About This Course
Effective land use planning and water resource management are cornerstones of sustainable development, food security, and climate resilience. Yet many planning decisions are still made without adequate spatial data, leading to inefficient resource allocation, environmental degradation, and increased vulnerability to drought and flooding. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide the analytical backbone needed to move from reactive management to proactive, evidence-based planning.
This 10-day TrainingComplex programme integrates GIS methodology with established land use planning and water management frameworks to give participants a comprehensive, applied skill set. From digitising land parcels and classifying satellite imagery to delineating watersheds and modelling surface runoff, the course covers the full geospatial workflow that modern planners, hydrologists, and environmental managers need.
Participants will work with real-world datasets drawn from African and Middle Eastern landscapes, using tools such as QGIS, ArcGIS, ERDAS Imagine concepts, and open-source hydrological modelling extensions. Each module combines conceptual instruction with structured lab exercises, ensuring that knowledge is immediately translated into practical capability.
By the end of the programme, delegates will be equipped to design and implement GIS-based land use plans, conduct spatial analysis for water catchment management, produce decision-ready maps and spatial reports, and present geospatial findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders. This course is a career-defining investment for anyone working at the intersection of natural resource management, urban and rural planning, or water governance.
Who Should Attend
- Land use planners and urban/rural development officers
- Water resource managers and hydrologists
- Environmental officers and natural resource management professionals
- GIS technicians and spatial data analysts seeking specialisation
- Irrigation engineers and agronomists working with spatial data
- Climate change and disaster risk reduction practitioners
- Researchers and academics in environmental and geospatial sciences
- NGO programme staff involved in land, water, or environment projects
- Government officials in ministries of lands, environment, water, and agriculture
Learning Objectives
- Understand the principles of land use planning and integrated water resource management within a spatial context
- Navigate and configure GIS software environments for land use and hydrological applications
- Acquire, manage, and quality-check spatial datasets including satellite imagery, DEMs, and cadastral data
- Perform land cover classification and change detection using remote sensing techniques
- Delineate watersheds, sub-catchments, and stream networks using digital elevation models
- Model surface runoff, infiltration, and water balance components using GIS-based hydrological tools
- Conduct suitability analysis for agricultural, settlement, and conservation land uses
- Assess environmental risks including erosion, flooding, and land degradation using spatial analysis
- Design and produce professional land use and water management maps and reports
- Integrate GIS outputs into planning documents, policy briefs, and stakeholder presentations
- Apply participatory GIS methods to incorporate community and stakeholder spatial data
- Develop a spatially referenced land use or water management plan as a capstone deliverable
Course Modules
Module 1: Foundations of Land Use Planning and Spatial Thinking
- Principles and objectives of land use planning in developing contexts
- Linkages between land use, water cycles, and ecosystem services
- Key legislation and governance frameworks for land and water management
- Role of GIS in evidence-based spatial planning
- Stakeholder roles and institutional coordination in land use planning processes
- Common land use conflicts and how spatial data supports conflict resolution
Module 2: GIS Environment Setup and Spatial Data Management
- Configuring QGIS for land use and hydrological workflows
- Coordinate reference systems and map projections for regional planning
- Importing, organising, and versioning spatial datasets and geodatabases
- Data quality assessment and metadata documentation standards
- Managing raster and vector data storage structures for large-area projects
- Using QGIS plugins and processing toolbox extensions relevant to land and water analysis
Module 3: Remote Sensing and Satellite Imagery for Land Cover Mapping
- Fundamentals of remote sensing and electromagnetic spectrum interpretation
- Sourcing and downloading Landsat, Sentinel-2, and SRTM datasets
- Image compositing, band combinations, and radiometric correction
- Supervised and unsupervised land cover classification workflows
- Accuracy assessment using confusion matrices and kappa coefficient validation
- Deriving vegetation and water indices (NDVI, NDWI, MNDWI) from multispectral imagery
Module 4: Land Cover Change Detection and Trend Analysis
- Post-classification comparison techniques for multi-temporal imagery
- Quantifying land cover transitions using change matrices
- Mapping urban encroachment, deforestation, and wetland loss
- Interpreting change statistics for planning and policy applications
- Visualising land cover trajectories using time-series spectral profiles
