Presentation by Dr. Arame Tall of ICRISAT at a CCAFS training for climate services communications intermediaries, Same, Tanzania, September 2013.

1. Communicating Climate Information Services at
Scale: The Key Role of Intermediaries
Good Practices from Africa & South Asia
Dr. Arame Tall
Climate Services- Scientist, Champion
a.tall@cgiar.org
-

2. 2 • 3/21/11
What do we mean by
Climate Services for Farmers?
Climate
information
services can build
resilience by
empowering
farmers to
anticipate and
manage climate-
related hazards

3. 3 • 3/21/11
Why Farmers are Not Getting
Relevant Climate Services
We need to work together
to overcome these
tenacious challenges to
Climate Service delivery for
Farmers
Limited
Dialogue with
End Users to
identify Needs,
build Trust
Poor
Observation
network /
Limited capacity
of NHMS to
address needs
Inappropriate
Communication
to Get the
Message out to
farmers
Limited capacity of
end-users to act of
received forecasts–
Integration of CS
into development
support programs
Credit: ArameTall,
CCAFS

4. 4 • 3/21/11
PRIORITY #1:
ALL OF YOU HAVE A ROLE TO
PLAY
IN LINKING KNOWLEDGE WITH
ACTION

5. 5 • 3/21/11 The National Chain of
Climate Services
Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA)
Production of downscaled hydro-
meteorological forecasts
NARES (Partners)
Packaging of climate information > From
Climate Information to a Climate Service
Production of Agro-Met Advisory
Communicators & Boundary Organizations:
- Media – Extension Services – NGOs – CBOs -
Other community relays
Widespread 2-way Communication of
climate information and advisory services
National level End-users
(rural development planners, policy makers, seed
distributors, fertilizer industry, private sector)
Final End-users
(farmers, pastoralists, communities at risk)
Credit: ArameTall, CCAFS
Fig. 1: Multiple levels in
the Chain of Climate
Service Production,
Tailoring and
Communication

6. 6 • 3/21/11
6
Promoting a coordinated
Framework for Climate
Service Delivery
Global
Regional
National
Fig. 2:
A Best practice
model of the Cycle
of Climate Service
Production
Focus on
Equity

7. 7 • 3/21/11
PRIORITY #2:
FROM DISSEMINATION
TO
2-WAY COMMUNICATION

8. 8 • 3/21/11
• Salient communication
channels identified to reach
most vulnerable:
 SMS in local language
 Forecast bulletin boards in
strategic outposts across village
 At village mosque
 At water boreholes (women)
 Rural radio, media professionals
 Community relays/boundary
organizations (NGOs, CBOs)
Communicating to
Reach ‘the last mile’
Credit: Francesco
Fiondella, IRI
Credit: Arame Tall, CCAFS

9. 9 • 3/21/11
PRIORITY #3:
BE A PROFESSIONAL LISTENER,
START WITH FARMER
INFORMATION NEEDS

10. 10 • 3/21/11
• Open Spaces for iterative
dialogue to develop useful
products for farmers
• PAR > Key to engage
communities, identify farmer
information gaps, adaptation
needs, capture local innovation
Co-production of Climate
services
• Preliminary Results of Kaffrine
climate services project
– Increase in access, from handful in
2011 to 100% by 2012
– Demonstrated Usefulness of
climate information, for all products
across timescales
– Added value to traditional forecasts
Giving Famers a Voice
In Design of Climate Service

11. 11 • 3/21/11
• Identify specific climate
service needs of women and
other underserved groups
• Place specificity of farmers’
needs
• Different Cultural norms and
socialization from village to
village
Climate Service Needs of women farmers
in Fass (Left) different from those in Dioly
Right). Credit: Tall, CCAFS
Focus on the Most Vulnerable:
Equity Considerations

12. 12 • 3/21/11
PRIORITY #4:
STRENTHENING FARMERS’
ABILITY TO USE
CLIMATE SERVICES

13. 13 • 3/21/11
Credit: Mariane Diop-
Kane, ANACIM
The shorter the
time range,
the more
accurate the
forecast
Credit: Red
Cross/PetLab
Bringing together forecasters and farmers to put climate forecasts
at the service of communities at risk from climate-related risks
Fass
Djoly
Malem
Innovative tools to Communicate
forecasting uncertainty
- Didactic Games

14. 14 • 3/21/11
Communicating Downscaled
Seasonal forecasts to farmers
> The PDF
Farmers discussing what 1mm
of rain means…
Credit: Dr. Ousmane Ndiaye, ANACIMCredit: J. Hansen, CCAFS
Ousmane Ndiaye, ANACIM

15. 15 • 3/21/11
Credit: J. Hansen, IRI/CCAFS
KPC Rao, ICRISAT
….To Wote, Eastern Kenya:
Research in Development

16. 16 • 3/21/11
• Suite of Seemless forecasting
products
– Seasonal
– Dekadal
– 72h
– 48h
– 3h- nowcasting
Communicate Evolving
Probabilities: Putting Farmers
in Charge
HOURS DAYS WEEKS MONTHS YEARS
DECADES …
WEATHER CLIMATE
• Tailored to User needs
 Content: hazards, scales
 Timing: Alarm threshold
 Message format
& language
Confirmation of risks as season unfolds
Key to empower farmers to manage
uncertainties inherent in climate forecasting

17. 17 • 3/21/11
• Examples surveyed by CCAFS prove
that it is today Mission Possible to reach
millions of farmers with salient and
downscaled climate information and
advisory services relevant to support
their decision-making under an
uncertain climate.
• It is time to Scale Up this approach for
many other farmers to have access and
benefit from available climate
information and advisory services.
• Intermediaries Play a Key Role in this
Agenda.
Photo: Farmer in Ouelessebougou village, happy
beneficiary of Mali’s 30year old Agromet advisory
program. Credit: A. Tall, CCAFS
For more information, contact:
Arame Tall, a.tall@cgiar.org
Reaching Farmers with
Climate Services at Scale
> Mission Possible