By Cathy Godfrey
KATIMA MULILO, 21 May 2022 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has just completed a five-day training programme at Katima Mulilo on the use of drone technology for humanitarian operations.
In collaboration with a local company, Namibia Flying Labs, participants were introduced to the benefits of using drones to address natural disasters like floods, epidemics, drought etc in an accurate and timely manner. This technology could make the difference between life and death and allows first responders to the affected communities to make better-informed decisions. That is why the Zambezi region was chosen as it has had to face such situations in the past.
Virginia Uwimana, an assistant coordinator from Flying Labs Namibia said she was proud of the zeal that the participants showed during training. Some participants, she said, expressed how the training has broadened their horizons and encouraged them to be more open-minded in understanding that change is inevitable, and that technology is truly the way forward.
Highlighting the importance of using drones, Katima Mulilo Urban constituency councillor, Kennedy Simasiku, said that it was unfortunate it took this long before the technology reached Namibia, like other countries, like Uganda, have been making great progress in their medical advances using drones. Nevertheless, it is an honour to now have access to the knowledge and encouraged the participants to actively use the skills they acquired.
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, can offer low operating costs and rapid deployment regardless of the weather conditions to help accurately monitor food security or disaster.
The WFP offers capacity development to governments to use drones effectively and responsibly in emergency response and preparedness by training on flight and drone data collection and processing. The training focuses on cargo delivery, connectivity and data collection for humanitarian operations.
The Ministry of Gender, Office of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Namibia Statistics Agency ( NSA) and Zambezi Regional Council have been the beneficiaries of this training so far. – Namibia Daily News
