USGS/FEWS NET • KILELESHWA-OTHAYA ROAD,P.O BOX 66613, NAIROBI (KENYA) •
DAYTIME PHONE: (254)-2-37 54 95 1.
FAX:(254)-2-37 50 83 9
E-mail: ggalu@fews.net
GIDEON KINYODAH GALU
CURRENT POSITION & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2001 – Present
USGS/FEWS NET Regional Scientist for the Greater Horn of Africa.
 Conducted regional and country-specific training for over 500 participants (FEWS NET
Representatives and local network partners) on GIS, Remotely sensed products and tools
in support of food security activities in the region.
 Played a critical role in the development and implementation of the methodology for
regional Food Security Outlook (FSO) scenario’s in support of contingency and response
planning. Due to the success of this approach, it has now been implemented globally in all
FEWS NET countries.
 Developed methodology for crop area and production estimation in Kenya with adequate
lead-time to suppose contingency and response planning. This approach is based on USGS
crop models (WRSI) and ancillary data.
 Recently supported activities on crop area estimation in Ethiopia based high and medium
resolution satellite images in collaboration with Univsersity of Carlifornia Santa Barbara
and Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development.
 Supported GIS capacity building in Djibouti and digitizing of Djibouti-ville based on the
latest QuickBird images (2006) in collaboration with RCMRD, projected was funded by
USAiD.
 Assisted in the development of weekly/monthly publication of the GHA Regional Early
Warning and RainWatch bulletins with over 500 subscribers.
 Involved in development of Climate application (forecast interpretation) products and
USGS/FEWS NET product validation.
 Supported in-depth climatic analysis of “declining trends of pastoralists livelihoods in
GHA”, a pilot-study which was funded and conducted by WFP and supported RCMRD
and partners.
 Collected and archived comprehensive geodatabases on Agro-meteorological and GIS base-line
maps for most countries in the GHA region with assistance of FEWS NET country
representatives.
 Work in support of the International Charter (global satellite resource) for disaster
monitoring and impact assessment.
 Represented USGS/FEWS NET in various international and national workshops.
PAST POSITIONS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2000 - 2001 IGAD - Remote Sensing Project, Nairobi, KENYA
Food Security / Remote Sensing Officer
 Assisted in assessing and publishing a report on the status of Early Warning Systems for
Food Security in IGAD Member states (Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan, Djibouti and
Eritrea);
 Assisted in developing project implementation strategies which were endorsed by the
IGAD Member states for implementation in the sub-region; and
 Published Work Programs (activities and budget) and Tender Dossier
according to
European Union (EU) procedures and regulations.
 Organised and hosted regional training workshops on new information technologies
(computer networking) , remote sensing / GIS applications for food security and
environmental monitoring.
 Currently implementing activities that will ensure timely dissemination of Early Warning
Bulletins using Worldspace telecommunication system.
 Proposed a GIS model , that will incorporate the consesus seasonal forecasts, NDVI, RFE
and GIS socio-economic layers into the existing EWS.
1998–2000
Kenya Meteorological Department ,Nairobi, KENYA
Meteorologist / Remote Sensing Officer
 Compiled and established the following components for the IGAD-Remote Sensing
Project (July - August, 1999):
 An agrometeorological database for the IGAD region;
 NOAA based dekadal NDVI GAC (1982-present).
 Base-line thematic maps for the IGAD's GIS (administrative , climatological maps,
hydrological, Digital Elevation Maps, Crop classification and Calendar maps,
population, food vulnerability maps, etc).
 Adopted and developed several Training and Working modules in support of the project:
 Basic remote-sensing principles, focusing on vegetation and rainfall occurences
monitoring.
 Tutorials on NDVI and CCD displaying, analysis and integration into EWS
bulletins.
 Integration of various base-line information into a GIS in support of
decision/policy making.
 Tutorials on basic computer software, important to the project (Publishing,
dissemination).
 Designed and published an IGAD-Remote Sensing Project Webpage.
 Assisted in drafting the IGAD-EWS Assessment report.
 Participates in the IGAD/EU/KMD consultative meetings on the IGAD-EWS project.
RESPONSIBILITIES AS METEOROLOGIST
1985 – present
 Managed the daily operational activities of the HRPT and PDUS facilities at the KMD:
 NOAA and Meteosat data acquisition, application products processing, analysis and
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
dissemination in support of weather forecasting, drought monitoring and food security
early warning systems at national and regional levels.
National Radio/Television weather presenter.
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE

