(Left to Right) Jabuvu Nkomo (CCAA), Felix Olorunfemi (ACCFP Fellow), Vincent Ajayi (ACCFP Fellow), Heidi Braun (IDRC), Emmanuel Tachie-Obeng (ACCFP Fellow), Mzime Ndebele Murisa (ACCFP Fellow), David Simon (DFID) and Mayowa Fasona (ACCFP Fellow)
On 11 November 2009, ACCFP Fellows currently working with colleagues at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) attended a one-day roundtable discussion on “Meeting the Climate Change Challenge in South Africa”. The discussion was held at the UCT Breakwater Campus in Cape Town, South Africa and was hosted by the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa (CCAA) program as part of its Annual Board Meeting. CCAA is a joint venture of IDRC Canada and UK DFID.
During the meeting, four fellows currently working with UCT – Felix Olorunfemi, Mayowa Fasona, Vincent Ajayi and Emmanuel Tachie Obeng – and one additional fellow currently matched with colleagues at UKZN, Ms Mzime Ndebele-Murisa, made presentations on their respective fellowship projects. The presentations highlighted the project backgrounds, key findings and progress so far, passion for the projects and expected contributions and linkages with targeted stakeholders/audience.
Roundtable participants were welcomed by Mbareck Diop, Chair of the CCAA Advisory Board; Fatima Denton, CCAA Program Leader; and Jabavu Nkomo, CCAA Senior Program Specialist, who also gave an overview of CCAA capacity building and the ACCFP. In their respective comments, the CCAA officials were united in their opinion that ACCFP is a programme that has, within a very short time, become a pride of CCAA.
All the Fellows and their supervisors present thereafter participated in a panel discussion on integrating climate change adaptation into university research and curriculum in Africa. The discussion, moderated by Dr. Coleen Vogel from the University of Witwatersrand, focussed on three major issues: challenges and opportunities for African researchers to pursue work on adaptation; the role of universities in adaptation research; and the research-policy interface.
A very successful day for the fellows, the event was coordinated by Heidi Braun, IDRC Research Officer – Climate Change Adaptation, was attended by top IDRC, DFID, IPCC and NEPAD officials.
No related posts.
Congratulations colleagues. Where possible, share with the other Fellows your deliberations.
Keep it up.
Thanks to all the ACCFP fellows who were part of the meeting.
I look forward for an opportunity that will bring all the fellows together before the end of fellowship term.
ACCFP Fellows are really creating the awareness and impacts required of them. Thanks to START for the opportunity. Nice to see the passion from ACC Fellows.
It was really great attending the workshop and an eye-opener in the way that CCAA works and the integration of ACCFP. I was also delighted in meeting Emmanuel who was not in Bonn and enjoyed spending time with the ‘Nigerians’; so I concur with Grace, another meeting with all Fellows would be great. Looking forward to other posts and updates as the forum has been very quiet.
Waoh! This is quite impressive. I congratulate all the Fellows, their supervisors and the representatives of IDRC and DFID.
At Egerton University, we are also planning a 4-day International Conference on “Climate Change Adaptation by pastoral communities”, with
support from the CCAA programme too. The event is scheduled for May next year. Detailed information will be available soon.
Hi Everyone! I am pumped to see comments on this blog post. It seems that our friends had a fabulous experience in South Africa. Please don’t hesitate to connect with me about some of your own experiences – I’d love to highlight all sorts of stuff like this on our site. For example – Saidu, I am very aware and very excited of what you’re doing in May! We’ll definitely feature that here – just stay connected with me and give me more info as it becomes available!
Also – just FYI: current thinking with respect to getting everyone together again is leaning towards having a big culminating workshop (maybe in September or October 2010) that will bring together all Fellows, Host and Home Supervisors (with others). There are also plans in the works for a separate mid-year event… stay tuned!!!