OBSERVER: Copernicus as a tool to empower and promote inclusivity: Women in GMES & Africa
The African space ecosystem is rapidly expanding, yet there remains challenges and opportunities to increase participation and integration of people into its progress. For example, women in STEM are generally underrepresented in Western countries, but in Africa, women generally make an even smaller percentage of the active space-related workforce. On one hand, the number of Earth Observation-related jobs is growing due to the availability of Copernicus free and open data and to the increased availability of emerging technologies such as cloud computing, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence/machine learning for Earth Observation (EO) processing. On the other hand, women still have to overcome systemic bias in order to secure their positions as experts in their field. Yet, emphasis is being given to the inclusivity of underrepresented demographics (e.g., young people and especially women) and focus placed on implementing corrective actions in EO-related fields.
In an attempt to improve and boost African local institutional, human, and technical resources, the European Commission and the African Union Commission have been collaborating since 2014 via the Global Monitoring Environment and Security & Africa (GMES & Africa) initiative. The initiative is an important instrument for the accomplishment of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy and the African Space Policy & Strategy, with the support of 13 consortia involving 144 institutions in 45 African countries. It relies on the use of Copernicus free and open data and information in the African context to respond to African needs to tackle the many challenges faced by the African continent with respect to the development of services for water, natural resources, marine and coastal areas, address the global needs to manage the environment, and ensure civil security. After a successful initial phase from 2016 to 2021, the next phase was recently kicked off. It will be running from 2022 to 2025. Among its objectives, the second phase aims to ensure a larger involvement of women and youth. This is why the Women in GMES & Africa initiative was launched. A governing board made up of 12 women was elected during its first workshop which was held in Cotonou, Benin between 17 and 19 March 2022. The workshop opened the discussion about this matter and involved 37 skilled and talented women who developed a roadmap which defines a strategy towards gender equality in education and careers in the African Earth Observation field.
Women in GMES & Africa, seen as the counterpart of the Women in Copernicus initiative, was created in order to stimulate knowledge sharing and identification of best practices as well as increase the active participation of African women in EO and space endeavours. Women in Copernicus has succeeded throughout the years in working towards a more inclusive and stronger Copernicus ecosystem with a greater involvement of women. The African group is aiming at the same objectives and is conducting several activities to promote women’s involvement in the space sector and provide a platform with which they can showcase their work and build their technical, leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Women in GMES & Africa has set a target of including 30% female EO-related experts in the teams of the consortia of 45 countries covering the entire African continent.
The objectives of the initiative
Some of the activities the group is planning to organise include:
Sensitisation and awareness creation: this aims to highlight the potential of EO, its relevance for Africa’s participation in space-related endeavours, and the career opportunities in this field. Particular importance is given to raising awareness about the great work and research many of the women in the ecosystem are conducting, and eventually connecting women and young girls with mentors in the field through a mentorship programme.
Capacity enhancement: one of the crucial aspects to ensure higher participation and inclusion of women in EO and in the space field as a whole is to ensure they possess the skills and knowledge required by the sector. Hence, Women in GMES & Africa aims at fostering partnerships and collaborations to provide training opportunities, support women’s participation in innovation challenges, and coordinate student/professional exchange programmes.
“We aim to build the capacity of women not only to take advantage of available opportunities but to also create opportunities in the sector through entrepreneurship. The group will also connect women to opportunities within and outside the continent,” says Viola Otieno, President of the Women in GMES & Africa Group and EO Expert at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC).
School Outreach Programmes: to encourage young women to attend EO and space-related courses, Women in GMES & Africa aims at forging strategic partnerships and engaging with the younger generations through various school outreach programmes. Through the network, the group is seeking to establish EO and space women ambassadors across the continent, supporting their work in the different regions and countries.
The Women in GMES & Africa initiative marks the start of stronger and cohesive cooperation between men and women in the African space landscape. Not only does it tackles the issue of underrepresentation of women in leadership but it helps in shaping a new and better vision on the future of African youth in the space ecosystem. As Viola Otieno succinctly and convincingly highlighted, “You cannot be what you cannot see”. As the space ecosystem is growing and gaining more importance on the African continent, we hope that African women will get the chance to contribute more and more to its evolution and growth in the coming years.