Gordon Mwesigwa

Gordon Mwesigwa is an environmental management and geospatial specialist and an Affiliate of the XylemLab research group, where his work focuses on climate risk, drought monitoring, and ecosystem resilience in East Africa. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Environment and Natural Resources at Makerere University, where his research centres on drought monitoring, early warning, and anticipatory action for vulnerable rural communities in Uganda's Karamoja sub-region.

Mr. Mwesigwa's research asks how monitoring and early warning systems can account for the social and ecological diversity of pastoral and agro-pastoral landscapes, and how complex EO signals can be translated into actionable, trusted information for the farmers and pastoralists who depend on them.

Within Xylem Lab and NASA Harvest Africa's "Beyond Consumers: Farmers as Co-Creators of AI-Powered Agro-Climatic Intelligence" initiative, Mr. Mwesigwa supports agricultural monitoring using Earth observation data and helps bridge the gap between EO outputs and farmer decision-making. He works on remote spot-checks, validation of field data, and the co-authoring of scientific and applied outputs on EO-based agricultural monitoring and early warning. A core part of his current focus is a multi-partner radio project in the Karamoja sub-region, where he collaborates with local stations and presenters to translate satellite-derived climate and drought information into farmer-focused programming in Karamojong and other local languages, combining technical analysis with participatory content co-creation and continuous community feedback.

Mr. Mwesigwa's research interests sit at the intersection of Earth observation, food security, and locally led adaptation. He is motivated by building communication channels that genuinely reflect farmers' priorities and experiential knowledge, and by co-developing tools and narratives that make climate and drought information more usable, equitable, and grounded in local realities.

Mr. Mwesigwa holds an MSc in Environment and Natural Resources (Monitoring and Assessment) and a BSc in Environmental Sciences, both from Makerere University, bringing a strong grounding in GIS, remote sensing, and spatial modelling to research that connects Earth observation with the needs of vulnerable rural communities.