Earth Observation: Agency seeks team to train trainers in Africa

The Portuguese Space Agency wants to contribute to the development of capacities related to Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation programme, among African communities, promoting the use of Earth observation data. Therefore, and within the scope of the Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake (FPCUP), the Agency is looking for a national partner to train future African trainers.

This action is part of the activities developed within the scope of the FPCUP, of which the Portuguese Space Agency is a member, and which comprises other European public entities specialised in remote sensing and Copernicus applications. “There is a great desire for cooperation between African and European partners. We believe that these synergies, of exchanging experiences and knowledge, can benefit both parties,” points out Carolina Sá, Earth Observation officer at the Portuguese Space Agency.

“We are looking for a national partner that will be responsible for training African trainers in Portuguese-speaking countries, while other partners will be responsible for training in French and English, and for developing training adapted to local needs and context,” she explains. The content of this training “will be oriented and designed for the development of applications and services based on Copernicus”, with a view to responding to “specific regional and local problems and challenges in Africa”.

The course curriculum is designed to promote, stimulate and encourage the integration of Copernicus data into geospatial databases, as well as the development of applications and services based on Earth Observation.

Together with the other entities of the WG Africa consortium, the national partner will develop the training materials in Portuguese, which will be used during the training that will take place over 10 weeks, between June and October 2023. These sessions will be remote.

The project partners responsible for this training are the Portuguese Space Agency, FMI/ U. Turku (Finland), and CNES/ IDGEO (France).

Consult the terms of the Public Tender published in the Official Gazette (Diário da República) and get to know the requirements of the Training of Trainers Action. (in Portuguese)

Learn more about this action here. (in Portuguese)