START is managing three grants aimed at developing a city-region knowledge base and a practitioner network to support co-production of climate risk narratives in Africa. The Chinhoyi University of Technology (Zimbabwe), the  Polytechnic, University of Malawi and the University of Botswana received the grants as part of the Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands (FRACTAL) project.

In October 2017, representatives from the three institutions took part in a workshop in Cape Town where they learned how narratives can be used to communicate climate change information to decision makers in an accessible and actionable way. They also learned about the role played by perceptions and values in climate change communication.

Participants discussed the development of a survey to identify the factors that influence the interpretation of climate risk narratives. After collecting and analyzing the survey data, representatives from the three institutions will gather for a second workshop to compare and discuss findings, refine narratives and develop recommendations for future narrative work.