The problem

Urban flooding has been a frequent occurrence in Ghana, often leading to destruction of property and loss of life. The Aboabo community (a suburb of Kumasi), located in the transitional forest zone of Ghana has become vulnerable to the devastating effects of flooding in recent times due to climate change, exponential population growth, and rapid urbanisation.

Early warning systems are usually not viable for marginalised groups, because: early warning systems strongly depend on specialised, expensive, real-time monitoring equipment; information flow relies on a long and complex chain of communication from monitoring, forecasting early warning and response; costs and human resources of maintenance of such systems are high.

The organisation

TAHMO is a not for profit organisation that provides institutional weather and climate data in sub-Saharan Africa. They operate a network of 600+ hydro-meteorological stations in 23 African countries. They provide innovative rainfall product that combines ground data, Commercial Microwave Links (CML) and satellite data for accurate and timely information which forms the basis for Flood Early Warning Systems.

Project description

The GSMA is supporting TAHMO to:

• Conduct a needs-based co-creation of affordable, functional and sustainable FEWS through workshops
• Repurposing their existing mobile technology to integrate Commercial Microwave Links (CML Data) to monitor rainfall
• Install low-cost sensors to provide hydro-meteorological data
• Integrate modular hydro-meteorological data sets for FEWS including CML data from mobile masts;
• Incorporate the use of citizen science approach;- where local smartphone users collect videos that consequently are used to interpret river flow data.
• Develop bankable business model to sustain the FEWS beyond the project.