News from PCGIS
11 March 2010, by PCGIS Team
PCGIS annual Steering Committee meeting 2010
On the 5th of March, 2010 the Provincial Centre for Geographic Information Services (PCGIS) Steering Committee meeting was held at the Provincial Administration in Livingstone. This is an annual meeting attended by all the District Planners and other stakeholders in the Southern Province. The meeting was graced by the Deputy Permanent Secretary Mr. Nchima. The stakeholders are held together by the Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in 2005.
The PCGIS Steering Committee meeting is one where the stakeholders meet and enlighten each other on the need and significance of using geo-spatial data to foster development in the Province and the country at large.
It was highlighted that maps help to bring people to their Government as they can see what it was doing for them. The stakeholders further reiterated the need for coordination between and among Government Ministries in order to maximize the scarce resources in the country. It was also heard that since the PCGIS is successful, there is now need to replicate it to the other provinces in the Country.
Several presentation were done which included: advantages of using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), examples of customized maps produced by PCGIS and some work done for the Siavonga Integrated Plan (IDP). Furthermore, a presentation was also done by Ros Ward a Town Planning Adviser in Choma. She highlighted how far they have gone with the IDP.
This years´s Steering Committee meeting was the first of its kind as many Stakeholders attended. The participation of the Stakeholders was also overwhelming and everyone was very satisfied.