Training workshop for Volta Basin stakeholders on impact-based flood forecasting products and the Bulletin integrated into the myDewetra-VOLTALARM platform
From 12 to 16 June 2023, a regional workshop was held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to train stakeholders in “the appropriation and operationalisation of the myDewetra-VoltAlarm Early Warning and Forecasting System”. This training brings together players from the national meteorological, water and civil protection agencies. These stakeholders are the users of the VoltAlarm platform for forecasting and managing floods and droughts in the Volta Basin and experts from the member countries of the Volta Basin Authority (VBA).
This workshop follows on from the first workshop held in Lomé from 25 to 27 January 2023.
Three specific objectives are being pursued through this training activity:
- To provide theoretical and practical knowledge of impact-based forecasting products;
- to define with all stakeholders, on the basis of a participatory approach, the modalities for the elaboration of alert bulletins and the use of the “Bulletin module” integrated in the myDewetra-VOLTALARM platform;
- to strengthen practical knowledge of the products and tools available on the MyDewetra-VOLTALARM platform so that they can be used more effectively in the day-to-day services and activities of stakeholders
- start using the platform to produce the first alarm bulletins in 2023.
As a reminder, the World Meteorological Organization WMO (a specialized agency of the United Nations), VBA (Volta Basin Authority) and GWP (Global Water Partnership) West Africa are implementing the VFDM project entitled ‘Integrating Flood and Drought Management and Early Warning for Climate Change Adaptation in the Volta Basin’. The project activities started in June 2019 and will last until mid-2023 and has just been extended by 12 years until 2024. The project is financed by the Adaptation Fund. The project has set up a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) with experts and representatives from national agencies and regional organisations in the Volta Basin to review the implementation of project activities and share experiences and methodologies to develop synergies and complementarities with other initiatives.
