Burkina Faso/Climate resilience: AICCRA and WASCAL strengthen partnership to benefit West African communities

As part of the AICCRA project, WASCAL, in partnership with the Bioversity-CIAT Alliance, and RUFORUM, organized a workshop, on Wednesday, October 30, 2024 in Ouagadougou, to highlight the progress made in building climate resilience in Africa, with a particular focus on integrating training programs on climate-smart agriculture and climate information services into higher education curricula. The workshop marks the extension of the AICCRA project.

Millions of people make their living from agriculture in West Africa, and on the African continent in general. And all this against a backdrop of climate change, which is posing considerable challenges and impacting all sectors, including agriculture. One of these impacts is a reduction in the productivity of the agricultural system. It is therefore essential to be able to adapt in order to continue to produce and improve production, i.e. to avoid reducing production.

Hence the relevance of the AICCRA initiative (Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa), which aims to build capacity in climate resilience in Africa.s in climate resilience in key sectors, including agriculture, which remains an essential economic pillar for millions of people in Africa.
The aim of this workshop is to take stock of the first phase of the partnership with WASCAL (West African Scientific Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use) and to present the new orientations of the new phase of the partnership with WASCAL. In the first phase, training modules and curricula on climate-smart agriculture and climate information were developed.

The workshop, which brought together universities, technical and financial partners and civil society players, among others, enabled participants toThe workshop, which brought together universities, technical and financial partners and civil society players, enabled participants to exchange views on concrete solutions developed to meet the region's growing challenges, exacerbated by climate change.

"The many challenges facing the countries of West Africa, from environmental degradation and irregular rainfall to climate change, have made it necessary to develop concrete solutions.The many challenges facing West African countries, from environmental degradation to irregular rainfall and declining agricultural productivity, all threaten the livelihoods of millions of people. The AICCRA initiative was conceived in recognition of these challenges, with the aim of improving climate resilience through targeted capacity building in six targeted African countries. Through these collaborative efforts with RUFORUM (Regional Forum of Universities for Capacity Building in Agriculture : editor's note), we have collectively succeeded in developing modules that will greatly contribute to changing the curriculum and addressing climate change issues as well as mitigation and adaptation measures. We have engaged in meaningful discussions and feedback sessions to refine these training modules, which focus on critical areas such as soil carbon sequestration, disaster risk management, crop pests and diseases in relation to climate change and agriculture, water and the link to renewable energy. By equipping educators with meticulously crafted training materials, we're not only training a new generation of climate-conscious leaders, but also ensuring that the knowledge imparted is relevant to the future.We also ensure that the knowledge imparted is relevant to the realities faced by our students and other stakeholders. Feedback from our dedicated academic leaders, our professors, who represent such renowned institutions as KNUST, the University of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the University of the Environment and Sustainable Development, the University of the South and the University of the North.environnement et du développement durable, Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny and many others, was instrumental in the development of these modules. Their ideas have helped us to create training resources accessible via RUFORUM's online platform, ensuring that vital information reaches those who need it most. those who need it most", introduced WASCAL's Executive Director, Pr Emmanuel Ramdé, at the opening of the workshop.

According to Mr.Ramdé, the achievements of the first phase were rewarded by the extension and second phase expressede by the World Bank at the CoP28 side event (2023 Dubai Climate Change Conference : editor's note). During this second phase," continues the Executive Director, "WASCAL will continue to develop additional modules, share the finalized modules and ensure that professors use the module to build the capacity of students and technicians in universities. "Taking into account the voice of civil society through iGST will also be a new step to consider during this phase," WASCAL's Executive Director points out.

He therefore hopes that the WASCAL team will continue along this path in terms of capacity building and CoC, so as to continue to take the necessary steps that will bring greater visibility to the activities of WASCAL and RUFORUM.Pr Emmanuel Ramdé also urges all stakeholders (leaders, researchers, policy-makers and donors) to continue to support and engage with these transformative initiatives. "Let's work together to strengthen our institutions and ensure that our efforts have a lasting impact on West African communities", he galvanizes.

WASCAL(https://wascal.org/fr/) works in the field of climate change, providing tailored solutions to the complex problems posed by climate change. WASCAL operates through three pillars: capacity building, research and the provision of environmental and climate services. WASCAL has twelve member countries in West Africa, and the AICCRA project covers East and West Africa.

For AICCRA West Africa's scientific manager, Dr Alcade Segnon, also from the Bioversity Alliance and CIAT, representing AICCRA's director, the aim of the project is to scale up innovations through a number of approaches, including partnership for implementation. This is the framework for the partnership with WASCAL and RUFORUM, as well as many others.
AICCRA's theory, he sums up, is to bridge the gap between research and the use of research results. The first phase of the project began in 2021 and will run until 2023, with the second phase starting in 2024 and running until 2025.

It is financed by the World Bank's IDA (International Development Association) Fund. "In this additional phase, we will be working with WASCAL so that these modules can be used in the WASCAL network's training orders, to train the new generation of students, so that they will be able to take part in the next phase of the project.generation of students, so that they can have the necessary knowledge of climate change adaptation in the agricultural system. When they graduate, this new generation will be better able to support and serve small-scale producers in building their resilience to climate change", explains Dr Segnon.

To achieve this, AICCRA uses several approaches, including partnerships with centers at regional or continental level. "A simple example: instead of working with the universities in each of the fifteen West African countries, it's rather more interesting to work with WASCAL, which is a regional center that brings together several universities in the region", he illustrates before motivating: "We're really satisfied with the partnership we have with WASCAL and the forum in the first phase. In the additional phase, we have strengthened this partnership with WASCAL, adding a new component which is support for civil society organizations working on climate change issues in West Africa".

AICCRA West Africa's Scientific Manager, Dr Alcade Segnon, explains that, in addition to the formal launch of the additional phase, the aim is also to showcase a number of modules that were developed as part of the initial phase.s in the initial phase, and to explore opportunities for the various universities in the WASCAL network to use these modules to reinforce the work they are already doing through education.

Dr Alcade Segnon pointed out that strengthening the resilience of small-scale producers also involves training a new generation of experts in climate-smart agriculture. He therefore hoped that the workshop would help reinforce and improve the work already being done in the field.
Pr Antoine Sanon, in charge of the Ziniaré university center and a teacher-researcher at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, expressed his interest in the initiative. The Ziniaré university center, he explained, provides training in agricultural fields, and in this context is also called upon to improve and develop its training courses.

"Right now, we're in the process of expanding our range of training courses. As we flesh them out, we are also looking at the constraints facing the agricultural sector in general, and it seems that we have identified the aspects of climate risks as being important, in which we therefore need to train experts. What we expected here this morning is directly in line with this, and we believe that the modules developed by AICCRA and WASCAL can be capitalized on in our training offers", welcomes Pr Antoine Sanon, in charge of the Ziniaré university center.

According to those in charge, to date, the project has reached around seven million small-scale producers (compared with the three million initially planned), thanks to the work of partners and innovations, 160 partners throughout the program across Africa, more than more than 26,000 people trained in national institutions (meteorological departments, hydraulic services, national agricultural research institutes, universities, etc.) and regional institutions..) and regional institutions.

Source: lefaso.net/