Regional coordination for national adaptation
Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA)
Together with our partners, we're scaling a climate-smart African future driven by science & innovation in agriculture.
“Regional coordination and training provides essential capacities in enhancing climate action,” said Dawit Solomon, East and Southern Africa lead for AICCRA, addressing participants at a workshop?held this month with the IGAD Climate Prediction & Applications Centre (ICPAC), the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) and the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) which trained agricultural experts from 15 countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Africa.
And in Ghana, AICCRA joined the Ghana Meteorological Agency in a training for 40 staff members on the Climate Data Tool (CDT) - a free, easy-to-use resource that is growing in popularity across the continent because of the efforts made by AICCRA partners in scaling access to it.
Climate data is the backbone of climate-smart agriculture.
Meteorological agencies, universities, and national and regional institutions are playing a critical role in ensuring that the quality and accessibility of climate data, and the skills required to use it, are building the capacity of African countries in adapting to climate change. Recent stories show how AICCRA is supporting our partners in this work.
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In case you missed it: AICCRA welcomes new Director ?
Robert Zougmoré has been appointed as the new Director of the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project by the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT with approval from the World Bank.
Building on his experience as West Africa Lead for the project, AICCRA will continue working closely with partners under Robert's leadership to scale access to – and use of – climate information services and climate-smart agriculture technologies across Africa. ?
What is the "can do tool" enriching climate data for African agriculture?
For many countries in Africa, the collection of climate data has been seriously inadequate and, even when available, poorly accessible and of inconsistent quality.?The Climate Data Tool (CDT) is ensuring these spatial and temporal gaps are no longer hindering efforts to make African agriculture climate-smart.
The CDT is a free, open-source software package that helps to fill data gaps and enable national meteorological agencies—and students alike—to analyze their own local climate data to generate new research and products.
AICCRA has been scaling up access to (and use of) CDT through capacity development through Africa’s national and regional organizations.?To date, more than 200 people from the national meteorological services of Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Senegal, Ghana, and Mali have been trained on CDT, alongside staff from the regional climate centers of excellence ICPAC (East Africa) and AGRHYMET REGIONAL CENTER (West Africa).
Most recently, the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) trained more than 40 newly recruited staff in CDT with participants excited about the opportunities the tool presents.
“I am still trying to figure out what the Climate Data Tool cannot do,” said Erasmus Antwi, who participated in the training. “From downloading satellite products to even validating of these products from their different model sources with actual observed station data…. I think its name should be changed to the 'Can Do Tool' (CDT)!”?
Creative partnerships with regional and Africa-wide organizations such as the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM ) and the Institute of Meteorological Training and Research (IMTR), a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) regional training center are further scaling the potential of CDT for climate-smart agriculture and more.
Strengthening capacities of agricultural experts from ASARECA and CCARDESA member states?
A five-day workshop organized by AICCRA and ICPAC in partnership with CCARDESA and ASARECA brought together sub-regional experts from 15 countries across Central, East and Southern Africa to build knowledge and critical thinking skills in climate science.
“Through this partnership, I am hopeful that the capacity of participants will be enhanced, equipping them to tackle climate change through both mitigation and adaptation strategies,” said Cliff Dlamini, Executive Director at CCARDESA. “Access to critical information is essential in empowering institutions and individuals to make impactful decisions.”
During the training, participants were informed on climate basics including climate information services for informed decision-making, early warning systems for disaster risk reduction and climate-related hazards, and gender-sensitive approaches.
Also in September, we held a regional training with ICPAC and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) on sub-seasonal forecasting using the latest Python version of the Climate Predictability Tool (PyCPT v2.8). The workshop equipped meteorologists, climate scientists, and relevant stakeholders with the skills to improve the accuracy and application of sub-seasonal predictions.
By promoting skills in climate risk management and adaptation strategies, South-South knowledge sharing and training initiatives help bridge the gap between scientific research and practical application.?
A regional pest and disease response plan for West and Central Africa launched by ECOWAS
Through a series of consultations and workshops led by CORAF | West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development and supported by AICCRA, a foresight community of practice (CoP) was trained and established in West and Central Africa in 2022. This CoP went on to develop a roadmap for a regional pest and disease outbreak preparedness and response plan in the region.
In 2023, the preparedness and reponse plan developed by the foresight CoP was validated and finalized by key regional stakeholders and experts.
Now in 2024, under the leadership of ECOWAS and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), the plan was officially launched.
"This plan is the outcome of collaborative efforts by regional and international stakeholders, working together to tackle health and climate challenges.” stated Mrs. Massandjé Toure-Litse, Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture at ECOWAS at the launch event.
"By pooling our expertise and aligning our actions, we can ensure the effective and sustainable implementation of this plan throughout West and Central Africa,” emphasized AICCRA Director Robert Zougmoré during the event.
Explore: A participatory framework for identifying ‘best bet’ climate-smart agriculture innovations?
Research conducted under AICCRA in Mali uses a participatory framework to identify and prioritize context-specific, best-bet innovations and to assess the barriers, incentives, and roles of institutions for their widespread adoption in the context of Mali's rice-growing environments.
The framework used in this study can be applied to other contexts to identify and invest in locally relevant best-bet climate-smart agriculture innovation packages.
Explore key findings from the case study and dive into the framework.
