Implementing Nationally Determined Contribution Commitments in Agriculture (NDC4AG) Training package overview

Tri-fold brochure describing the training materials available online for implementing NDCs in the agriculture sector. The training materials were funded by Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as part of the CAADP support programme with the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and carried out in partnership with the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and the Africa Group of Negotiators Expert Support (AGNES)

Report from Kenya’s Climate Smart Agriculture Multi-Stakeholder Platform (CSA MSP) Livestock Learning Platform meeting

The Programme for Climate-Smart Livestock Systems (PCSL) is an initiative designed to enable key actors in the livestock sector to increasingly include climate change adaptation and mitigation in their farming practices, sector strategies and investment projects. PCSL is financed by GIZ and commissioned by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. GIZ has commissioned the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the World Bank to implement the programme activities. ILRI’s programme activities are based in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. One of the PCSL activities has been the creation of national Learning Platforms to support information exchange and dissemination of research findings to the relevant stakeholders. The Learning Platforms bring stakeholders together quarterly to discuss various topics. Due to the Covid- 19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings, these meetings are now taking place online. In Kenya, the Learning Platform is operating through the existing Climate Smart Agriculture Multi- Stakeholder Platform (CSA MSP). A meeting held on Wednesday, 21st April 2021 showcased a presentation of a recent report on how the livestock sub-sector can be enhanced in the country’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), new research findings to support development of country specific emissions factors from sheep and goats in Western Kenya, and a sneak preview of adaptation tracking protocols for the livestock sector that are under development (see Annex 1 for the full agenda). More than 40 participants were online for the session, representing ILRI, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MOAFLC), non-governmental and civil society organizations, and private sector companies (see Annex 2 for a list of participants)

Revisiting household coordinates for CCAFS Baseline in the initial regions: East Africa, West Africa and Indo-Gangetic Plains

In 2010-2012, the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) implemented a baseline in 15 sites across three initial target regions: East Africa, West Africa and Indo-Gangetic Plains. The baseline was setup in such a way that the households selected could be a revisited after five and ten years. The aim is to track behavioral change over time in each of the sites by collecting agricultural and household data. Through analyzing the collected data, the aim is to promote a food-secure world through the provision of science-based efforts that support sustainable agriculture and enhance livelihoods while adapting to climate change and conserving natural resources and environmental services

Report on regional learning platform webinar series

The Programme for Climate-Smart Livestock Systems (PCSL) is an initiative designed to enable key actors in the livestock sector to increasingly include climate change adaptation and mitigation in their farming practices, sector strategies and investment projects. PCSL is financed by GIZ and commissioned by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. GIZ has commissioned the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the World Bank to implement the programme activities. ILRI’s programme activities are based in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda. One of the activities included the creation of national Learning Platforms for the purposes of information exchange and dissemination of research findings. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings, ILRI adjusted its plans for the national Learning Platforms. ILRI organized a series of three online meetings held with stakeholders from all three countries over a three-week period starting on 30th July 2020

AICCRA Continental Level Stakeholder Consultation Report

This report presents the findings of continental level stakeholder consultations conducted by the Policy theme of AICCRA during the month of September 2023. We undertook these consultations to gather inputs from stakeholders and feed them into the design process of the AICCRA Additional Financing (AF). Conversations with stakeholders focused on understanding the challenges faced, the opportunities presented and the priorities for AICCRA’s AF from various stakeholder perspectives. The main challenges noted were an overall need for longer term funding from African development partners, the lack of political stability in West Africa and issues related to cascading transboundary climate risks. Various opportunities that were mentioned included providing embedded support to African institutes, engaging policy makers from initial stages of project design to get buy in and support during implementation and increasing collaboration with existing partners to work in different countries where they have presence. Some of the major priorities highlighted included focusing more on youth groups, improving access to finance and giving more emphasis to medium and late-stage agri-businesses and shifting from government-led to farmer-led initiatives

Multireference Methods are Realistic and Useful Tools for Modeling Catalysis

Highly correlated systems, in particular those that include transition metals, are ubiquitous in catalysis. The significant static correlation found in such systems is often poorly accounted for using Kohn Sham density functional theory methods, as they are single determinantal in nature. Applications to catalysis of more rigorous and appropriate multiconfigurational methods have been reported in select instances, but their use remains rare. We discuss obstacles that hinder the routine application of multireference (MR) wave function theoretical calculations to catalytic systems and the current state of the art with respect to removing those obstacles

