GEONetCab project kicks off

GEONetCab is a support action under the Environment theme in the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Over the next three years it will work in close cooperation with the GEO Capacity Building Committee (CBC) and related Tasks to enhance GEO’s overall capacity-building efforts. GEONetCab was launched at a kick-off meeting on 18-19 January.

The meeting was held at the Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente in Enschede, The Netherlands. The kick-off occurred in conjunction with the 11th meeting of the Capacity Building Committee (see article in this issue). This allowed the project team and the project advisory board to interact closely with the CBC members.

Building capacity

The purpose of the GEO Network for Capacity Building (GEONetCab) project is to create conditions for the improvement and expansion of GEO capacity-building activities. The project will pay special attention to developing countries and to the new European Union member states. It will focus on:

• analyzing the current situation in earth observation applications across the GEO themes, with emphasis on the role that capacity building can play in improving and expanding the use of satellite data;
• providing GEO with a capacity-building approach that takes “quick win projects” as a starting point and develops a related web portal to facilitate capacity building; and
• carrying out awareness and dissemination activities to create a strong global basis for supporting GEO’s capacity-building operations.

The final results of the GEONetCab project are to be transferred to GEO for further use and development.

Connecting and building

GEONetCab will start by analyzing what earth observation applications are currently available and identifying the bottlenecks that limit the possibilities for their further expansion. Special attention will be paid to success stories, experiences that can be considered as successful and as quick wins, and initiatives that with additional effort would allow for rapid appraisal and comparatively easy fundraising. GEONetCab will focus on practical examples coming from four regions/countries: Southern Africa, the French-speaking countries of Africa, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

The GEONetCab team has presented a first list of success stories and quick wins to the CBC members. In the coming months, selected success stories will be compiled to support outreach and dissemination activities. The quick wins are going to be activated by networking and brokerage events organized by the project.

The design of a capacity-building web portal that could eventually be integrated into the GEOSS Common Infrastructure was discussed at the kick-off meeting. Key features of the portal will include improved access to and use of existing online courseware, the sharing of capacity-building expertise and material, search facilities for accessing existing capacity-building digital resources, and a catalogue web service to provide access to GEONetCab capacity-building resources.

Dissemination toolkit

Outreach and dissemination are critical to the project and will determine the sustainability of the network’s actions and brokerage functions. The first part of the dissemination toolkit will become available later in 2010 and will include a brochure, poster and an e-book of success stories. A project website will be launched also for outreach purposes. The second part of the tool kit, to be used in a road show for investors, and a manual for successful brokerage will be prepared in 2011.

In 2012, the GEONetCab brokerage network will become operational and a series of workshops will be implemented.

The project will provide important inputs to some of the Tasks supported by the CBC, notably Task CB-09-01 on Resource Mobilization and Task CB-09-04 on Capacity Building Needs and Gap Assessment.

The Enschede meeting concluded that some of the project activities, such as preparing the success stories and the dissemination tools, should be speeded up in order to be ready in time for the GEO Ministerial Summit in November. The CBC will be closely involved in planning and implementing the GEONetCab outreach activities.

For more information, contact Mark Noort, GEONetCab Coordinator, at m.noort@itc.nl.

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