Team Members

Over 26 years of experience, Dr Ndiaye is a champion in delivering climate services, he won the African prize of best national meteorological services in 2023. Before joining ACMAD, Dr. Ndiaye served as the Director of Senegal’s Meteorological Services at ANACIM, where he spearheaded several innovative projects, including a major partnership with NOAA to develop heatwave modeling systems. This initiative significantly enhanced early warning systems for heatwaves in Senegal, improving the resilience of communities to climate impacts.

Accomplished Weather Forecaster with expertise in analyzing weather and climate data for accurate predictions. Dedicated to the precise and prompt delivery of weather and climate information to partners, institutions, and the general public. Ensures all communications are clear and accessible, tailored to audiences with varying levels of expertise.

Senior Climate and Weather Forecaster with extensive experience in meteorological analysis and climate modeling. Skilled in synthesizing complex data to deliver precise forecasts and actionable insights. Proven leadership in guiding forecasting teams and enhancing information dissemination strategies to effectively communicate critical weather conditions to diverse audiences.

Kabengela Nyamabu Hubert, meteorology and climate expert specializing in climate monitoring, forecasting, and climate data analysis. He contributes to the development and production of climate services designed to support decision-making and risk management related to weather and climate phenomena. He is currently in charge of On-the-Job Training activities.

With over ten years of experience in climate science, hydrology, climate services, and climate risk assessment, Dr. Djanna Koubodana Houteta specializes in climate impacts on health, climate extremes, climate modelling, impact-based forecasting, hydro-climate data analysis, GIS and remote sensing, and uncertainty assessment for robust climate information. At ACMAD, he contributes to the operationalization of the Climate and Health Regional Desk, advancing the integration of climate information into health systems through climate-sensitive health risk assessment, impact-based forecasting, and multi-source data analysis. He is also a contributing author to the Africa chapter of Working Group II of the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report (AR7) and an expert reviewer for Working Group I and the Special Report on Climate Change and Cities. Before joining ACMAD, he worked at the University of Cape Town, where he led applied research on climate resilience and adaptation in South African cities, combining climate modelling, extreme-event analysis, GIS, socio-economic data, uncertainty assessment, and stakeholder co-design to support risk-informed urban planning. He holds a PhD in Climate Change and Water Resources from the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin, in collaboration with the University of Bonn, Germany.

Dr Lawal, is an atmospheric scientist, computational meteorologist, expert in numerical weather and climate prediction, and climate change and attribution processes. He studied meteorology at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria and graduated in 1997 (B Tech., Second Class Upper) and 2010 (M Tech., Distinction). After working for many years as an Aeronautical Meteorologist and also as an Instructor in the Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s (NiMet) World Meteorological Organization (WMO) affiliated Meteorological Research and Training Institute (MRTI) situated in Oshodi, Lagos; he obtained his PhD in atmospheric science (with a specialization in Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP), Seasonal Climate Prediction and Regional Climate Modelling) at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa in 2015. Dr Lawal briefly acted as the director of NiMet’s Department of Research and Training from 2016 to 2017. He was also the pioneer General Manager of the NWP unit in NiMet. Lawal became a Research Associate after his Postdoctoral Research Fellow (PDRF) at the UCT’s African Climate and Development Initiatives (ACDI) where he worked on weather / climate event attributions in the southern and western African contexts. He participated, as one of the NiMet’s scientists, in the $10m worth United Kingdom funded Global Challenges Research Fund for African Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (UK GCRF African-SWIFT). Dr Lawal is presently in the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD), Niamey, Niger Republic as a Climate Change Thematic Expert. He is very proficient in data analysis and script development in Unix environment with the use of the following programming languages: Fortran, R-Script, Grads and Ferret. He is also a Lecturer / Supervisor in the Department of Meteorology, African Aviation and Aerospace University, Abuja, Nigeria. Lawal’s research interests range from seasonal climate prediction, synoptic and computational meteorology to numerical weather and climate prediction; he has many peer-reviewed scientific publications to his credit.

