WaPOR introductory training in Adama, Ethiopia

From 16 January to 18 January 2023 a three day training was carried in the city of Adama. The key objectives of the training were to familiarize trainees with WaPOR data base (including its components, quality, data format and metadata), enable trainees perform basic analyses using WaPOR data in WaPOR portal as well as in QGIS, assess the training needs of the stakeholders related to the identified topics of WaPOR applications and brainstorm about potential WaPOR applications in Ethiopia.

The training was attended by 30 participants from three target professional groups (technicians, researchers and decision makers) and consisted of GIS experts, staff from public agencies and ministries, universities and research institutes.

All participants were very committed and showed enthusiasm to learn and improve their knowledge. They actively engaged in the discussions and interactive sessions by sharing experiences and brainstorming on potential applications. At the end of the course participants:

• improved their understanding of the FAO WaPOR database components and how to acquire data
• gained practical skills of how to extract and analyses biophysical variables from the WaPOR database, and how to perform spatial analysis using WaPOR data in QGIS
• were able to recognize benefits and limitations of the use of FAO WaPOR portal
• expressed their specific needs to which the application of WaPOR could provide solutions

The participants largely expressed a high demand for capacity strengthening in terms of in-depth training on water productivity analysis. Stakeholders were particularly interested in the use of WaPOR data for water accounting purposes in river basins such as the Rift Valley, and on-the-job type of training for applications in their particular areas such as for irrigation and best practices advisory services through agricultural development agents. Evaluation results of the training and the trainers by participants showed an overall positive feedback.