Within the framework of the German Development Agency’s (GIZ) “Strengthening Drought Resilience Programme“ in Ethiopia, GFA developed a raster data methodology for analysing rehabilitated and protected dry valleys and implements/ed advanced trainings for governmental personnel. The project aims to assess the impact of locally installed irrigation infrastructure, i.e. water spreading weirs (WSW) along the riverbeds on its immediate surroundings. We have pioneered a rigorous and scientifically grounded methodology leveraging advanced satellite imagery. Our analysis incorporates vegetation indices and employs the Mann-Kendall Test to ascertain the notable trends in various changes induced by the WSW. These discerned patterns are systematically juxtaposed against a carefully selected control group for robust comparative analysis. A QGIS Plugin has been developed, allowing any user to undertake critical impact assessments of the WSW. During the design phase, we applied human-centric design principles ensuring the plugin efficiently blends in with daily work routines. Minding the potential gaps in technical capacity in target groups, the plugin and methodology were specifically designed so that:
1) anyone can use it
2) further development can be undertaken and
3) it can work in offline environments, e.g. to maintain utility in remote or underserved areas.
Sentinel and Landsat data are acquired for specific time frames and processed for a region of interest through an intuitive and customisable user interface. Different vegetation indices can be selected on which the Mann-Kendall Test is then applied. Finally, if desirable, a customised report can be exported showing the significant changes and accompanied test results.
In this talk, I will demonstrate the plugin and describe the developed methodology in further detail. Furthermore, I would like to share our lessons learned and immediate insights from application in the development cooperation context.