Deputy Head of the Public Service (DHOPS), Amos Gathecha, has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to advancing the use of Earth Observation and geospatial technologies to drive sustainable development across Eastern and Southern Africa.
Gathecha was speaking today at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Kasarani, Nairobi, where he officially opened the 59th Governing Council meeting.
Kenya is honoured to host the Centre and remains an active participant in its governance structures, including the Conference of Ministers, the Governing Council and the Technical Committee.
The country is represented through the State Department for Lands and Physical Planning and the Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS).
The two-day forum has brought together delegates from 20 member states drawn from Eastern and Southern Africa to review progress made by RCMRD and explore new ways of using geospatial information to support evidence-based decision-making in the region.
Gathecha commended the Centre’s growing role in providing timely, reliable and harmonised data to governments, noting that this had strengthened planning and policy formulation across the member states.
The DHOPS said that the Centre, established in 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Union (AU) and headquartered in Nairobi, has grown into a model intergovernmental organisation serving 20 countries across Eastern and Southern Africa.
The Centre provides technical support and leadership in surveying, mapping, remote sensing, GIS, GPS, and environmental and natural resource management, alongside extensive capacity building, research and advisory services to governments in the region.
Gathecha noted that RCMRD’s work in harmonising and disseminating spatial data had become indispensable for urban planning, natural resource management, disaster risk reduction and food security, adding that geospatial intelligence is now central to how African governments plan and manage both natural and built environments.
The DHOPS emphasised that Kenya is already leveraging Earth Observation technologies to support the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) through institutions such as the Directorate of Resource Surveys and Remote Sensing (DRSRS) under the Executive Office of the President and the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development.
He urged member states to invest more in geospatial infrastructure, data-sharing frameworks and human capacity, noting that these are essential to strengthening evidence-based policymaking and aligning national priorities with regional and global frameworks.
By Jacqueline Adyang (PCO)
