SASSCAL participated at the GMES and Africa First Continental Service Workshop On Natural Resources and Water in Lusaka, Zambia which took place from 13 – 15 June 2022. The aim was to facilitate cross-fertilization of services among the consortia and to resolve technical issues related to the implementation of natural resources and water services.

This workshop brought together stakeholders from all consortia leading the implementation of Natural Resources and Water services, stakeholder partners, Regional Economic Communities and European Technical Institutions among others.

GMES & Africa phase II is a continuity and will build on the achievements of phase I. The Consortia are therefore requested to improve the existing services in their region by investigating mechanisms to ensure that the services become user-driven and sustainable at the technical and financial levels. Mature services, which would demonstrate their usefulness, will be applied to other African regions based on cross-fertilization mechanisms. This service workshop was the ideal platform for the consortia to identify collaborative mechanisms because the ultimate objective of GMES & Africa is to end-up with services that are issued on continental scale.

The objectives of this workshop was to discuss and provide solutions on the technical issues on the six pillars of GMES & Africa phase II: i) Policy and Institutional framework, ii) Infrastructure and Data, iii) Information Services, iv) Training and Capacity Development, v) Knowledge Management, vi) Outreach, Awareness and Engagement and to identify cross-fertilization mechanisms among the consortia.

SASSCAL also participated in the communication workshop, held as a side event during the continental workshop on natural resources and water services.

The communications specialists of the Project Management Units, grouped in the Network of Communications officers of the G&A program have agreed on the urgency of updating the continental communications strategy of GMES & Africa.  This workshop had the following specific objectives:

• Define the methodological approach to develop the regional communication strategy;
• Carry out the situational analysis;
• Define the strategic framework with communication objectives, targets, messages and media;
• Define the operational framework;
• Define the monitoring and evaluation plan.