The CIRDA Programme provides support to Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia in their work to enhance national climate services to collect analyse, and disseminate climate information to end users as a key tool in long term planning and adaptation.
To provide ongoing specialized support to partner countries, the CIRDA Programme has engaged with experts to provide technical advice on innovative surface observing technologies, weather forecasting and climate prediction services, applied meteorology and climatology as well as public-private sector collaborations.
Mr. Usher has over 20 years of experience working within the international environmental, climate and weather monitoring sectors. With an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from Duke University, his roles have included a wide range of responsibilities from technology to business management as well as public policy.
Among these includes his role as a key architect and team lead for the development of Yahoo's original weather website- Yahoo! Weather. This innovative project was the first to successfully create 10-day weather forecasts for any location in the world and distribute them on the internet thus changing the way the public receives weather information today. Mr. Usher also formed part of the international firm Weathernews Inc. where he worked as Chief Information Officer and Chief Executive Officer. During this time he was responsible for building and managing weather services for commercial clients in the agriculture, aviation, energy, marine transportation and mobile telecommunication industries.
More recently, Mr. Usher served as Vice President for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Earth Networks where his responsibilities involved the development of products and services for the electric utility, emergency management and environmental monitoring sectors within the region. This role also brought him into direct contact with countries and meteorological agencies throughout Africa.
For both Weathernews and Earth Networks, Mr. Usher served as the liaison between the company, its NMHS partners and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) from both a technology and a policy perspective. Mr. Usher has participated as an industry representative to a committee responsible for updating the Standard Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation published by WMOs Commission on Instruments and Methods of Observation (CIMO).
The CIRDA Programme is the UNDP Multi-Country Support Programme to Strengthen Climate Information Systems in Africa. Click here to learn more about it. Visit the CIRDA blog to sign up to our mailing list.
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