WMO Public Weather Services: Enhanced Communication Skills for Improved Service Delivery. by S.W. Muchemi (WMO)

Transcription

1 WMO Public Weather Services: Enhanced Communication Skills for Improved Service Delivery by S.W. Muchemi (WMO)

2 Functions of the Public Weather Services (PWS) programme of WMO To strengthen the capabilities of WMO Members to meet the needs of the public they serve through provision of comprehensive weather services; Personal convinience Hazardous weather and extremes of climate (strong winds, floods, drought e.t.c.)

3 Functions of the Public Weather Services (PWS) programme of WMO To foster a better understanding by the public of the capabilities of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs).

4 Strengthening capacities of NMHSs PWS NMHS CITIZENS 1. WMO PWS programme gathers knowledge and expertise through PWS Expert Teams 2. Passes knowledge and expertise to NMHSs (Through training and guidelines) 3. NMHSs capacity and expertise strengthened 4. NMHSs deliver services to citizens while ensuring effective communication (General public, disaster community, agriculture, health etc)

5 The PWS Expert Teams Disaster Prevention and Mitigation PWS Service and Product improvement Communication, Outreach and Public Education Implementation coordination Team (ICT)

6 Effective Communication (Fleming G., 2008: WMO/TD-No.1438, International Symposium on PWS: Key to Service Delivery (Geneva, 3-5 December 2007) -Symposium Proceedings, pp ) Availability: User-needs, understanding the problem/decision user is addressing; hence need to consult/discuss, sample products; Dependability: Timely, easy access to service (means of delivery), reaching the user; Usability: availing appropriate parameters, presentation, NMHS contact for clarification, (clear graphics), attractive Credibility: (the most important ability) quality of information, user understands limitations of service provided, establishing Verification Scores based upon a Quality Management Framework (QMF)

7 Functions of Expert Team on Communication, Outreach and Public Education (COPE) Recommends ways to: Improve relations between the media and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs); Develop communications capacity and skills in NMHSs of developing countries; Adopt new communication technologies; Enhance new products and services

8 Methods used to improve communication skills (1) Workshops for NMHS staff Presentation skills for: TV, radio, web-based, based, print media Interactions with the media Interaction with disaster managers

9 Methods used to improve communication skills (2) - Producing guidelines on communication. Nine (9) guidelines dedicated to communication done so far. Guidelines on Communicating Forecast Uncertainty (PWS-18) Examples of Best Practice in Communicating Weather Information (PWS 17) Strategy for Developing Public Education and Outreach (PWS-14) Others

10 Methods used to improve communication skills (3) Assisting NMHSs in developing countries acquire presentation equipment and associated skills Example: Weather presentation studios installed in NMHSs through NMHS/WMO/Donor (UK) arrangements.

11 Methods used to improve communication skills (4) Informing NMHSs on best practices: E.g. path of a hurricane, issued by the Cuban National Forecast Centre. shows the latest position of the hurricane together with an error cone that encompasses the possible future paths the hurricane may take. This is an effective way of showing forecast track uncertainty.

12 Promoting single authoritative voice in forecasts and warnings The WMO World Weather Information Services (WWIS) Website Hosted by HKO, Hong Kong, China; 122 WMO Members participating; Provides easy access to official forecasts for media & public; Seven (7) languages; supplies weather forecasts and climate information for over 1300 cities; Over 10 million visits per month; Won the Stockholm Challenge Award (2008).

13 Assisting NMHSs deliver official severe weather warnings across boarders The Severe Weather Information Centre (SWIC) Website. Hosted by HKO, Hong Kong, China Tropical Cyclones Heavy Rain/Snow Thunderstorms Official Observations Cloudiness & Rain Linked to METEOALARM

14 Examples: The Severe Weather Forecasting Demonstration Project (SWFDP) Health sector Madagascar Learning Through Doing (LTD) project Building Skills in Communicating Warnings Objective: To reduce risk of death, injury & loss of property Stakeholder involvement and partnership building Warning presentation skills Warning response Monitoring and review

15 Communicating with Rural Based Communities Example: the Radio Internet (RANET) project An inexpensive communication system for rural areas without main grid electric power supply that uses: - Internet, - digital radios, - computers, - community FM radio stations - wind-up radios and - solar power

16 Communication in Future Extending lead times of warnings Improving accuracy Taking advantage of emerging technologies Monitoring and review Establishing a Service Delivery Framework

17 Thank you For more information: