The GMES and Africa Training Strategy is available online

GMES and Africa Training Strategy addresses the need to develop critical skills and expertise in Earth Observation (EO) applications, strengthen space-based and in-situ infrastructural capacities of technical institutions in Africa, develop user-centric EO services, and foster communication to ensure effective use of services and products that maximize EO benefits.

Its Strategy also captures the intensification of research clouds at the regional level to strengthen data exploitation skills, and capacity utilization to harness the intellectual capital of trained experts. 

The AU Agenda 2063 has identified African Outer Space as one of its flagship programmes positioned to enable the continent to harness space sciences, technologies, infrastructure, and applications for Africa's growth and transformation, among whose pillars is EO. 

Earth Observation is a vital tool for sustainable economic growth, policy development and enforcement, management of the environment, natural resources, etc. and essential technology in providing evidence-based information that adds value to everyday decisions across communities. 

GMES and Africa initiative is a contributing programme to the African Outer Space Flagship on EO domain. It is an AU-European Commission joint initiative utilizing and adapting the European Copernicus Programme data and services to the African context. The purpose of GMES and Africa is to effectively guide the integration of EO data, technologies and services in support of socio-economic development agendas in Africa. 

Moreover, Africa's Agenda 2063 prioritizes skills revolution and human capital development underpinned by Science, Technology and Innovation, which is also the bedrock for a viable African space programme. 

Fundamentally, GMES and Africa is mandated to support the African Space Policy and Strategy in the consolidation of Africa's human and institutional capacities to access, process and utilize EO products and services, and in synthesizing them to provide evidence-based information to end-users for informed decision making. 

In the same vein, it is a conduit to leverage space derived benefits transcending all spheres of governance and tailored to user requirements. This Training Strategy is, therefore, a strategic mechanism conceived to enable, support and drive the implementation of a nascent continental initiative. 

To download the full document of the GMES and Africa Training Strategy click here.