The West African Regional Office officially became a part of the IAU-Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) this week. The inauguration, which was held in Enugu, Nigeria, on November 27, marked the commencement of activities for the Regional Office. It was attended by the director of the OAD, country coordinators from Gabon, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria and representatives from the host institution. The event coincided with the First Nigerian Astronomy and Space Science Forum. The first meeting of the country coordinators was also be held.
The West African Regional Office of Astronomy for Development (WA-ROAD) is hosted at the Center for Basic Space Sciences (CBSS), National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) in Nigeria.
ROADs are offices based around the world with similar objectives as the OAD but with regional focus. “Regions” could be geographical (neighboring countries) or cultural. For more information on the OAD, its mission, and activities, please visit www.astro4dev.org.
Remote attendance: We invited all interested parties to join the meeting via Skype. In order to join, participants simply connected to the OAD Skype account (user name: astro4dev). We were online for the entire duration of the programme. So participants from around the world joined us for all or part of the discussions.
Download the meeting programme for the inauguration.
Download the meeting program for the Regional Workshop
Contacts:
Kevin Govender
Director, IAU Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD)
Tel: +27 21 460 9350
Cell: +27 82 487 8466
Email: kg@astro4dev.org
Bonaventure Okere
The NASRDA-Centre for Basic Space Science, Nsukka, Nigeria
ibokere2001@yahoo.com / bona.okere@gmail.com