AICCRA strengthens partnership with Ghana’s Ministry of Food and Agriculture in visit with Hon. Bryan Acheampong
A delegation from?AICCRA Ghana paid a courtesy call on the new Minister of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), the Honorable Bryan Acheampong, to formally introduce the AICCRA project to the Minister and explore avenues to expand collaborations with the Ministry.?
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In 2023, AICCRA’s work with governmental agencies, such as the Crops Research Institute (CRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and GMet helped more than 390,000 farmers access and use climate information services and climate-smart agriculture technologies, and catalyszed significant private sector involvement in the scaling of climate-smart innovations.?
Welcoming the delegation from AICCRA Ghana, the Honorable Bryan Acheampong emphasized the Ministry’s readiness to work with AICCRA in areas of mutual interest.?
International Day of Awareness of Food Waste and Loss
Estimates suggest that 40% of Africa's crops are lost in post-harvest each year. But food loss also occurs pre-harvest, for example, with the rise in climate-driven pests and diseases. This undermines the sustainability of our food systems and contributes to climate change.
Our food systems cannot be resilient if they are not sustainable.?Africa's small-scale farmers need climate-smart solutions from the fields to the markets.
For International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste on 29 September, we shared a few examples of how AICCRA and partners are exploring and addressing these challenges:
In Kenya, Climate-Smart Agriculture Investment Plans to include smallholder farmers?
The first capacity-building initiative on Kenya's Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (CSA-IP) was held in Siaya County with stakeholders drawn from different departments of the county government and the Climate Smart Agriculture Multi-stakeholder (CSA-MSP) platform.
The visit determined that Siaya County is poised to take advantage of the Kenya CSA-IP and will use the training received from AICCRA in 2023 to screen proposals from community-based organizations (CBOs) and choose those most closely aligned with county government plans.?
Early career researchers come together for an intensive learning program in Zambia
Building on the success of AICCRA Zambia's Internship and Innovation Grant (i2G) which supports young professionals through private sector working experience and demand-driven innovation development, an intensive 'Design Sprint' was held in Zambia with the CGIAR Ukama Ustawi initiative and BongoHive Technology and Innovation Hub .
The five-day interactive session was developed to strengthen the skills of early career researchers in East and Southern Africa in water management, soil health, sustainability and environmental science.
Participants engaged in hands-on learning experiences and fostered collaboration for demand-driven research solutions to real-life challenges in climate smart agriculture and climate information systems (CSA-CIS).
The week ended with 'Pitch Day' which showcased the exceptional talent and innovative spirit of our participants. Three winners were chosen from the presentations:
We'll share more from the Design Sprint soon!
Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM) in Wajir's communities
Participatory Rangeland Management (PRM) builds the capacities of pastoral communities to better manage, govern and restore their lands.
Through a Participatory Rangeland Resource Assessment (PRRA), communities are able to assess rangeland potential, condition and needs for intervention, whilst also providing a baseline to evaluate change and track progress when implementing a rangeland management plan as part of a community-led monitoring system. ?
Watch how to do a PRM participatory rangeland resource assessment - the first step in the Implementation stage before rangeland management planning takes place:
"Monitoring rangeland condition and evaluating the effectiveness of management are important aspects of strengthening the planning and management of rangelands. We are here to help communities to develop an improved monitoring and evaluation system as part of strengthening their rangeland management roles," said Irene Nganga, Research Officer with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) who helped train community members on PRM.?
COMING UP: 8th AgriFin Learning Event
In October, the 8th AgriFin Learning Event (ALE) with Mercy Corps AgriFin will bring together thought leaders, innovators, and key stakeholders from across Kenya, Africa and beyond to discuss enabling rural economies through digital solutions.
The event will focus on scaling digital agriculture, fintech solutions, climate-smart tools, and innovation in rural development.
We're participating in a session that will introduce a coming Impact Measurement Masterclass on: "Agribusiness impacts in a climate context: A hands-on crash course on tracking what matters" with Andreea Nowak.
Follow us on social media for more updates coming soon!
Opportunity: AGNES Climate Climate Governance, Diplomacy, and Negotiations Leadership Program
More than 700 people from across 52 African countries have participated in the AGNES Africa Climate Leadership Program. You could be part of the next cohort.
The overall objective of the program is to build and strengthen the knowledge and negotiation skills of African climate leaders so that they are equipped to engage effectively in international climate change policy discourse and contribute to the successful implementation of climate actions at regional and national levels.
Deadline: Apply by 11 October
Read these stories and more on our news page or follow us on social media (@CGIARAfrica) for ongoing updates.
Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) is a project that helps deliver a climate-smart African future driven by science and innovation in agriculture. It is led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT and supported by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank.
Agricultural Extension, Innovation Systems, Rural Development and Management
5 个月Very innovative tool. Le us accelerate pathways for cascading it at community level.
Development & Humanitarian Communication, Content Creation, Policy Advocacy & Social Media Mgmt
5 个月Very informative!
Executive Director, Agriquest Africa Network - Agribusiness||Food Systems||Value Chain Development||Market Systems||Supply Chain Mgt||Trade Policy||Postharvest Mgt||Sustainability||Circular Economy||Climate Advocate||
5 个月Apt...insightful! We should start working the TALK!