Context and Justification
WASCAL and IRD, supported by BMBF/DLR-PT, the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (MESR) and JPI Climate, CC, CCSE are driving the Climate Services for Risk Reduction in Africa (CS4RRA) initiative. The overall goal of the CS4RRA initiative is to strengthen climate resilience in West Africa and ensure that better climate knowledge and services, including better early warning procedures, are available at regional and local levels for both disaster risk reduction and adaptation to climate change. Specifically, the CS4RRA initiative seeks to: i) examine potential areas for cooperation in research on climate risk management, resilience, and adaptation in West Africa and thus defragment the program landscape in favor of common goals and common impact of funding; ii) describe pathways and priorities for research, innovation, and capacity development in the area of Climate Services for risk reduction that contribute to the innovation agenda between African Union and European Union; and iii) identify actionable and complementary steps to boost Knowledge, Innovation, and Capacity Development (KIC) via trilateral or multilateral joint calls or actions (South-South and South-North).
The CS4RRA started with a series of four (4) in-depth webinars based on West African with African and European representatives on the area of climate services for risk reduction in the region.
A final stocktaking conference (5-6 November 2024) will be held to present and discuss the results and key messages of the webinars and future funding opportunities for CS4RRA.
Objectives of the Stocktaking Conference
The overall goal of the conference is two-fold:
- legitimise the research, innovation and capacity building priorities emerged from the webinars by aligning them with the local, national and regional development plans as an important milestone for future activities incl. a multinational CS4RRA call and joint application;
- mobilise a consortium of donors committed to support short, mid and long-term actions.
The conference will contribute to a large consultation of the regional and international stakeholders on the CS4RRA joint call, to ensure relevance, excellence, and ownership by the African region. It will equally contribute to the progressive implementation of the recommendations from the Webinars by WASCAL and IRD. Finally, the conference will support exploring synergies, provide the opportunity for networking, and mobilise funders in Africa and EU, and thus, will enlarge the research opportunities for CS4RRA members.
The specific objectives are:
- review the webinars' outcomes and complete current priorities in research, innovation and capacity building;
- bring together funding agencies, key performing organisations from EU member states, and likeminded African partners interested in developing long-lasting activities on research, innovation and capacity building
- enhance coordination of the existing bilateral activities between European and African countries and existing multilateral initiatives; build-up a consortium of interested parties from Africa and Europe on climate risk reduction challenges (e.g. to prepare of a joint application for EU-calls).
- examine and propose sustainable funding mechanisms for climate and environment services provision,
