WaPOR introductory training in Kenya

A 3-day introductive training on WaPOR took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 29th November to 1st December 2022. It was held at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology JKUAT and led by the IHE Institute for Water Education supported by the JKUAT Knowledge Hub.

The main goal of this training was to introduce the attendees to WaPOR data & concepts, to ways of accessing it and to its use in spatial analysis (using both the portal and QGIS). Another important objective of this training was to, on the basis of increased understanding of the project and the database developped in the course of the 3 days, to hold a discussion about potential applications and uses of the data in Kenya and the capacity development needed in order to concretize these possibilities. Subsequently, the utilization of WaPOR data in mandatory reporting of represented institutions and the incorporation of WaPOR data in existing tools arose as some of the ways in which participants desire to use WaPOR data. 

Among the 24 participants there were technical officers from the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation, the Ministry of Agriculture livestock and Fisheries, the agricultural departments of the County Governments of Kirinyaga and Nyandarua, the National Irrigation Authority, the Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO), the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), the Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KEFRI), UN Agencies (UNICEF and WFP), Non-governmental Organisations (SNV), the private sector (Plant Village) as well as from institutions of higher education (Egerton University and JKUAT).