Linus Anari, a Nairobi University geospatial engineering Student and Eileen Mburu, a geographer, joined forces and emerged winners in a global challenge at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
The two participated in the Blue Dot Challenge which seeks to mitigate common world challenges like climate change, water insecurity, and food insecurity.
In the challenge, the participants created visualisations using Earth Observation data that advanced the sustainable development goals of zero hunger, clean water, and climate action.
The two were motivated by the prolonged floods in Northern Kenya attributed to El Niño rains during the October-November-December season. Preceding these floods, the region had endured prolonged drought.
After interacting with residents of Northern Kenya through a colleague in the Red Cross, Eileen and Ian realised that the Northern Kenya regions are inevitably bound to return to drought conditions, creating a repetitive cycle.
To combat this situation, they came up with a Geographic Information System (GIS) which provides insights into food security hot-spots, facilitates targeted interventions, and minimises the impact of extreme weather events and disasters on food security in the region.
The two Kenyans were among 1,600 participants who registered for the challenge from over 100 countries globally. The participants hailed from the USA, Mexico, Botswana, Brazil, Senegal, and Argentina just to name a few.
As a prize for their win, Eileen and Linus joined other winners to attend a 10-day space study program with travel, lodging, and tuition covered. They got to fly at Rocket Center in the USA.
It would be a great relief to the Kenyans in North Eastern if Eileen and Ian’s innovation would help mitigate drought which is usually a major challenge in these regions.
This new innovation is expected to change the narrative in Kenya where agricultural production and the livelihoods of millions reliant on agrifood systems are seldom integrated into spatial analyses in food security assessments.
Linus & Eileen have joined the long list of Kenyans who have received global recognition for their efforts. In August, Kenyan journalist Rukia Bulle won the 2024 BBC News Komla Dumor Award. The 26-year-old is the 9th recipient of the award.
Earlier, Kenyan health Advocate Benda Kithaka also won the 2024 Rachel Pearline Award. Kithaka was announced the winner of the prestigious award by the US National Cancer Institute Center for Global Health (CGH)
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