1991 - present
Served in various international forums as a member of the panel of experts on satellite activities for
the WMO and the space-based Global Climate Observing Systems (GCOS);
 Assisted in the development of
the WMO Education and Training strategies in satellitemeteorology, which is currently being implemented globally.
 Assisted in defining guidelines for the development of low cost PC-based satellite receiving
stations for the WMO.
 Participated in developing a base-line network of meteorological observations in support of the
GCOS.
 Proposed sub-regional co-operative institutes for meteorological satellites studies, which is currently
under consideration by the WMO.
ORGANIZED AND TRAINED
 Trained meteorological and agricultural personnel in the processing, analysis and interpretation of
satellite derived NDVI and Rainfall estimates in support of food security early warning
systems for the IGAD/FAO/USAID-FEWS workshop (RCSSMRS - Nairobi, 1993).
 Trained meteorological instructors on the utilization of meteorological satellites (WMO Trainers
Workshop - Cairo, 1995).
 Involved in the organization and training meteorological instructors on the next generation
meteorological
satellites
(MSG/EPS)
potential
applications
for
Africa
(WMO/EUMETSAT Workshops at the RMTC - Nairobi, 1998 & 99).
PRESENTED PAPERS
 Presented several scientific papers at various international/regional scientific meetings:
 Pilot-study on crop production estimation in Kenya (CRAM Workshop, Nairobi - 2006)
 Preliminary study on Meteosat IR rainfall estimates for Kenya using the TAMSAT
technique (IGAD EWS preparatory meeting, Addis -Ababa).
 Winds: Towards better weather forecasts in Africa (second international winds
workshop, Tokyo. 13 -15 December, 1993).
 The operational use of Meteosat and other satellites at the Kenya Met. Dept. (10 th.
Meteosat Scientific Users' Conference, Portugal. 5-9 September, 1994).
 The study of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Kenya. (1997 Meteorological Satellite
Data Users' Conference, Belgium. 29 Sept. - 3 Oct. 1997).
 MSG product prototyping using the GOES-8 Imager/Sounder. (1999 Meteorological
Satellite Data Users' Conference, Denmark. 6 - 11 september, 1999).
EDUCATION
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1995–1997
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, USA
 MS., Atmospheric Sciences.
 Specialization: Environmental remote-sensing and its applications.
 Thesis: Prototyping Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) application products
using GOES-8 imager/sounder.
1981-1985
University of Nairobi
Nairobi, KENYA
 B.Sc, Meteorology
 Fields of study: Physics, Mathematics, Meteorology and Computer science.
1986 - 1999
Additional operational training workshop attended:
 IGAD/FAO/USAID-FEWS regional workshops
 IGAD/EWS national workshop
 Communication skills
 Computer LAN networking
 Database Management (RDMS) under VMS environment.
COMPUTER SKILLS

Programmed in Fortran and published Webpages in HTML

Proficient in most satellite processing software (WINDISP4, McIDAS,
Multiscope, ArcView & ArcGIS, Chips, Geostat, etc) under Windows and
UNIX environment.

Proficient in statistical and publishing software (MSOffice, Spaceman Systat,
Winsurf, Adobe, MS publisher, Frontpage, etc).

Familiar with FAO and USAID-FEWS software packages (Spaceman,
Rainman, Priceman, Addati, etc).

Used Networking software under DOS, Windows and NT4.0.
PERSONAL DETAILS:

Citizenship: Kenyan

Age: 47 years

Marital status: Married
Children: 2
REFEREES:
Dr. R. Mukabana
Director
Dr. Don Hinsman
Snr. Scientific Officer
Gordon Bridge
Head of User Service
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Kenya Met. Dept.
P.o Box 30259, NAIROBI.
e-mail:director@meteo.go.ke
World Meteorological Organization
Geneva, SWITZERLAND
e-mail:hinsman_d@gateway.wmo.ch
EUMETSAT
Darmstadt, GERMANY
e-mail: gordon@eumetsat.de
USGS/FEWS NET PEPONI ROAD,P.O BOX 66613, NAIROBI (KENYA) •
PHONE (254)-2-35 05 23/4/5.
FAX:(254)-2-750 839
E-mailggalu@fews.net
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