Advanced Training on GIS and Remote Sensing Applications for IGAD
East Africa is a region facing multiple challenges from natural disasters like drought, flood, earthquake and complex emergencies. Building capacity at regional level to reduce effects of such events is fundamental for sustainable development. Geographic information systems (GIS) have proven to be efficient for implementing coherent disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities at regional, national and local scales. Quantifying risk and expected future losses is a key step in any disaster risk reduction program also the outputs and scenarios of a risk assessment contribute to structuring overall risk reduction policies and planning. Geospatial risk assessment can be performed with GIS tools and techniques which can not only quantify risk but also identify the locations in need of risk reduction measures, thus making the whole risk reduction framework efficient.
In November 2012, UNOSAT undertook two fact-finding missions to Djibouti and Nairobi to explore needs and interests in improving geo-spatial capacities in support of DRR activities in east Africa. Based on discussions with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Secretariat, IGAD’s Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), IGAD's Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN) and other IGAD actors the following needs are identified to be addressed within the framework of this project. A number of different technical training courses, awareness-raising events and ad-hoc technical support will be delivered throughout the project to strengthen IGAD’s capacities for mainstreaming geospatial information technologies into DRR activities and implementation plans. Two training events, “Introduction to GIS for DDR” and “Introduction to Remote Sensing and Field Data Collection Techniques for DDR” have been already held in Nairobi in April and June 2013 for targeted beneficiaries from IGAD Secretariat, ICPAC, ICPALD, CEWARN, Kenya Polytechnic University and other IGAD actors. Within the framework of this capacity building activity, a third technical training “Advanced GIS and RS applications for IGAD” will be held in Nairobi from 9 to 20 September 2013 to further develop the expertise of IGAD technical staff members.
The aim of the course is to provide participants with advanced GIS and RS workflow methodologies related to specific applications relevant to the different IGAD’s programmes (ICPAC, ICPALD, CEWARN, IGAD Secretariat and IGAD Somalia).
Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:
- Build a personal Geodatabase and setting up topological rules for data management in a GIS
- Create geoprocessing models to implement GIS analysis workflows
- Use GIS based modeling tools for flood inundation mapping
- Use geostatistical Analysis Tools to apply and assess different interpolation methods for rainfall spatial distribution
- Apply GIS methodologies and tools to perform impact analysis for flood response mapping
- Apply basic GIS methodologies and tools to perform resource based conflict analysis
- Describe advantages of enterprise GIS solutions
This course is composed of 10 modules covering the below listed topics that will be delivered over 2 weeks:
- Recap of Introduction to GIS for DRR and RS for DRR
- Spatial Data Management and Geodatabases
- Introduciton to Model Builder and calculation of NDVI using Model Builder
- Gathering and analysing time series RS derived vegetation products
- Hydrologic modelling in GIS
- Interpretaation of precipitation data using model builder and preparation of geospatial reports and map templates
- The use of satellite imagery for emergency response mapping
- Conflict Analysis for IGAD region
- Enterprise GIS for IGAd
- DRR strategies and Policies for IGAD region
- Final GIS/RS Project
This course is divided into 10 Modules. Each module is structured into 4 sessions of 1.5 hours each, which make a workload of 6 hours on average per day and, an overall workload of 60 hours for the entire duration of the course. It is considered that the length of the course well reflects its scope and is adequate to enable participants to achieve the learning objectives.
This is a full time, face-to-face course comprising lectures and GIS lab exercises using local datasets and real scenarios (80% lab exercises, 20% lectures and discussions).
Participants are technical professionals working at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Secretariat, IGAD’s Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), IGAD's Conflict Early Warning and Response Mechanism (CEWARN) IGAD’s Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD), and other IGAD’s programmes with sound knowledge of GIS and RS concepts and applications.
Important Note:
This course has been designed by UNITAR/UNOSAT to address specific operational needs of the different IGAD programmes. We highly recommend that participants attending the course have successfully completed the two training courses already delivered within the framework of UNOSAT-IGAD capacity development project: "Intro to GIS for Disaster Risk Reduction" and "Intro to Remote Sensing and Field Data collection Techniques for Disaster Risk Reduction".
Institution:
This course will be delivered by UNOSAT, the operational satellite applications programme of the United Nations Institute for training and Research (UNITAR).
UNOSAT is a technology intensive programme active in all aspects of applied research relating to satellite solutions, from earth observation to telecommunication, positioning and navigation. UNOSAT delivers satellite solutions, geographic information to organizations within and outside the UN system to make a difference in the lives of communities exposed to poverty, hazards, and conflict, or affected by humanitarian and other crises.
Language:
English
Certificate:
Participants will be given a UN training participation certificate from UNITAR.
Software:
ESRI ArcGIS version 10.1 with extensions (spatial analyst). Google Earth, Access to internet
Class Size:
The number of participants is limited to 18.
Course Coordination:
Mr. Luca Dell’Oro, Specialist, UNITAR/UNOSAT (luca.delloro [at] unitar.org (luca[dot]delloro[at]unitar[dot]org))