By Sheila Ponnie
More than fifty government and Nongovernmental Organization workers trained on special data that has location in a map for a certain areas.
Speaking during the conclusion of the training yesterday Mr. Wellingston Mbithi, Technical Specialist of Geo Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) said the workers were trained to get skills on the special data in order for them to make better use of the data.
Other skills offered include using data to indicate forestry coverage of an area in order for the government and nongovernmental organizations to plan for an area where there is no trees.
“This will help in agricultural activities to detect which area they can do crop planting and in which season. When there is too much rain you can map and monitor so that people don’t live in that area,” said Mbithi.
“Again, it can census the country in terms of showing the coverage of the forest and areas that can be used for planting more trees,” he added.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Director Mary Otieno said the training was to build the capacities and improve the knowledge of partners who will be involved in the upcoming micro-census that they have all been preparing for.
“Indeed it is finally happening soon and I know that many of us are excited about it. We are all anticipating this very crucial undertaking for South Sudan. We must also be prepared and have a profound understanding of what we are about to do,” said Otieno.
He said that SDGs embody a set of targets to achieve peace and progress for the people and the planet because they address issues of poverty, health, education, gender equality and climate change, among many others.
“To be exact, there are 17 goals that nations need to achieve by 2030 and ensure that no one is left behind,” she said.
Dr.Otieno said within those 17 goals, there are 169 targets and 232 indicators that cover every dimension of the goals. To measure how countries – including South Sudan – are performing on the statistical indicators, there is a need to produce performance metrics to monitor how the country is progressing towards the achievement of the SDGs.
“This training is not a one-off activity. This will form part of a package of technical capacity building that will be conducted throughout the life cycle of the GRID3 Project. As ambassadors of this first phase of training, you will roll out the training to the states and counties with the support of the project,” she added.
