UNESCO-United Nations Satellite Centre Partnership for Heritage Monitoring Two UN Sister Agencies, One Team

With support from UNESCO, the United Nations Satellite Centre has developed and delivered a flexible programme of multi-day, practical capacity building trainings for heritage professionals in Geographic Information Technology, including satellite imagery analysis. A modular structure makes it possible to adapt the training to different contexts.

All components of the training programme provide capacity building in free and open-source solutions, ensuring participants leave with sustainable skills.

All modules are accompanied by booklets that contain the key information from lessons and step-by-step instructions of all practical exercises conducted during the training. When physical booklets are issued, participants are provided with two copies: one copy to use during the training and support their own learning, and a second copy to help them share their knowledge with colleagues in their respective institutions.
By adopting a training-of-trainers approach, UNESCO and the United Nations Satellite Centre maximize the reach and impact of capacity building events.

The first training took place in Lviv, Ukraine, in 2023. Over four days, participants learned about satellite imagery, geospatial data, and where to source both; how to digitize and create their own geospatial data, conduct analyses, and publish maps using both Google Earth Pro and QGIS;  how to read and write JavaScript and view and download satellite imagery in Google Earth Engine. This four-day training was repeated, by demand, in January 2025 in Lviv (Ukraine). 

An additional four-day follow-on training was offered in February 2025, in Lviv (Ukraine), to the professionals who participated in the November 2023 and January 2025 training events. This follow-on training built upon participants’ knowledge, expanding into topics where they expressed an interest in learning more.

In 2025, the United Nations Satellite Centre -UNESCO training in Ukraine was recognized by Satcult, a European Commission initiative funded by the EU, as one of 12 (now 13) examples of good practice.

Now, UNESCO and the United Nations Satellite Centre are working together to find logistical solutions that will allow this practical capacity-building training programme to be delivered in a hybrid or even remote format without losing quality.