The COSPAR Capacity Building Initiative

The COSPAR Capacity Building Workshops have been conceived to meet the following objectives: (1) To increase knowledge and use of public archives of space data in order both to broaden the scope of research programs in developing countries and to ensure that scientists in those countries are aware of the full range of facilities that are available to them; (2) To provide highly-practical instruction in the use of these archives and the associated publicly-available software; and (3) To foster personal links between participants and experienced scientists attending the workshops to contribute to reducing the isolation often experienced by scientists in developing countries. Since 2001 a total of twelve workshops have been successfully held in different scientific areas (X-ray, Gamma-ray, Space Optical and UV Astronomy, Magnetospheric Physics, Space Oceanography and Planetary Science) in nine developing countries (Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Morocco, Romania, Uruguay, Egypt and Malaysia). In this contribution we discuss the modalities of the workshops, the experience so-far gained, and the future including collaborations with other institutions sharing the aim of increasing the scientific activities in developing countries.