Climate leadership program: Building Africa’s resilience through research, policy and practice
Programs and partnerships
Lead institution(s)
Summary
Building Africa’s resilience to climate change will require designing and implementing effective climate adaptation strategies. Science-informed policy, planning, and practice will ensure that development is more resilient and less vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change.Read more
Building Africa’s resilience to climate change will require designing and implementing effective climate adaptation strategies. Science-informed policy, planning, and practice will ensure that development is more resilient and less vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change. However, the generation and use of climate information and science in Africa has been limited and generally dominated by scientists from developed economies. There is a need to broker knowledge at the point where science, policy and development meet. There is also a need to build local climate change leaders who can shape understanding of the extent and severity of climate-related stressors and propose solutions on how countries can build resilience to these impacts.
This project is one among three leadership initiatives to be implemented by IDRC’s Climate Change program in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. It seeks to address climate change capacity gaps by developing the leadership capacity of African scientists, policy advisers and practitioners for advancement in current knowledge, decision-making and action.
Targeting thirty mid- to senior-career researchers, policy advisers and practitioners, the program will support those with climate change ideas that can be applied at scale and who have the drive and potential to become leaders in their fields. This will allow them to develop and test their ideas and strengthen their leadership capacity. Activities include training, research, testing of climate solutions in local communities, and coaching and mentorship in the area of policy development and advocacy. Emphasis will be placed on building leadership capacity among women. This is a collaborative effort between the University of Nairobi and the Institute of Resource Assessment – University of Dar es Salaam, and builds on IDRC’s past investments in climate fellowship programs with these institutions.
The immediate outcomes are thirty fellows (mostly women) moving to the next level in their careers in research, policy, and practice with an increased capacity to use research evidence to shape climate policy and inform climate solutions; tested innovative climate solutions that enhance community resilience and inform policy and research; and enriched climate policies that draw on research evidence and guide climate action for effective adaptation.
Research outputs
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The mid-term review workshop aimed to provide training on leadership, review the progress Fellows had made in the implementation of their projects, promote co-learning, and ensure interaction between policy advisors/analysts, practitioners and researchers. The Africa Climate Leadership Program (AfriCLP) is dedicated to strengthening the leadership capacity of beneficiaries from 15 African countries that includes academics, researchers, development practitioners and policy experts. It is managed collaboratively between the University of Nairobi and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) with support from IDRC.
Africa Climate Leadership Program (AfriCLP) is dedicated to strengthening the leadership capacity of beneficiaries from 15 African countries that includes academics, researchers, development practitioners and policy experts. The program fellowships are from three tracks; Policy, Climate Innovation, and Research. Country Fellows’ profiles are individually presented with a projected timeline regarding their plans and focus in this project brief infographic.
This paper argues that learning is essential for cities to become resilient to challenges. The Future Resilience for African CiTies And Lands (FRACTAL) project is profiled. Following FRACTAL’s city-to-city learning approach of sharing good practices, knowledge and experiences framed around transdisciplinary research, the study cities of Harare, Lusaka, Windhoek and Durban conducted city learning exchange visits between 2017 and 2018. FRACTAL contributes towards climate resilient development by providing relevant climate information for decision-making at the city regional scale in southern Africa. Transferable lessons and practices included effective water conservation and waste management and the use of public-private partnerships.
The program aims to strengthen the capacity of national and regional mid-career to senior climate change policy advisors/analysts to understand how to interpret and apply climate model projections, and to inject the best available scientific research/empirical knowledge/data into policy processes and decision-making. This report covers the period of implementation (2017-2020), outlining and reviewing project activities, events, achievements, outputs and outcomes. The climate leader selection and training processes are also reviewed. The fellows were trained in how to participate in IPCC activities including the online Webinar on ’How to review IPCC Assessment Reports – webinars and guidance for climate experts.’
The study results showed that water scarcity, large informal settlements, reliance on external water and energy sources, inadequate protection of ecologically sensitive resources, and service provision are some of the common complications in cities. The paper argues that learning is essential for cities’ capacity for resilience. It profiles the Future Resilience for African CiTies And Lands (FRACTAL) project which provided relevant climate information for decision-making at the city regional scale in southern Africa. The study locales of Harare, Lusaka, Windhoek and Durban conducted city learning exchange visits. Historical climate and hydrological data and current socio-economic data were collected and analyzed.
