Through the support of AICCRA, farmers and livestock keepers will be able to better anticipate climate-related events and take preventative actions, with better access to climate advisories linked to information about effective response measures. This will help communities better safeguard their livelihoods and the environment. 

It is supported by a grant from the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank, and will enhance research and capacity-building activities by the CGIAR and its partners.

From May 17 - 20 AICCRA was launched with a high-level opening event, which was followed by a series of dialogues involving AICCRA's partners. 

Find out more and playback all the events and dialogues below. 

AICCRA Launch

A climate-smart African future driven by science and innovation in agriculture

In this launch event, speakers introduced AICCRA’s objectives, its implementation plan and expected impact of the project, which will run from 2021 to 2023. Find out more about the speakers. 

To close the event, the AICCRA Grant Agreement was virtually signed by Juan Lucas Restrepo (Director General, Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT - CGIAR) and Simeon Ehui (Regional Director for Sustainable Development for Africa, The World Bank).

First AICCRA launch dialogue

Development of climate-informed agricultural advisory services and decision-making tools

This dialogue explored the challenges and opportunities of developing innovative climate-informed agricultural advisory services—and related decision support tools—that can sustain national climate service systems.

It presented public and private sector perspectives, as well as research findings on effective tools and practices that promote effective climate information services (CIS) and climate-smart agricultural technologies.

The session highlighted examples of successful CIS projects from the six AICCRA focus countries—Senegal, Ghana, Mali, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Zambia—and what was learned in their rollout to inform the further implementation of AICCRA.

The dialogue also identified stakeholder needs and priorities as well as tools and technologies to support services, including approaches that effectively link CIS with the implementation of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies along value chains within AICCRA focus countries and across Africa.

Second AICCRA LAUNCH Dialogue

Strengthening partnerships for delivery of climate-smart innovations in agriculture

Developing and deploying solutions driven by science and innovation, tailored for each region and co-developed by public and private sector technology providers as well as end users (including farmers) is arguably the best way to build climate resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa.

So this second dialogue explored the role of partnerships between public bodies, the private sector, NGOs, civil society to effectively deliver climate-smart innovations in agriculture at scale.

Integrated solutions—bringing together technology developers and providers with end users—must be on the scale needed and robust enough to address the interrelated challenges of resilience, adaptation and mitigation. 

Although numerous innovations have been developed, piloted and ready to be deployed to steer African agri-food systems towards a resilient and climate-smart future, significant challenges remain when it comes to delivery, uptake and sustained implementation at scale.

Third AICCRA LAUNCH Dialogue

alidating CSA innovations through piloting

Over the past decade, Agricultural Research for Development (AR4D) has provided a growing body of evidence on how CSA options can bring important benefits for farmers. Successful scaling efforts have been piloted across Africa, underpinned by more CSA investments from both the public and private sectors.

In this third dialogue, successful initiatives were highlighted where relevant, context-specific CSA and CIS packages were promoted through innovative partnerships that included stakeholders drawn from across value chains and the financial sector.

Experts shared inspiring projects that showcased promising pathways and actionable solutions to accelerate a sustainable CSA uptake at scale.