- Linking detected land cover changes to driving factors such as population growth and rainfall variability
Module 5: Digital Elevation Models and Terrain Analysis
- Acquiring and preprocessing SRTM and ASTER DEM datasets
- Deriving slope, aspect, hillshade, and curvature layers
- Identifying erosion-prone areas and unstable terrain
- Using terrain analysis outputs to inform land use zoning decisions
- Calculating topographic wetness index (TWI) to assess surface water accumulation potential
- Integrating terrain derivatives with land cover data to classify landscape vulnerability zones
Module 6: Watershed Delineation and Stream Network Extraction
- DEM conditioning: filling sinks and resolving flow direction anomalies
- Generating flow accumulation grids and defining drainage networks
- Delineating watersheds and sub-catchments using pour point methods
- Validating delineated boundaries against field observations and topographic maps
- Extracting stream order classifications using Strahler and Shreve methods
- Estimating catchment morphometric parameters for hydrological characterisation
Module 7: Hydrological Modelling and Water Balance Analysis
- Concepts of surface runoff, infiltration, and evapotranspiration in GIS
- Applying the SCS Curve Number method for runoff estimation
- Mapping flood-prone zones and seasonal inundation extents
- Conducting simple water balance assessments using spatial climate data
- Incorporating land use and soil type layers to parameterise hydrological model inputs
- Scenario-based modelling of runoff response under land use change conditions
Module 8: Land Suitability Analysis for Planning Applications
- Multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) frameworks for land suitability assessment
- Weighted overlay analysis for agricultural, settlement, and conservation zones
- Integrating soil, slope, water access, and land tenure layers
- Producing and interpreting land suitability maps for decision-making
- Sensitivity analysis to test the influence of criteria weighting on suitability outcomes
- Aligning suitability classification schemes with national and regional land use policy standards
Module 9: Environmental Risk Mapping: Erosion, Flooding, and Degradation
- Applying the RUSLE model for soil erosion risk estimation in GIS
- Delineating flood hazard zones using DEM and rainfall data
- Mapping land degradation indicators from remote sensing indices (NDVI, BSI)
- Communicating risk maps to planners, disaster managers, and communities
- Combining multiple hazard layers to produce composite environmental risk indices
- Prioritising intervention areas using risk severity and exposure of vulnerable land uses
Module 10: Participatory GIS and Community Spatial Data Integration
- Principles and methods of participatory GIS (PGIS) and community mapping
- Collecting field data with GPS devices and mobile applications (Kobo, ODK)
- Digitising and validating community-contributed spatial information
- Ethical considerations in community data collection and use
- Integrating indigenous and local knowledge with authoritative spatial datasets
- Designing feedback mechanisms to return mapped outputs to participating communities
Module 11: Water Resource Management Planning with GIS
- Mapping groundwater potential zones using hydrogeological and spatial data
- Siting water infrastructure: boreholes, small dams, and irrigation schemes
- Analysing water demand and supply balance across catchment areas
- Developing spatial catchment management plans aligned with IWRM principles
- Assessing seasonal water availability and storage needs using rainfall and evapotranspiration surfaces
- Identifying and mapping non-point source pollution risks to surface and groundwater resources
Module 12: Cartographic Design and Spatial Reporting
- Principles of effective map layout, typography, and colour scheme selection
- Designing land use and water management maps for technical and public audiences
- Generating automated map series and atlases using QGIS print layouts
- Structuring spatial reports and policy briefs with integrated map outputs
- Adapting cartographic outputs for print, web, and presentation delivery formats
- Applying accessibility considerations including colour-blind-safe palettes and scalable legend design
Module 13: Capstone Project: Integrated Land Use and Water Management Plan
- Defining study area scope, objectives, and spatial data inventory
- Conducting full GIS analysis pipeline from data acquisition to suitability mapping
- Developing a spatially referenced land use or catchment management plan
- Presenting findings and maps to a panel with structured feedback
- Documenting analytical methods, data sources, and limitations in a technical annex
- Reflecting on iterative improvements based on peer and facilitator review to strengthen final recommendations
Requirements & Prerequisites
Participants should have a basic understanding of environmental management, land use planning, or water resources, and prior exposure to GIS concepts or software is strongly recommended. Familiarity with Windows-based computing, including file management and basic spreadsheet use, is expected. Formal GIS certification is not required, but delegates who have attended an introductory GIS course or used QGIS or ArcGIS in a professional setting will get the most from this programme.
