Unlike previous programmes (PUMA, AMESD, MESA), G&A Phase 1 is a true pan-African programme. Through the financing of 12 consortia, it involved 122 institutions - almost all from Africa - and 51 countries. Most of these institutions are public services and academies, but the private sector is also emerging and its participation is supported by the programme. Below a glance on the first phase achievements.
1. Representativity and Management Structure
GMES and Africa is supervised overall by the African Union Commission - a Programme Management Unit - but is implemented locally, nationally, and regionally, by several Consortia (approx. 2-3 consortia per region), that share the objectives, expected outputs, and principles, of the AUC. Hence, one of the biggest challenges (and successes) of GMES and Africa has been to align the various interests of the stakeholders to reach the purpose of the Program. A side effect of this process has been to create a strong identity and a momentum among the beneficiaries and around the objectives. GMES and Africa has become a flagship, not only at the AUC level but also at the Consortia levels.
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| Figure 1b: This figure pictures the extent to which the GMES and Africa Programme is now a pan Africa program. It shows as well that it implies more than only the Public services, which in turn could open the door if continued to the development of the downstream sector. An objective of the second phase of the Program, in line with the Agenda 2063 of the African Union - More about this Agenda https://au.int/en/agenda2063/overview |
2. Data and Infrastructure
- Data access has been improved through the installation of 12 additional e-Stations, the signing of a cooperation agreement between the AUC and the European Commission, and with EUMETSAT, and - where possible - through the use of the Internet, which spreads rapidly in Africa.
- The 12 new eStation systems were delivered according to plan (6 in North Africa, 1 in West Africa, 1 in Central Africa, 1 in South Africa, 3 in East Africa).
- 48 staff/operators were trained by the manufacturer (Telespazio) during the installation of the stations. The JRC provided 4 additional trainings on the operation and maintenance of the e-Stations.
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| Figure 2a: Nowadays, the different configurations of the eStations offer a greater flexibility to users, based on their needs and capacities - more about the eStation https://estation.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ |
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| Figure 2b: Volume of data and products downloaded, the types of sensors and the platforms used. This figure shows the adaptability of the consortia in terms of data access, with the use of several sources/platforms depending on their respective objectives. However - this was a strong commitment of the Program - Copernicus data and sentinel hubs predominate. At their side, the eStation resists and still asserts itself as a viable solution, Google Earth Engine progresses. |
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| Figure 2c: E-Stations installed under GMES and Africa. Between 2017 and 2021, the GMES and Africa Programme delivered 12 of the "typical" MESA configuration, i.e. 3 PCs, an antenna, and peripherical (UPS, router), and completed the scheme left by AMESD and MESA i.e. 188 Stations (130 MESA, 54 PUMA and 4 Dual/training). There are now 200 EO stations in Africa dealing either with Meteorology and Climate (54 stations) or Environment (142). Four additional are for training on those themes. |
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| Figure 2d: EStations and Geoportals have contributed to give access and broadcast EO data and products to Service providers (grantees) and users. |
3. Services and Products
- The 12 Consortia delivered 100% of the services they committed to, 30 in total, and addressed 31 applications.
- By the end of 2021, 10 regional geoportals were up and running, 7 for terrestrial and 3 for marine services: 3 in West Africa (CSE, UOG, CSSTE), 2 in North Africa (NARSS, OSS), 2 in East Africa (ICPAC, RCMRD), 1 in Central Africa (AGEOS), and 2 in South Africa (CSIR, SASSCAL).
- The delivered services include data, value added products, regular information, bulletins and products.