A review of agricultural, food security, food systems and climate change adaptation policies, institutions and actors in East Africa

Agricultural production systems in East Africa are mainly rain-fed and highly vulnerable to climate change and variability. Moreover, the smallholder subsistence production base increases the vulnerability of the agricultural sector in East Africa to climate risks. The frequency and severity of climate shocks such as drought, heat and cold stress as well as floods are increasing and likely to lead to major food crises. Governmental and nongovernmental actors in East African countries have instituted policies and programs aimed at increasing agricultural productivity, improving food security and enhancing adaptation to climate change. This paper examines the various policies, institutions and actors related to climate change adaptation, food security, food system and agricultural development in East Africa—focusing on Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The paper combines a review of literature with key informant interviews from various actors in the four countries

A comparative analysis of governance and leadership in agricultural development policy networks

Agricultural development initiatives feature many public and private organizations working together across sectors and scales to pursue the goals of food security and climate resilience. Policy networks are considered a crucial ingredient for the learning and cooperation needed to effectively implement agricultural development projects and increase community resiliency, yet very little comparative empirical data has been collected to assess where and how these networks operate. We contribute to filling this gap by characterizing the governance and leadership patterns within agricultural development policy networks that connect organizations working on climate resilience and food security activities in 14 smallholder farming communities across 11 countries in East Africa, West Africa and South Asia. We integrate theories of network governance and leadership in international development settings with social network analysis methods to analyze network structures and understand the roles of various actors working collaboratively toward agricultural development goals. We present two critical findings that advance our theoretical understanding of network governance and have implications for agricultural development policy globally. First, we find evidence for three distinct network types: shared and brokered networks, as predicted by the network governance literature, as well as a class of fragmented networks that exhibit extremely low levels of coordination at their core. Additionally, we find that while the presence of international development organizations is associated with greater overall network coordination, it is local and regional organizations that fill central network leadership positions most frequently. These findings suggest that resources may be an important factor in overcoming the cost of coordination, but social capital among local actors may be more important for developing network leadership

Gender review of climate change legislative and policy frameworks and strategies in East Africa

Climate change is currently acknowledged as one of the pressing global threats to the environment and humanity. This threat has moved the global community to take action on adaptation and mitigation efforts to cushion its devastating effects. Cognizance has been taken of the disproportionate impact that climate change poses to women and other vulnerable groups. The various legislative, policy and strategic frameworks on climate change available at the global and regional level is a tacit acknowledgement of the seriousness of the problem and the role of women in adaptation and mitigation strategies. For instance, through several of its decisions, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has included a focus on addressing women’s rights and gender equality with respect to climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. In Africa, the African Union is committed to addressing climate change issues with a gender perspective. Consequently, African countries have formulated their respective climate change policies, strategies and action plans as well as green growth and low carbon strategies aimed at integrating climate change considerations into development and sectoral plans with a gendered perspective. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia are among the East African States, which have followed suit by responding to the African Union commitments to the course by developing several legislative and policy frameworks to aid the course addressing climate change. The focus of this paper is to establish whether these frameworks are in accordance with international and regional frameworks on climate change in addressing gender-specific impacts of climate change in the areas of climate-smart agriculture, food security, water, health, human rights and security. This paper, therefore, reviews climate change related policies and strategies in East Africa through a gendered lens. The countries whose legislative and policy frameworks are in focus include: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia. The study assesses how these countries have integrated gender in their climate change legislation, policies and strategies to support the vulnerable while addressing climate change. Findings show that all four countries include gender terms within their various policies, programs and plans. All the documents reviewed indicted that they were drafted after a gender analysis on climate risks, impacts and vulnerability. Furthermore, all the documents identified gender, vulnerable groups and youth as the target groups most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and mentioned the inclusion of gender responsive monitoring and evaluation systems. The documents also included gender mainstreaming and supported the enhancement of education, training and capacity building for women. Despite this, none of 4 the documents mention direct benefits to women and youth or budget allocations for gender specific actions. In all the policies and plans, women are identified in particular instances as being greatly involved in agriculture and food production and at the forefront of innovations and projects addressing climate change. Most of the frameworks generalised the issue of training and institutional strengthening. There is generally no capacity within existing government departments to consider gender in climate response activities. It is thus pertinent that the frameworks consider building the capacity of gender focal points in all relevant institutions to incorporate gender issues in all climate change responses. This is to ensure that institutions not only deal exclusively with gender are women and children, but that this role will also be considered in every other department