Institutional Linkages, South-South Partnerships and Capacity Building Hands-on Workshop on Objective Climate Forecasts for the Agriculture and Food Security Sector in Eastern and Southern Africa

The institutional linkages, south-south partnerships, and capacity building hands-on workshop on "Objective Climate Forecasts for Agriculture, and Food Security Sector in Eastern and Southern Africa" was conducted between August 31- September 4, 2021, in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The workshop brought together more than 50 experts from National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS), Regional Climate Centers, Research Institutions, Agricultural and Food Security institutions, and actors from 15 Southern, Eastern, and Horn of Africa nations. Mr. Munesu Munodawafa, the Permanent Secretary of Zimbabwe's Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry (MECCTHI), officially opened the event. The main objectives of the training workshop were to build the capacities of national and regional experts in objective seasonal forecasting, enhance the co-production of reliable and improved climate information and services in the agriculture and food security sector, and establish multi-institutional and multi-stakeholder dialogue and knowledge sharing platform to strengthen institutional linkages and south-south partnerships. The UN Economic Commission for Africa's Climate Research for Development (CR4D) initiative convened the workshop, which is funded by the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland through the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) within the Weather and Climate Information SERvice (WISER) Programme, the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC), and the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security East Africa (CCAFS-EA). ICPAC is a World Meteorological Organizations Regional Climate Center and a specialized institution of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), while CCAFS is a program of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Both ICPAC and CCAFS, which have long-standing records of public service accomplishments on climate change in Africa, are members of the Institutional Collaboration Platform (ICP) – one of the three governing arms of the CR4D. Complementing ICP in the governing of the CR4D are the Oversight Board (OB) and the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC). The CR4D secretariat is domiciled at the lead continental climate think-tank, the Africa Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The workshop participants had the opportunity to practice the procedures developing the ICPAC objective seasonal forecasts. They practiced using Python-based Climate Predictability Tool (PyCPT) and ensemble regression method, which empowered them to generate the national seasonal forecast. Additionally, the co-production session enabled the participants to learn the theory and implications of co-production for generating reliable climate information and services for development and planning in the agricultural sector. To practice the idea of co-production, the participants were divided into five groups. They were provided questions where users, climate experts, agriculture experts, multi-institutional, and multi-stakeholders mixed to dialogue and share knowledge. Group representatives had a chance to present the result, highlighted the importance of such a rich discussion for co-producing climate services, and summarised the main points raised. Besides, they have emphasized the approaches were effective and provided recommendations. Furthermore, the workshop proved highly successful, demonstrating a keen appetite for closer collaboration and further consideration of future activities in similar contexts and content.