Digital Earth Africa partnered with African Women in GIS to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8th 2022. The virtual event ‘Unlocking the promise of tomorrow - Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow,’ showcased the important work that women are doing across Africa using Earth observation to contribute to national development agendas, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
African Women in GIS is a community that gives African women the freedom to create connections, gain mentors, learn new skills, access courses and get job-related advice and opportunities in the geospatial industry.
They have been using online forums such as Twitter and LinkedIn to mentor young women in Africa. The network is also now supporting alumni of YouthMappers who have now entered the Earth observation industry. Continuing to support young women through these networks is important, ensuring that no woman is left out of the conversation about sustainable development and people with diverse perspectives can contribute to the “Africa We Want”.
The event featured women who are championing the use of Earth observation to solve problems in their communities.
- Stella Mutai has been using Digital Earth Africa services to monitor and support sustainable coffee production in Kenya. Her innovative work was recently awarded the Farming by Satellite Prize, from the European Global Navigation Satellite System Agency.
- Dr Kelebogile is another inspiring example, she has been using the Water Observations from Space service to assess the water variability of Lake Ngami in the Okavango Delta and inform decision making around future water management.
- Digital Earth Africa is also working to build the capacity of users such as Ingrid Kintu with free and accessible tools and training to aid their work. Ingrid recently completed the new ‘Intro to Sandbox’ course and plans to use the Digital Earth Africa platform to study vegetation dynamics in the Kyonga Water Management Zone in Eastern Uganda.
- Khairiya Massoud from the State University of Zanzibar was featured in a new documentary from Amazon, Climate Next: The Essential Mangrove, which dives into how local communities are using data and services from Digital Earth Africa to fight the effects of climate change and protect the island’s mangrove habitat.
Digital Earth Africa is committed to ensuring our work promotes geographic and language diversity across the African continent, gender equality, and inclusion of youth and people with disabilities. Digital Earth Africa seeks to be an exemplar of diversity and inclusiveness by being mindful of gender and geographic diversity makeup at all levels of the organisation. The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy serves to guide DE Africa’s activities and approach to advancing gender equality, diversity and social inclusion in line with DE Africa vision and mission, leaving no one behind.
For further information on how to join and support the Africa Women in GIS, please contact community@africanwomeningis.com.
To engage more with Digital Earth Africa services join the weekly live sessions held Wednesdays 11am GMT. These sessions offer practical ideas for users and are opportunities to gain early insights into upcoming updates to the platform and services.
For more information on DE Africa, please email us at info@digitalearthafrica.org for further information or Join our community.