HYDERABAD: With the objective of connecting space to village, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in collaboration with NASA, implementing partner ICRISAT and scientific partners launched the second phase of the SERVIR West Africa programme, known as SERVIR West Africa-2 at the Accra International Conference Centre, Ghana.
A joint initiative between USAID and NASA as well as leading geospatial organisations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, SERVIR connects space to the village by using satellite data to address critical development challenges which affect communities on the ground.
The first phase of SERVIR WA was launched in 2016. In the second phase, USAID has committed nearly $16 million over the next five years to help West African countries use satellite data to address development challenges in food security and agriculture, water and hydro-climatic disasters, weather and climate, land cover and land use change, ecosystems services and a newly-introduced financial service.
“Through geospatial technology, we will continue to generate critical knowledge that informs good governance and public policy for better nutrition, food security, climate resilience and a host of other outcomes that we collectively seek for dryland communities in West Africa and beyond,” said ICRISAT director general Jacqueline Hughes.