A fundamental goal of WASCAL is the improvement of West African livelihoods by supporting research, capacity building and decision making with cutting-edge knowledge on climate change and adapted land use. Consequently, many research and services provision activities of WASCAL focus on the development, extension and validation of research-based methods, technologies and adaptation options in the field of hydrology, meteorology, agriculture, biodiversity, remote sensing, and climate modelling amongst others.

In light of the consolidation phase of the core research programme (CRP), the WASCAL Competence Centre in Burkina Faso (WASCAL CoC) is jointly organising a hydro-climate & remote sensing training course in partnership with its German partners KIT/IMK-IFU, University of Augsburg, DLR and DKRZ.

WHO CAN ATTEND?

WASCAL students and scientists but also up to 10 additional seats are available for other students and early career scientists working in the field of meteorology, hydrology and remote sensing.

SESSIONS & FACILITATORS:

· SESSION I- Climate and Eddy-covariance stations of the Core Research Program: Specifications, data availability & maintenance (Berger S, Salack S)

· SESSION II- Station-based precipitation database, related gridded datasets and their retrieval from WADI (Bliefernicht J, Salack S)

· SESSION III- Introduction to algorithms to retrieve precipitation information from commercial microwave link: Fundamentals, data acquisition system & algorithms (Boose Y)

· SESSION IV- Remote sensing: Selected methods and tools for derivation of land surface characteristics for West Africa, and introduction of WASCAL-EUMETCAST antenna (Gessner U, Forkuor G)

· SESSION V- Climate model data and metadata: planting, growing and harvesting in the WASCAL Data Discovery and CERA/WDCC Portals (Hamann I)

· SESSION VI- Regionally adapted and fully coupled Regional Climate Model simulations (WRF, WRF-HYDRO description, data needs, case studies) (Kunstmann H)

SESSION VII- An analysis of high resolution regional climate simulation results and its retrieval from WADI (Olusegun C)
SESSION VIII- Fundamental objectives and principles of RCM bias correction (Laux P, Lorenz M)

TRAINING COST

The training course is free. Funding for the course covers only training, coffee breaks and lunch for participants. Therefore, every participant is expected to bear the cost of his/her transportation, breakfast, dinner and accommodation.

OTHER CONDITIONS FOR APPLICANTS

Beside WINDOWS operating system, the potential participants must also be familiar with Linux/Unix operating system. Having a basic programming skill is an advantage (e.g. MATLAB, FORTRAN, PYTHON, bash scripting, etc.). To participate, please send a motivation letter and an updated curriculum vitae (1 page max.) to sylla.b(at)wascal.org and cc to salack.s(at)wascal.org with the subject line “CoC March training” before 28th of February 2017, 16h30 GMT.

During the coffee and lunch breaks there will be time for poster presentations and scientific discussions. The participants should therefore prepare and bring a poster to the training course showing their current research.

DATE & VENUE

The training sessions will be held from 14th to 21st of March 2017 in the Conference room of WASCAL Competence Centre, Blvd Moammar El-Khadafi, 06 BP 9507 Ouagadougou 06, Burkina Faso. The language of instruction will be English.

CONTACT

For more information please contact commey.n(at)wascal.org

Two international research methodology workshop and networking sessions between WASCAL and Pan African University Institute of Water and Energy Studies from Algeria (PAUWES) are concurrently ongoing at the University Abomey-Calavi, Benin and University Abdou Moumouni de Niamey, Niger.

Forty (40) students have been drawn from eighteen (18) countries in West Africa, East Africa and North Africa to participate in the workshops which run from 27th February, till Sunday 12th of March, 2017. With focus on Climate Change and Energy in Niger, and Climate Change and Water Resources in Benin, the workshop is focused on enriching and extending the current curricula of WASCAL and Pan African University institute of Water and Energy Studies from Algeria on Climate Change related issues and providing a platform for students from WASCAL and PAUWES to interact and network on scientific issues.

In her opening remarks, Director of WASCAL’s Capacity Building Department, Professor Janet Adelegan was confident that by the end of the two sessions, both universities would have built strong ties, networked, and created lots of synergies in their quests to serve as the solution providers Africa has been looking for to tackle its numerous climate change problems in the areas of energy and water resources.

The workshop, will also increase the visibility of WASCAL as a climate change research and capacity building centre of excellence in West Africa, while building partnerships with new stakeholders.

At the end of the workshop, ten students will ultimately be selected to have a two-month intensive internship at WASACL’s Competence Centre in Burkina Faso, under the sponsorship of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany (BMBF).

This is a collaborative programme between the Pan African University in Tlemcen, Algeria and WASCAL’s Masters Research Programme (MRP) Climate Change and Energy in Niamey, Niger and Graduate Research Programme (GRP), Climate Change and Water Resources in Abomey Calavi, Republic of Benin, with Lecturers drawn from across Western and Southern Africa.

The new logo was approved and confirmed during the last governing board meeting held in Bonn, Germany. The new logo reflects the values and tells the story of the mission of WASCAL in its bid to remain a strong brand in West Africa.

The logo contains an African map. It underlines strength and the outline of Africa represents the root, identity and sense of ownership of WASCAL as an indigenous institution that serves Africa.

Next, there are pearls of rings on West Africa, symbolizing the West African countries being pulled together by the string of pearls (something fragile, but can be very beautiful) representing WASCAL’s ability to adapt to initiatives. The various colours signifies the beauty of unity and oneness.

The colours of the logo are light Blue and shades of Gray.

The new logo registers the strong presence and intent of WASCAL as an indigenous organization that seeks to unify players in the climate sector in West Africa
The new logo, has come to replace the existing one. For further information on the use of the logo for other forms of internal and external communication, all are advised to contact the Public Relations office in Accra, Ghana. Welcome to the new phase and face of WASCAL.

FOR FURTHER ENQUIRIES, CONTACT: PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT,ACCRA,+233 244 99 24 30, nii.commey@wascal.org