“For Sustainability, We have to do it Ourselves” Dr. Mahama Ouedraogo

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Director of Human Resources, Science and Technology Department at  the African Union Commission says that Africans have to work for themselves towards achieving sustainable development. This statement was made during a working visit to the University of Ghana on the 24th of February 2020.


The Director, together with a team from the Management Unit of the GMES and Africa Programme, paid a courtesy call to the Provost of the College of Basic Applied Science, Professor Daniel Kwadwo Asiedu. The use of science and technology, and Earth observation tools by academia to attain sustainable development were discussed among other subjects. 

During the three-day working visit, the visiting team had series of meetings with key national and regional stakeholders based in the country. At the Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre Zone F, the Director of the Centre, Commander Yussif Benning, received the delegation led by Dr. Ouedraego. The Centre was established by the ECOWAS with its mandate to monitor the maritime territory of the Golf of Guinea, coordinate security information among member countries, and protect vessels. Discussions on the usage of Earth observation data to enhance maritime security and strengthening working relations with AUC were held with a tour of the Centre.



Commodore Emmanuel Ayesu Kwafo hosted Dr. Mahama Ouedraogo and the visiting team on behalf of the Chief of Naval Staff , at the Eastern Naval Command of the Ghana Navy, located at Tema. Capacity strengthening in Earth observation tools for the Navy, to enhance surveillance in Ghana waters, was the focus of the discussions held.


The last institution visited was The Fisheries Committee for the West Central Gulf of Guinea (FCWC). Mr. Godfrey Baidoo-Tsibu, the FCWC Regional Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) Coordinator, led the staff of the FCWC, on behalf of the Secretary General, Mr. Seraphin Dedi Nadje,  to have a fruitful discussion with the visiting team. 



The Regional Marine Centre, University of Ghana, and lead of the GMES and Africa marine consortium in West Africa, will be supporting, technically, FCWC in assessing Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to enhance the monitoring of fishing vessels in the coastal waters of the member states, namely Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. 


The Director, Dr. Ouedraego; the GMES and Africa Programme Coordinator, Dr. Tidiane Ouattara and the Director of the GMES and Africa (marine) in West Africa, Prof. George Wiafe, all supported the fight against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, that the FCWC is pushing for, within the region.


For the African Union Commission delegation, national and regional cooperation is essential towards the achievements of the Sustainable Development Goals and Earth observation tools and applications should be given more attention in decision making.




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