Ninth Ministerial Conference of the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD)

The Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) was established in Nairobi, Kenya in 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the then Organization of African Unity, today African Union. It is an inter-governmental organization and currently has 15 contracting Member States in the Eastern and Southern Africa Regions namely; Botswana, Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

RCMRD Mission: To provide quality Geo-Information and allied ICT products and services in environmental and resource management for sustainable development in our member countries and beyond.

The ministerial conference is the overall policy and political organ of the RCMRD as well as a platform for promoting its activities at a national and regional levels. Thus, the ministers comprising 20 member states will review and approve a new strategic plan of the RCMRD for the period 2015 to 2018. This strategic plan is expected to provide clear direction and a bold step to position the regional body and to play a strategic and central role in the development and use of geospatial information to foster sustainable development in the member states.