Strengthening Local Capacity through Geo-Enabling Technologies
Join us and Agrilinks in exploring how geo-enabling technologies are transforming how the development community designs, monitors, and implements activities.
Reaching the rural communities we serve is not always simple, especially for regions in situations of fragility, violence and conflict. Climate change and COVID-19 have exacerbated these issues, making data collection efforts by the development community for monitoring and remote supervision, more cumbersome. While data from Geographic Information System (GIS), and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)/ Global Positioning System (GPS) can serve as a great addition to traditional methods of data collection from the field in all other places, in hard to reach rural communities, these types of data are pivotal and often the only available to inform the way we design and implement activities/projects.
This webinar will explore the innovative applications of GIS used by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank to monitor and evaluate the progress of their investments in hard to reach areas. Additionally, the webinar will highlight ongoing local capacity building efforts for the collection and usage of these datasets in situations of Fragility, Conflict and Violence, as well as in response to COVID-19 and other crises.
Meet the Speakers
Soukeyna Kane is Director of the Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV) Group at the World Bank. She is responsible for leading a team of dedicated professionals to deliver strategic, operational, and analytical support to the World Bank Group's work on FCV issues. Ms. Kane also represents the Bank in global fora and manages relationships around the FCV agenda with the donor community and other stakeholders.
Previously, she served as Country Director for Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad, leading the coordination and delivery of WBG strategy and operations in those countries and the Sahel more broadly. Prior to that, Ms. Kane was Practice Manager for Governance in the East and Central Asia region for 5 years.
Ms. Kane, a Senegalese national, joined the Bank in March 2003 as a Senior Financial Management Specialist and held positions in the Africa Region, Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS), Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Ms. Kane held several leadership positions at the African Development Bank and in the private sector in Senegal and France. She was the Principal Internal Auditor at the African Development Bank. Her extensive experience in the private sector includes the position of Administrative and Financial Director at the Assurances Générales Sénégalaises (AGS), as well as manager and senior auditor with ERA Audit et Expertise, AEG Paris, and Ernst & Young. Ms. Kane is a Certified Public Accountant and has a master’s degree in accounting and finance from the Institut Supérieur du Commerce in Paris, France.
Bahar Salimova is a Sr. Operations Officer/Program Manager with World Bank’s Geo-Enabling Initiative for Monitoring and Supervision (GEMS) housed in the Fragility, Conflict and Violence Group. In her current position, Bahar co-manages the GEMS initiative overseeing delivery of digital and M&E capacity development in client countries and partner organizations. She has a background in Knowledge Management and M&E and previously worked with the World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group. Before joining the World Bank, Bahar worked with UNDP on gender programs and helped set up a global online network for women in politics (iKNOW Politics).
Mokshana Wijeyeratne is a Senior Environmental Specialist working with the Environment and Natural Resources Global Practice at the World Bank. She joined the Bank in 2012 in the Colombo office. She is the country focal point for the Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy (ENB) Global Practice and the World Bank's Environment and Social Framework (ESF) within the Sri Lanka and Maldives CMU. She is involved in the implementation of the World Bank’s Environmental Safeguard Policies and ESF, on various World Bank funded operations across a myriad of development sectors. She also works on sectoral development operations steered by the World Bank’s ENB Global Practice in Sri Lanka and Maldives. Her main focus areas include Environmental Risk Management, Solid Waste Management, Ecosystem and Environmental Conservation and Management, Forestry, Nature Based Tourism, Management of Physical Cultural Resources, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and Sustainable Fisheries Management and Development. In addition to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, she has also worked in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Ghana and Nigeria.
Mokshana has a Master’s in Environmental Management from the School of Design and Environment, at the National University of Singapore and completed her Bachelor of Science in Earth and Environmental Science at Mercer University, Georgia, USA.
Dr. Shraddhanand Shukla is an Associate Researcher at the Department of Geography at UCSB. He is a large-scale hydrologist with expertise in drought monitoring and seasonal scale climate and drought forecasting. He received his Ph.D in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle and, before starting with CHC as a Researcher, he was UCAR's Postdocs Applying Climate Expertise (PACE) Fellow. His research focuses on improving drought monitoring and early warning capabilities using advanced earth observations, models, and remote sensing data sets through capacity building. Shrad is currently an editor for EGU's Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS), an Associate Editor of AMS's Journal of Hydrometeorology, and an Associate Editor for the Frontier's Climate Services. He is also currently a member of the NASA and USAID's SERVIR's Applied Sciences Team (AST) and AST lead for "Weather and Climate" thematic area.
Dr. Abdou Ali, Senior Hydromet Specialist, Head of the Information and Research Department, AGRHYMET Regional Center
Kyle Alden currently serves as the Geospatial Specialist at the Bureau for Resilience Environment and Food Security (REFS). At REFS, he uses spatial data to inform development programming decisions, supports analytic efforts to inform Feed the Future, the US Government’s flagship food security initiative, and manages the bureau’s spatial data. Before starting work at USAID, Kyle worked as a GIS analyst for the U.S. government for over a decade, providing unique insight by applying geographic methods as both an analyst and a program lead.
As the Chief Geographer, Carrie Stokes leads USAID’s efforts to harness the power of geospatial data and technology to improve development outcomes around the world. With a focus on place-based development, she directs the USAID GeoCenter, a team of geographers and data scientists who apply mapping and analytics to inform the strategic planning, design, monitoring, and evaluation of USAID programs. Since establishing the GeoCenter in 2011, she has fostered a community of 70 GeoSpecialists across the Agency, half of whom are Foreign Service Nationals from the countries where USAID works.
Carrie represents USAID in geospatial communities across the interagency, academia, and private sector. She serves as the Senior Agency Official for Geographic Information with the Steering Committee of the Federal Geographic Data Committee, and she leads USAID participation in the U.S. Group on Earth Observations (USGEO), a subcommittee of the White House National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on the Environment. She also represents USGEO in the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations based in Geneva, Switzerland.
Prior to the GeoCenter, Carrie led the SERVIR program for USAID, in a joint venture with NASA. The SERVIR program helps developing countries use satellite data and geospatial tools to address critical challenges in food security, water resources, weather and climate, land use, and disasters. She began working at USAID as a climate change specialist in 2000.
Carrie has a science background in global climate change, natural resources management, and Geographic Information Systems. She served for three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer focused on food security in Niger, West Africa. She holds an M.S. in Environmental Science from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, and a B.A. in International Studies and Human and Natural Ecology from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.