Africa’s leading development institutions have reaffirmed their commitment to building a continent-wide, African-led early warning system during the ClimDev-Africa Phase II Planning Workshop, held recently in Nairobi.
Co-organised by the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank Group, the workshop brought together climate scientists, policymakers, and regional stakeholders from 29-30 July to define the next phase of the Climate for Development in Africa (ClimDev-Africa) programme.
At the core of the discussions was a shared goal: strengthening early warning systems across Africa to save lives, protect livelihoods, and underpin climate-resilient development.
From strategy to action: Scaling Africa’s climate preparedness
Dr. Alex Mubiru, the Bank’s Director General for the East Africa Regional Integration and Business Delivery Office and Country Manager for Kenya, opened the workshop by praising the unity of purpose among partners.
“This is about elevating African expertise and ensuring our systems can protect lives and livelihoods,” he said. “Our $6.2 million investment in multi-country early warning systems is just one way we are translating vision into impact.”
Highlighting climate change as a fundamental development challenge, Dr. James Murombedzi, Head of the African Climate Policy Centre at UNECA, then stressed the need for home-grown solutions.
“Our response to climate change must be led from within, and ClimDev-Africa empowers us to integrate climate action into every facet of development planning. The programme has become a trusted platform for action, research, and capacity building.”
Progress made: Achievements from Phase I
The workshop reviewed progress under Phase I (2011-2023), which laid a strong foundation for the programme. Over this period, ClimDev-Africa supported 18 projects in 17 countries, including five regional climate centres serving over 42 million people. More than 60 meteorological experts–30 percent of them women–were trained, while 14 high-performance computing systems and 40 automatic weather stations were deployed.
“These weren’t just investments in infrastructure; they were investments in African capacity,” said Dr. James Kinyangi, the Bank’s Coordinator of the Climate and Development Special Fund.
“Our response to climate change must be led from within and ClimDev-Africa empowers us to integrate climate action into every facet of development planning. The program has become a trusted platform for action, research, and capacity building.”
Further, the programme advanced the use of high-resolution climate modeling to successfully forecast desert locust outbreaks, enabling early interventions that protected food systems. In parallel, it deepened the integration of climate data into national planning frameworks and significantly enhanced regional coordination among meteorological agencies across the continent.
Dr. Sam Ogallah, Climate Change Coordinator at the African Union Commission, emphasised the policy coherence behind ClimDev’s momentum.
“The African Union’s 2022-2032 Climate Resilient Development Strategy is the guiding framework and ClimDev-Africa is how we deliver it. This isn’t just a technical program–it’s about implementing the vision of Agenda 2063 and securing the future of African communities.”
He highlighted AU’s role in aligning investments, policies, and diplomatic engagement on climate resilience, including through its Pavilion at COP30 and support for regional economic communities.
To finance Phase II, the program seeks to mobilize $191 million, with support from African Development Fund’s Climate Action Window, bilateral donors, and multilateral climate funds.
ClimDev-Africa, in partnership with the Bank’s Joint Secretariat Support Office–which supports the African Union Commission–will help the AU, the Bank and the UN Economic Commission for Africa craft a unified African policy position on climate change. This strategic alignment enhances resource mobilization, promotes synergy throughout Phase II, and strengthens collaboration through a joint consultation and monitoring framework–ensuring that as ClimDev expands, its impact is felt across the continent.
Continental early warning systems: From vision to implementation
Representing the World Meteorological Organization, Dr. Ernest Afiesimama, Regional Programme Manager, stressed the importance of synergy between regional hubs and national authorities:
“Each country’s national meteorological service must remain the authoritative voice on early warnings within its borders, but these services are only as strong as the systems that feed them. Regional centers like ICPAC ensure that countries have the tools, data, and shared insights they need.”
He added that WMO will continue supporting ClimDev-Africa’s Phase II with technical training, data integration systems, and standards to strengthen early action protocols.
The Nairobi workshop brought together leaders from various regional climate centers across Africa to build a unified early warning architecture for the continent, with participation from:
- AGRHYMET Regional Centre (based in Niamey, Niger covering West Africa)
- African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (based in Niamey, providing Pan-African coordination)
- ECCAS Climate Prediction Centre (based in Douala, Cameroon covering Central Africa)
- The SADC Climate Services Centre (based in Gaborone, Botswana covering the Southern Africa Region)
- The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) (based in Kenya and covering East Africa) designated Regional Climate Centre for East Africa
Together, these institutions are building the backbone of an Africa-wide, interoperable early warning system–supported by shared data platforms, common forecasting tools, and harmonized policy engagement.
One participant from ECCAS Climate Prediction Center said: “We are happy to see our ‘baby’ grow. What started in 2017 is now becoming a continental system, owned by Africans, powered by African institutions.”
Launched in 2011, ClimDev-Africa is the continent’s flagship initiative to strengthen climate information services, disaster risk preparedness, and evidence-based decision-making. With its first phase having supported critical infrastructure, policy frameworks, and scientific capacity, the planning workshop focused on scaling up those achievements through bold, Africa-owned strategies under Phase II.
Site visit to ICPAC: Experiencing the tangible impact of ClimDev investments
On August 1, workshop participants visited the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) headquarters, in Ngong, Kenya, some 15 kilometers outside Nairobi. Originally financed and constructed under Clim-Dev Phase I, ICPAC has grown into a continental leader in regional forecasting.
“We have come a long way–from concept to one of Africa’s leading regional forecasting hubs,” ICPAC Acting Director, Dr. Abdi Fidar said during a tour of the site’s Disaster Operations Centre. “In an era of climate extremes, early warnings must be fast, local, and reliable. What we’re doing here is saving lives–through science, regional cooperation, and investment in African systems.”
ICPAC now serves 11 East African countries with real-time forecasts, seasonal outlooks, and sector-specific advisories for agriculture, water, health, and food security. Through its high-performance computing cluster, it also supports flood modeling, drought monitoring, and food production assessments across the Horn of Africa.
Looking ahead
Timed ahead of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS-II) and COP30, the outcomes of the ClimDev-Africa Planning Workshop will feed directly into Africa’s unified climate position.
“This workshop ensures that Africa speaks with one voice on climate resilience,” said UNECA’s Head of the African Climate Policy Center, Dr. Murombedzi. “We have the science, the institutions, and the urgency–what we need now is scaled investment and global recognition.”
The message from Nairobi was clear: Africa is not waiting for external solutions–it is building its own. Through ClimDev-Africa, the continent is transforming climate risk into climate resilience, one data point, one forecast, and one community at a time.
