Last 16th January, an initial exploratory meeting took place at ESRIN to start a discussion on EO and Official Development Assistance (ODA) with first interested national aid agencies from across Europe, together with representatives from the national space agencies/government departments, the OECD and DG-DEVCO.
To date, the activities of ESA in the development aid area have been focused entirely on projects being implemented through the International Financing Institutions (eg. World Bank, IFAD, Asian Development Bank). However, several European national aid agencies are also actively investigating the use of EO-based information within their activities, and have approached ESA to learn more about these experiences.
Recognising such growing interest in the development aid community, the meeting was organised to take stock of the current opportunities, share information and experiences, and collectively identify the key issues and actions needed to grow the use of EO in the development aid sector, in the longer-term.
Here follows the meeting agenda with links to the presentations.
09:00 – 09:15 : Welcome to ESRIN
(J. Aschbacher, Director of Earth Observation Programmes (D-EOP), and Head of ESA/ESRIN Establishment)
09:15 – 09:30 : Introduction : Scope & Purpose of Meeting
(M. Borgeaud, Head of Science, Applications & Climate Department, EOP)
09:30 – 10:00 : Overview of experiences with International Financing Institutions projects/programs through ESA activities
(S. Coulson, Acting Head of Sustainable Initiatives Office, EOP).
10:00 – 11:30 : Current experiences in the use of satellite information in development aid activities from European organisations
(Germany – GIZ, France – AFD, Netherlands – MINBUZA, UK – UKSA/Caribou Digital, Italy – ASI)
Coffee/Tea Break
11:45 – 12:15 : Current issues; news & views from the ESA staff seconded to WB HQ (Washington DC)and ADB HQ (Manila)
(C. Aubrecht, P. Manunta)
12:15 – 12:45 : Open discussion on challenges and opportunities on expanding the use of EO in development aid activities, based on experiences to date (All Participants)
Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 : Ideas for common objectives/goals, prospects for longer-term collaboration, next steps/actions, future plans. (All Participants) Wrap-up, and end of meeting (ESA).
You can access here the list of participants and a Summary Report.