ESA Continues Dialogue with National Aid Agencies

Earlier this year in January, an initial exploratory meeting took place at ESA’s centre for Earth Observation, ESRIN, located in Frascati, Rome, to start a discussion on EO and Official Development Assistance (ODA) exploring current status and experiences with several EU national development agencies and ministries (for further details on the participants and outcome (see the details on the participants and outcome).

Building on this first event, a more extensive consultation was held with the EU development aid sector from across Europe, together with representatives from the national space agencies and government departments, the OECD and DG-DEVCO. This landmark consultation took place 11–12 September 2018 at ESRIN, and focused on the future actions and planning required to grow the use of EO in the development aid sector.

This workshop provided additional stakeholder feedback on the space for IDA (International Development Assistance) programme concept to allow ESA to prepare for the ESA Ministerial Council to be held in November 2019, where final agreements for future ESA programmes are made. Space for IDA is the future programme name, and is an evolution of the existing ESA Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (EO4SD) programme.

Here follows the meeting agenda with links to the presentations.

Day 1 : Tuesday 11th September

14:00–14:10: Welcome to ESRIN (Maurice Borgeaud, ESA)
14:10–14:20: Background & Context: Overview of experiences with International Financing Institutions projects/programs and the 2030 SD Agenda, (Stephen Coulson, ESA)
14:20–14:30: Objectives of this meeting (Maurice Borgeaud, ESA)
14:30–15:30: EO and Development Aid: Future perspectives from International stakeholders (World Bank, ADB, IFAD, OECD)

Coffee/Tea Break

16:00–17:15: EO and Development Aid: Future perspectives from European stakeholders focus on future key priorities and plans. France (AFD), Germany (GIZ), UK (UKSA), Netherlands (MINBUZA), Norway (NSC), DG-JRC.
17:15–17:30: Introduction to Day 2
17:30–18:30: Visit to the Φ Experience

Day 2 : Wednesday 12th September

09:00–10:00: Space in support of International Development Aid – Space4IDA: outline Ideas for future activities to expand the use of satellite information in Development Aid (Stephen Coulson, ESA)
10:00–11:00: Open discussion continued on issues, challenges, opportunities, based on experiences to date. Topics include: focus on how to achieve long-term, sustainable use of satellite-based environmental information in Development Aid working practices & financing (All)

Coffee/Tea Break

11:30–12:30: Open discussion on issues, challenges, opportunities, based on experiences to date; topics include : focus on how to effectively carry out Knowledge development, Skills transfer and Capacity-building in the use and production of satellite-based environmental information Aid Agencies & Client States (All)
12:30–12:40: Concluding Remarks and Next Steps (ESA)

End of Workshop

You can access the List of Participants and a Summary Report.