Between October and December 2020, CIMA Research Foundation dedicated itself to strengthening the forecasting, monitoring and risk management capacity of the Burundi Hydrometeorological Department, part of the National Geographic Institute (IGEBU). The project, funded by GEF, is part of the long-standing Strengthening disaster risk management at community level in Burundi, carried out since 2015 by the United Nations Development Programme.
During these months, in collaboration with the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD, the World Meteorological Organization’s center of expertise on weather and climate in Africa) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa , CIMA Research Foundation has been dedicated to the development of tools to support the management of the country’s hydro-meteorological risk. In particular, it has created a specific access to the myDEWETRA.world platform, developed starting from the integrated myDEWETRA system.
The platform allows to improve forecasting capabilities, data exchange and sharing at local and global level. Moreover, it offers the possibility to draft alert bulletins. These bulletins, which represent a fundamental tool of the Early Warning Systems, can be shared with Civil Protection institutions and with the population through different channels (such as websites and social media), in order to improve timeliness and effectiveness of prevention and mitigation actions.
Training activities on the operational use of myDEWETRA.world were also an fundamental part of the project. The training and assistance activities, provided remotely, were essential to enable local experts to make the best use of the platform and to ensure an optimal and timely drafting of alert bulletins.
