The Global Development Assistance (GDA) program is understood as the follow-up of the former ESA s Earth Observation for Sustainable Development initiative (EO4SD). It is integrated into the Space in support of International Development Assistance (SpaceforIDA) initiative, which is the new umbrella that is agreed between ESA and the International Financing Institutes (IFIs1) to move towards the operationalization of EO-driven services in a way to secure their alignment with respect to the very dynamic requirements and specifications of the long-term IFIs projects.

Space for IDA is built over three main components: Knowledge Development, Capacity Building and Skills Transfer. ESA is managing the first one through the new Earth Watch programme GDA, while the other two are under the umbrella of the Banks. The context and programmatic ambition in GDA are challenging because the demonstrations are stopping just one step behind full operation. This scenario is demanding pre-operational pipelines that are almost ready to be used by IFIs in their daily duties. In practical terms, GDA aims to provide IFIs with a working environment to assess and select EO-driven service cases that can be operationally integrated in the monitoring, surveillance, and decision-making duties of the Banks. Such assessment shall be done with an active involvement of the Banks.