SASSCAL as the lead consortium for the WeMAST Phase II hosted the technical partners involved in an inception meeting from 6^th to 7^th July 2022 in Windhoek, Namibia to start the practical and effective implementation of the WeMAST Phase II of GMES & Africa programme. The primary purpose of the inception meeting was to ensure that project team, technical partners, stakeholders, and project management unit (PMU), are on the same wavelength and have a common understanding of the project objectives.

During her welcoming remarks Dr Jane Olwoch SASSCAL Executive Director highlighted the achievements that were registered during WeMAST phase I and thanked the technical partners and the team for their deliverables. Dr Olwoch further iterated “We are here now to take another step to phase II and I believe we will achieve all our objectives based on the experience from GMES & Africa phase I.

Furthermore, Dr Olwoch emphasised the importance of Earth observation both satellite and in-situ, as these really brings the best technology that we can use to monitor our environment. Free and open data access as the one provided by the Copernicus programme is an important output of the AU and EU cooperation that enables continuous environmental monitoring.

The two days’ event introduced the team, both sides, strengthen confidence and trust among the technical partners, establish common goals for the successful completion of the project and help working more effectively as one team.

Dr. Budzanani Tacheba who is joining SASSCAL as the newly appointed Director of Science, Technology and Capacity Development concluded the two days meeting by summarizing the outcomes of the meeting. He further thanked the technical partners for their readiness and expertise and cautioned the whole team to ensure impactful products and services are produced in Phase 2.