With over ten years of experience in climate science, meteorology, and climate services, Dr. Sankaré specializes in climate modelling, forecast verification, and the development of climate information for early warning and adaptation. He currently serves as a Climate Modelling Expert at ACMAD, where he contributes to strengthening the evaluation and harmonization of numerical weather prediction, subseasonal, and seasonal forecasting approaches across Africa. Before joining ACMAD, he worked at Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Centre for Climate Services, where he contributed to global climate model bias correction and the development of user-driven climate index projections. He holds a PhD in Earth and Atmospheric Sciences from the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Salif WANDAOGO is an Infrastructure and Systems Administration Expert at the African Center for Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD). As a network, systems, and cybersecurity engineer, he has more than nine years of professional experience in systems and network administration, server infrastructure management, Linux and Windows environments, storage systems, virtualization, cybersecurity, and high-performance computing (HPC) environments. At ACMAD, he helps ensure the availability, security, resilience, and operational continuity of the institution’s digital infrastructure, platforms, and services.

Mr ABANI AHMED Ali, (58 years old) is from Niger Republic and worked with the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) in Niamey - Niger as the Chief of Computing and Telecommunications Department (International Professional recruitment position) from July 2007 to June 2015. He has also been IT and Database Management Specialist on an African Development Bank –AfDB funded project at ACMAD; called ISACIP. He is acting Head of IT Department up to date, working on IT related projects of ACMAD. He performed recently, the position of Telecommunication Expert of the Regional Advanced Retransmission Service RARS on Satellite and Weather Information for Disaster Resilience in Africa -SAWIDRA project (from July 2017 to September 30th 2020); which led to the improvement of high resolution low orbit satellite data reception over Africa with four established ground stations in Gabon, Kenya, South-Africa and Niger. He has coordinated the four RARS hosting sites activities since installation. Currently he is SEWA project RARS network coordinator. Other missions include, the Administration of Computing Systems, management of the Data Reception, Processing and Dissemination Systems (Météosat Second Generation Station -MSG; PUMA Reception and Synergie Systems, MEssage IRRIgator –MessirCOM system and other computing facilities around the Specialised ACMAD’s data monitoring system called AMEDIS which is an acronym for “African Meteorological and Environmental Data Dissemination System”. He deployed the first version of RAINWATCH, at ACMAD which has been used to support integrated approach projects such as Kandadji dam initiative in Niger. He also coordinated the acquisition, installation and management of the High, Performance Computing system –HPC, and PUMA2025/ClimSA station at ACMAD. He has successfully installed the first prototype of the Environmental Climate Station(C-Station), developed and integrated by the Joint Research Centre of the European Union (JRC) for the benefit of WMO Regional Climate Centers -RCCs. He was previously the head of Technical Support Unit and Rural Communications Systems Specialist at ACMAD, from 2001-2007. He contributed to many regional trainings and organisation of international meetings, IT workshops and consultancy activities on rural communication systems and Worldspace technology to African Meteorologists trough ACMAD‘s RAdio and InterNET (RANET) project for meteorological and environmental data dissemination to rural communities in local languages. He is the coordinator of RANET activities at ACMAD from 2000 to January 2010, which consequences led to development of the famous Rural Radio Network (RURANET) in Niger Republic having more than 120 installed community radios. Similar experiences have been developed in other African regions in line with that project: (Senegal Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique etc). With his Last position at ACMAD, M ABANI Ahmed Ali, has been implicated in senior management role and responsibilities for about 18 years, (acting Director General of ACMAD several times during his absence, member of ACMAD‘s senior management Team, vice president of acquisition of goods and services committee, Member of the WMO-DBNet and Vice Chair-RAIDEG working groups, Community Satellite Processing Packages –CSPP user’s group etc). He also conducted many international missions and consultancies on behalf of the ACMAD Centre.

IT Engineer at ACMAD, with over six (6) years experience, supporting infrastructure maintenance and website updates, specializing in network and systems administration, IT infrastructure, and web development. Holds a Master’s degree in Network and Systems Security and a Bachelor’s degree in Telecommunications Engineering, with a focus on reliable digital solutions and technology support.

Collins Asega is a geospatial and climate data expert specializing in hydrology, environmental monitoring, and software development. With a strong background in data science and remote sensing, he integrates cutting-edge technologies to support climate resilience and sustainable development in Africa. Collins actively contributes to regional and international projects, leveraging tools like Google Earth Engine, Python, and Django to develop innovative climate services and decision-support platforms.