during the workshop for the continued support in Geospatial service provision. He further urged the participants to interact with the experts from RCMRD for knowledge sharing. The Chief Director, Geospatial Information services and ICT, the Republic of South Sudan Mr. Charles Mona was also present during the workshop, and Mr. Paul Idude, Director of Corporate Services, RCMRD.

The two days workshop involved presentations of GMES and Africa project thematic areas, the overall objective of the GMES project, challenges, and achievement of GMES and Africa phase one. The needs assessment exercise involved issuing questionnaires on thematic areas raising the challenge and the way forward under each thematic area. 

Figure 1: Open Geographic Regional Reference Vector Database group discussion

The Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES and Africa) is a flagship programme of the African Union Commission (AUC) under the African Space Policy and Strategy. It sets a pathway for the continent to be globally competitive in space activities, including Earth Observation (EO), and to develop a viable continental space programme. The Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), is the lead institution (RIC) for one of the GMES and Africa consortia in the Eastern Africa region.