In October 2013, the Climate Hazards Group (based at the University of California, Santa Barbara) hosted a series of GeoCLIM training sessions for three regional core-trainers from ICPAC, University of Nairobi, and FEWS NET. The GeoCLIM, a climatological analysis tool developed by FEWS NET in support of the USAID/PREPARED project, is intended for analysis of historical rainfall and temperature data (chg.ucsb.edu/tools/geoclim/). The rainfall and surface temperatures are expected to inform national and regional stakeholders and decision-makers on current climatic trends and future projections in support of vulnerability analysis and resilience building.

 

The three core-trainers went on to train 15 national trainers from various national meteorological services at ICPAC (www.icpac.net). The national trainers were from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Djibouti. Subsequently, 10 Kenya Meteorological Services personnel were trained to implement the GeoCLIM at a national level. As a result, over 300 rain gauge stations have been incorporated in the Kenya rainfall gridded datasets. Similar national training is planned for Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi before the end of April 2014. Further national surface temperature gridding will be incorporated in the coming months.