Institutional Mapping for Climate Change Adaptation in Eastern Africa. Final Report
Abstract
This study was commissioned by the CCAA Secretariat to map out institutions working on environmental management in general and climate change in particular, in Eastern Africa. The main activities included literature reviews and web searches, country visits to selected institutions, and focused consultations with experts. Building upon the organizational capacity assessment for African research institutions by Nyong, the following outcomes have resulted from the study:
a.) A scoping of the institutions engaged in environmental research within CCAA's mandate areas. A key result has been the identification of opportunities for potential collaborative ties with other relevant institutions, programmes and initiatives that have on board an environmental mandate within the context of CCAA mandate areas. These include local and international Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), private sector, governmental organizations etc.
b.) Elucidation of the workings and interactions among a wide range of institutions in the sub-region in the pursuit for adaptation solutions. There are five classes of research institutions active in the sub-region. There are also non-research development agencies that have been found to be a potentially important partner in linking end-users to researchers.
c.) International research institutes have been found to be superior in climate change related research and present numerous opportunities for collaboration with the much weaker local institutions for capacity building and knowledge exchange. An analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of these institutions was also done.
d.) Key gaps in the research process—from research planning activities, implementation strategies, output communication, evaluation and feedback—have been identified. These have also been prioritized as per the class of institution and urgency for resolution. Similarly, a range of opportunities has been identified which weaker institutions may harness for capacity strengthening in various aspects through innovative partnerships.
e.) Using planning, implementation, communication and partnership/network coordination as key indicators, a scoring system on weak and strong institutions and their research capacity for climate change adaptation has been developed and used.
f.) The report has also proposed a strategy for the identification of regional institutions for the gradual devolution of programme leadership in the sub-region. It has similarly proposed strategies - mainly promotion and strengthening of strategic partnerships among research institutions and other potential partners with a view to delivering on CCAA's four outcome areas.
Citation
Industrial Ecology Institute, Nairobi, Kenya, 68 pp.
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