Register for Trainings

1. ESRI Training

Training Agenda

Esri will be offering a 2-day training session for symposium participants to provide them with the necessary resources and skills in solving geographic problems. The training shall embed real world scenarios and case studies that participants will work through to help them develop context of how modernized workflows in GIS can be applied in their day-to-day work.

The training modules covered during the training session are listed below.

Modern GIS

This training introduces Web GIS concepts and how web maps, apps, and other authoritative content can be created and shared through the ArcGIS System. Participants will learn how to discover, use, create, and share content that infuses projects with geographic and visual impact.

Learning Objectives:

1. Create and discover geographic content site that meets your project needs.

2. Visualize data and see trends through configurable web maps and web apps.

3. Explore relationships and correlations in data to help solve geographic problems.

4. Use quick and intuitive ways of transforming your maps into interactive web apps for informed decision making.

GIS in Climate Action

Climate change is a growing concern all over the world given the growing impacts being realized globally – from rising sea levels, increased intensity in extreme weather events, diminishing inland water bodies, declining air quality and environmental degradation experienced in different ecosystems. GIS plays a pivotal role in understanding the geographic impact of changes in climate and helping scale activities for forecasting and better preparing governments and local communities to adapt to the changes.

The second day will cover resources and hands-on learning that will enable participants in mapping climate resilience and prepare to deal with weather and climate-related hazards. At the end of this training, participants will be able to use GIS in documenting climate hazards that put their communities at risk and then come up with workable solutions to reduce the impact of these risks.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understanding potential climate hazards using authoritative resources available with the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World.

2. Identifying changes from climate change and at-risk populations using the Digital Earth Africa Explorer App.

3. Sharing information with stakeholders that can use it to take action.

Training information:

1. The hands-on sessions include conceptual information and step-by-step exercises that will be accessible through a web browser.

2. An Esri instructor will be leading the session and will also be available to assist throughout and answer any questions participants may have.

3. Through Africa GeoPortal, Esri will provide ArcGIS Online accounts that will be used for the training, including required add-on licenses.

4. Internet will be provided in the training room.

5. Participants are required to bring their laptops for the session.

Contact:

Lebogang Mashishi | Geospatial Product Lead at Esri South Africa

2. Digital Earth Africa Training

Training Agenda

Digital Earth Africa (DE Africa) provides a routine, reliable and operational service, using Earth observations to deliver decision-ready products enabling policy makers, scientists, the private sector and civil society to address social, environmental and economic changes on the continent and develop an ecosystem for innovation across sectors https://www.digitalearthafrica.org

Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, the participants will be able to:

• understand how to use the DE Africa data platforms, including DE Africa Maps, DE Africa datasets, and the DE Africa Sandbox

• provide assessments on crop productivity over time and support food security,

• report on water extent including monitoring floods,

• detect urban growth of major towns

• provide assessments on land degradation and obtain assessments on change in vegetation

Training Requirement

DE Africa connects to Amazon Web Services (AWS) via internet and offline is not available at the moment. Nevertheless, DE Africa connectivity is optimum and an opportunity to connect all. Connection via Google Chrome and Safari have been found to be optimum.

DE Africa recommends that the participants have access to the DE Africa Maps https://maps.digitalearth.africa and DE Africa Sandbox (free registration) https://sandbox.digitalearth.africa

DE Africa provides petabytes of satellite data powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) including Landsat, Sentinel and has co-developed continental services with partners in Africa namely Water Observation from Space, Crop land mask, GeoMAD (cloud free mosaics), and Coastline service. https://www.digitalearthafrica.org/platform-resources/analysis-tools

At the end of the workshop, participants will be empowered to be able to manage their natural resources towards achieving national development goals, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Additional resources are shown below:

1. DE Africa training https://learn.digitalearthafrica.org [Free online courses]

2. DE Africa use cases: https://www.digitalearthafrica.org/media-center/blog

3. DE Africa Tutorials https://www.youtube.com/@digitalearthafrica4021 [Live sessions] held every week on Wednesday 11a.m GMT zero, connect https://forms.gle/2sZ5T3fTpz3Rcw6z6

4. DE Africa User Guide: https://docs.digitalearthafrica.org/en/latest/index.html

Contact

Kenneth Mubea, PhD | Capacity Development Lead, Digital Earth Africa,
kenneth.mubea@digitalearthafrica.org

3. GEO-LDN Training

Training Agenda

Background

The continuous learning journey of the GEO-LDN Flagship is an integral part in enabling stakeholders to use EO for informed decision making. It is crucial to connect to relevant stakeholders and engage them in the GEO-LDN network. In the LDN concept integrated land use planning (ILUP) has been identified as an adequate approach to support reporting and planning processes as well as implementing measures to reach LDN. ILUP is a complex process that requires collaboration and coordination among different stakeholders, including government agencies, civil society organizations, and local communities. The AfriGEO Symposium brings together many of these relevant stakeholders from the African continent.

Objective

In the training the LDN concept and the GEO-LDN Flagship will be introduced. The LDN Toolbox, as an integral service the Flagship is offering, and the philosophy of a “federated approach”, which is underlying, will be explained. A focus in this training is on getting to know different tools for LDN monitoring, including various demos. It will be concluded by an open discussion to compare the presented approaches and increase competencies to choose the right tools and data for the respective decision context. This serves as a platform for peer-to-peer exchange and dialogue among stakeholders to create a strong community of practice.

Format

The training will be organized over two days and will focus on peer-to-peer exchange and dialogue. While the focus is on in-person attendance and presentation, some of the tools may be presented through pre-recorded videos. The sessions will conclude with a panel discussion. In addition to the formal training sessions, there will be room for informal gatherings.

Expected direct outcomes

After the training participants will have:

• strengthened decision making competences for choosing the appropriate tool(s) for their context

• identified common themes, challenges, and opportunities for collaboration through peer-to-peer exchange and dialogue

• increased awareness on alternative approaches and tools

Expected mid-term outcomes

• participants will have the opportunity to become part of the GEO-LDN long-term learning journey, particularly through becoming members of the community of practice on using EO for better decision making

• participants can contribute to the user-centric design of the LDN toolbox through open discussions on new/alternative tools to the LDN Toolbox and on questions of interoperability and standards