How ACToday is building a global community of climate-trained policymakers
Act todayThe Colombian World Project is the first Colombian World Project to end hunger in six countries that are particularly dependent on agriculture and vulnerable to climate change and volatility: Bangladesh, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Senegal and Vietnam.
One of ACTToday’s main goals is to strengthen the capacity of local governments and stakeholders to effectively interpret and use climate data to inform policy and planning. Last year, the project’s six country teams carried out 52 training Serves more than 1,600 government, private sector, and nonprofit professionals, as well as graduate students.
The topics covered in these trainings cover the range of information professionals need to truly understand and integrate climate knowledge into food planning and policy: climate science basics, advanced forecasting methods, using mapping tools for agricultural project piloting and planning, etc. The diagram below provides Snapshots of some of the participants in ACToday-supported training.
The volume and scale of ACToday training is noteworthy – especially given the effort required to develop course materials and teaching modules for online and hybrid environments during the global pandemic. But ACToday’s approach to training deserves special attention.
“We note that all programs eventually come to an end,” said Ashley Curtis, ACTToday’s head of training. “So we’ve structured our training around three principles to ensure we want to have a lasting impact.”
The first principle is to work with academic partners to integrate climate services courses directly into existing postgraduate courses, as ACToday has done at the Independent University of Bangladesh, Cheikh Anta Diop University in Senegal and Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia and three other universities in Ethiopia as done. In this way, the next generation of leaders develops a deep understanding of the link between climate and food security.
ACTToday last year helped train more than 1,600 professionals working at the intersection of climate and food security. Here are the experiences some of them had to share. (Click the image for a larger view.)
The second principle is to develop training curricula to meet the immediate professional needs of policymakers working in climate, agriculture and humanitarian agencies within and outside government. The knowledge these decision makers gain on climate science, forecasting, insurance design and other topics through these courses is quickly incorporated into day-to-day operations.
The third principle is to foster networking and working relationships between key stakeholders and partners to adequately address climate threats to national food systems. These include the National Weather Service, the Department of Agriculture, research and development agencies.
“By the end of ACTToday, we will have trained thousands of teams of professionals working at all levels of government and in all parts of the climate services sector,” Curtis said. “These experts will continue to help ensure their countries have a safe, nutritious and stable food supply, despite what climatic conditions may have.”