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| Fig 3a: G&A delivers user-centered Services |
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Figure 3b: Geoportals. 8 out of the 10 regional geo portals (7 terrestrial and 3 marine) plus 2 databases/centers that have been established
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| Figure 3c: G&A applications related to Water and Land Resources Management |
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| Figure 3d: G&A applications related to Marine and Coastal Resources Management |
4. Training and Capacity Building
- 100 training interventions have been delivered, with around 5000 people trained during approx. 19000 days of training. The substantial increase of the trainees comes from the implementation of a significant number of online trainings, which in turn have been driven due to the restrictions imposed by pandemic;
- 2 continental academia workshops (one for francophone universities and 1 for Anglophone universities) and 1 joint academia workshop were held; GMES and Africa has created a network that brings together 15 to 20 French- and English-speaking universities or specialized centers;
- 1 G&A Digital Learning Platform (DLP) has been developed, is hosted by the AUC Microsoft Azure site, and filled with contents;
- 1 training database was established, containing training delivered (title, topic, days, trainers and trainees names and details).
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| Figure 4a: Different Aspects and Achievements of the G&A Trainings |
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| Figure 4b: Training Indicators at Regional Level |
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| Figure 4c: Training Indicators at Consortia levels |
Figure 4b and 4c shows the distribution of the respective achievements that have been reached through the training courses. One can see that the eastern and northern regions of Africa have benefited the most from the existing or rapidly introduced distance learning systems/structures.
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| Figure 4d: Number of students graduated thanks to the GMES and Africa support, by Country |
Earmarking part of the Consortia's funding to support scholarships for study programmes was a sine qua non for the allocation of funds. This resulted in an average of 9 scholarships being awarded per region, i.e. 3 to 4 scholarships per consortium.
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| Figure 4e: The Front page of the GMES and Africa Distance Learning Platform. The DLP is a key achievement of the Program for at least 2 points. First, contrary to the MESA LMS, the DLP is hosted by the African Union. The MESA contents are available through the DLP. Second, the contents and training are developed by the Consortia and Partners, in line with one of the Principles of GMES and Africa, which are to have local solutions developed for local needs, and user centric applications. However, this last part has been and is still a challenge in terms of Quality control. To fix this issue, various options will be explored under the second phase - to access the DLP, http://gmestraining.africa-union.org |
5. Awareness raising and Communication
In the context of GMES and Africa, Communication became an extremely important activity - if not key - to reach and engage users and decision-makers at their respective levels of intervention. Such communication was based on a combination of resources and tools, strategies, traditional media and - most importantly - social media.
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| Figure 5a: GMES and Africa various ways to reach engagement |
G&A websites
G&A Movies
Workshops and Fora
- Three continental services workshops and one joint services workshop were held during the Programme, as well as two continental fora and around 50 technical meetings and workshops. Furthermore, GMES & Africa co-organized five regional workshops (one in each region).
Social Media
- G&A PMU as well as all Consortia run one or more Twitter accounts. There are 11 Facebook accounts and 2 YouTube channels are dedicated to G&A. There was regular G&A presence in the media, especially at international events. A large number of interviews were given to international media (e.g. France 24, TV5) as well as national media (e.g. RTNC) - either in person or remotely.
- Continuous use was made of traditional and social media in a pronounced way - but differentiated by region - to disseminate information about their activities and results as part of the project's communication strategy. In total, more than 60 communication platforms have been established and used. This strategy has allowed the programme to become increasingly visible, even when the implementation of the action slowed down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Figure 5b: G&A Communication Platforms. When GMES and Africa started in 2017, only a few of the Consortia had established open social media platforms, twitter like. The Programme continuously incited them to fill this Communication gap with pages dedicated to the Programme on their Corporate site, the launching of a Project website, the opening of twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, accounts; and to keep them alive. This position was very rewarding when the CoVid put almost all the activities to slow idle in march 2020, and more particularly the meetings and workshop that were at that date one of the main ways of exchanging information. Some Consortia also recognized that the recourse to social media improved dramatically their Communication capacity which now serves other programmes.
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MORE INFORMATION
- Dr Tidiane OUATTARA, the GMES and Africa Coordinator, OuattaraT[at]africa-union.org
- Mr Adiatou FATTY, the GMES and Africa Communication Officer, Fattya[at]africa-union.org
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