Training Methodology
- Structured GIS laboratory sessions using QGIS and open-source hydrological plugins with provided real-world datasets
- Step-by-step watershed delineation and land cover classification exercises using freely available DEM and satellite imagery
- Case study analysis of successful and failed land use plans from East Africa, Southern Africa, and the Middle East
- Group mapping projects where teams develop a spatial land use or catchment management plan for an assigned study area
- Interpretive exercises converting raw spatial outputs into policy-ready maps, infographics, and written summaries
- Peer review sessions where participants critique each other's map layouts, analytical choices, and planning recommendations
- Guided field data collection simulation using GPS waypoints and field survey integration into GIS
- Capstone project workshop where each participant produces a mini land use or water management plan with full GIS documentation
- Facilitated discussions linking spatial findings to planning legislation, water governance frameworks, and environmental impact assessment processes
Organisational Benefits
- Improved spatial decision-making capacity across land, environment, and water departments
- Reduced costs through better targeting of infrastructure investments and resource allocations
- Enhanced ability to prepare and respond to climate-related risks such as floods and droughts
- Stronger compliance with national land use regulations and international environmental standards
- Higher-quality project proposals and donor reports supported by rigorous geospatial evidence
- Better inter-departmental and inter-agency coordination through shared spatial data platforms
- Increased organisational credibility with government partners, donors, and community stakeholders
- A pipeline of internally trained GIS practitioners reducing reliance on external consultants
Where Is Land Use Planning and Water Management Using GIS Training Offered?
This course runs in-person across: Nairobi, Abuja, Kigali, Naivasha, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Kisumu, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Addis Ababa, Accra, Zanzibar, Dubai, Nakuru, Kampala, Cape Town, Mombasa, Lagos, Riyadh, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.
Upcoming Schedules
| Location | Format | Dates | Price |
|---|
| Live Virtual |
Online |
28 Sept 2026 – 9 Oct 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Nairobi, Kenya |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Abuja, Nigeria |
In-Person |
5 Oct 2026 – 16 Oct 2026 |
USD 5,600 |
| Kigali, Rwanda |
In-Person |
12 Oct 2026 – 23 Oct 2026 |
USD 3,800 |
| Naivasha, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
KES 230,000 |
| Dar es Salaam, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,600 |
| Arusha, Tanzania |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,200 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Kisumu, Kenya |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
KES 240,000 |
| Johannesburg, South Africa |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 7,000 |
| Pretoria, South Africa |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 6,600 |
| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 30 Oct 2026 |
USD 4,800 |
| Accra, Ghana |
In-Person |
19 Oct 2026 – 28 Oct 2026 |
USD 7,600 |
| Live Virtual |
Online |
24 Oct 2026 – 13 Dec 2026 |
KES 160,000 |
| Zanzibar, Tanzania |
In-Person |
26 Oct 2026 – 4 Nov 2026 |
USD 5,000 |
+235 more dates — view live schedule →
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need advanced GIS skills before attending this course?
Participants should have at least basic familiarity with GIS concepts and software such as QGIS or ArcGIS. Complete beginners are advised to complete an introductory GIS course first, but intermediate users will be fully supported from day one.
What software will we use, and do I need to bring a laptop?
The course uses QGIS (free and open-source) along with supporting plugins for hydrological analysis. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring their own laptops with QGIS pre-installed; TrainingComplex will provide installation guides in advance and may have lab computers available at select venues.
Will I receive a certificate at the end of the programme?
Yes. All participants who attend the full 10 days and complete the capstone project will receive a TrainingComplex Certificate of Completion in Land Use Planning and Water Management Using GIS.
Are the datasets used in the course relevant to African and Middle Eastern contexts?
Yes. The course uses real-world datasets from East Africa, Southern Africa, and the Middle East, including land cover data, DEMs, and rainfall grids, so the analytical skills you develop are directly applicable to your regional working environment.
Can my organisation send a team to this course?
Absolutely. Group enrolments are welcome and TrainingComplex can arrange dedicated in-house delivery for organisations wishing to train five or more staff together, including customisation of datasets and case studies to match your organisation's specific geographic context.
