Norad's video: Fighting Climate Change with a Weather App in Uganda

A film about the importance of accurate weather information Wimea-ICT is a meteorology project that has developed new technology in Uganda. The project is supported by Norad, through the NORHED program. The project manager, dr Julianne Sansa-Otim, started the weather forecasting project because she had been in Norway and seen how people were totally dependent on the yr.no app, that could predict the weather for them. And in addition, her mother, who was a farmer, had several crops destroyed because she did not know what the weather was like. This has been particularly difficult after climate change has begun. As a result, the family suffered huge financial losses. Julianne therefore dedicated herself to improving weather forecasting services that should be low cost and accessible to everyone. Wimea has contributed to the development of innovative low-cost automatic weather stations, that stores and and make available the weather data and forecasts to users. 25 such automatic weather stations have now been installed in Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan, and 45 to be installed. In Tanzania, 5000 farmers receive SMS weather forecasts based on collected weather data and forecasts, which are important for achieving good crops, food security and income at a time when the climate is more unstable. The weather data is also made publicly available online and can be used by, among other things, "extension officers" (public supervisors) who can pass it on to local farmers who do not have access to a mobile phone.Julianne Sansa-Otim is the only female project manager at Makerere University in Uganda, in a field that is otherwise male-dominated. Partners: Makerere University (Uganda), Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (Tanzania), University of Juba (South Sudan) and University of Bergen.