The training commenced with the participants installation by the organizers, preceded by the presentation of the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development ably represented by the Director, department of Animal Husbandry Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, who stressed the importance of the training and the need for all participants to pay attention to the various training modules. She equally emphasized on the timeliness of the program considering the fact that the country is in dare need of valid data for decision making in the livestock sector. She added that, although the country has abundant data on the livestock sector, yet the data is fragmented due to lack of synergy among various agencies and departments and the lack of platforms for data sharing and finally wish the participants happy deliberations.

Following the opening ceremony, participants were presented and rapporteurs appointed. Then presentation of the objectives of the workshop was made by the PREDIP focal person.

The General Objective:

  • To present relevant stakeholders and partner to PREDIP for product develop for better management for spatial and pastoral information.
  • Introduction of participant to the use of regional Geoportal tools and CILSS digital Library.
  • To collect feedback and suggestion to improve the tools.

Specific Objective.

  • To initiate the agent of the state services in charge of Animal Husbandry, Pastoralism & Veterinary Services in Various PREDIP country

The workshop agenda was presented and adopted by the participants.

After the adoption of the agenda, a brief presentation on the SRIP and PREDIP was delivered by Mr. Akounda Gbamra. The presentation covered the various components of the project. He further made presentation on West African Geoportal (GEO-AOS). The presentation centered around the structure of the platform and what makes it suitable for data publishing. During the presentation the following questions arose:

I .Interoperability of the portal with similar platforms ii.

Ii .How is the project ensuring synergy with other organization doing the same work?

iii. Relationship of the PREDIP with other projects

  1. Plan for guiding users on effective resource utilization
  2. Data processing capability within the platform Sustainability plans of the platform.

Mr. Akounda responded to all the question appropriately given clear examples for further clarification.

  • In his presentation on operation of the geoportal for the production of periodic situation notices, Mr. Akounda took the participants through the portal showcasing the functionalities of each of the toolboxes on the platform. This led to the practical exercise on how to create working accounts to access the portal. At the end of the day, each of the participants created his personal account in the preparation of day two.