In a stride toward advancing global development and sustainability, ESA’s Global Development Assistance (GDA) programme made its mark at the Fragility Forum 2024, held in Washington DC from February 27 to 29. This year’s forum, organised by the World Bank, aimed to facilitate crucial dialogues among professionals across various sectors—development, humanitarian, government, civil society, private sector, research, and security—on handling the challenges posed by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV).
The Fragility Forum 2024 stood out as a confluence for exchanging experiences and dissecting the successes of developmental interventions in FCV-affected nations. Its overarching goal was to harvest lessons and foster adaptive, innovative strategies aligned with the rapidly changing global FCV landscape.
Leveraging the ESA-World Bank partnership, ESA’s GDA programme was spotlighted as a key partner of the World Bank in the use of Earth Observation (EO) to address challenges related to fragile contexts. The programme was given the opportunity to manage a dedicated booth and deliver a lightning talk session, highlighting its active participation and contribution to the conference.
Alex Chunet (Middle), ESA Representative at World Bank
Annalaura Di Federico (R), Project Manager at e-Geos (lead of the GDA Fragility consortium)
The GDA Fragility consortium, led by e-GEOS and with partners DLR, Hensoldt Analytics Janes, VITO and CGI showcased EO applications and products, drawing significant interest. Highlights included the support being provided through GDA to the Emergency Locust Response Program, which focuses on locust damage assessment and predicting egg breeding areas, and the Pakistan Community Support project, which aims at supporting small-scale infrastructure monitoring through a decision support system. These initiatives were not only presented to the audience but also served as a springboard for discussing future expansion and sustainability plans.
Support team and the Geo-Enabling initiative for Monitoring and Supervision. Discussions revolved around the potential integration of the DLR World Settlement Footprint suite into World Bank’s operations and ensuring the dataset’s accessibility and biannual updates.
The forum was also the occasion for the ESA GDA Fragility consortium to engage in strategic dialogues with the World Bank’s Geospatial Operations Support team and the Geo-Enabling initiative for Monitoring and Supervision. Discussions revolved around the potential integration of the DLR World Settlement Footprint suite into World Bank’s operations and ensuring the dataset’s accessibility and biannual updates.
ESA GDA’s participation in the Fragility Forum 2024 underscores the critical importance of innovative EO technologies and collaborative efforts in addressing global challenges posed by FCV. As GDA’s Fragility consortium looks forward to sustaining its impactful projects, the event stands as a testament to the power of partnership and innovation in fostering global development and resilience.
