Lessons learned from the CIRDA Programme

Climate change is causing major impacts in many African countries, disproportionately affecting the poorest and most vulnerable populations. One essential requirement for adapting effectively to a changing climate is access to reliable, credible weather and climate information on which to base decisions. 

Unfortunately, as evidenced by the large number of “non-reporting” weather stations and the absence of effective forecasts and warnings of hazardous weather events in many Sub-Saharan countries, weather and climate information systems in this region are currently of poor quality. While there have been many efforts to improve observations and forecasting of weather and climate in this region, few have had much success or long-lasting impact.

Recognizing the need to improve critical environmental monitoring and forecasting systems, several Sub-Saharan countries sought assistance from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF). In response in 2013, the  GEF approved support for projects in 11 African least developed countries (LDCs). Similarly, and responding to requests and the lessons from past failures, the 11 partner countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Liberia, Malawi, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, The Gambia, Uganda, and Zambia developed a new vision for weather and climate information services in collaboration with UNDP that resulted the Programme for Climate Information for Resilient Development in Africa (CIRDA). 

This program included several unique features, these included: 

• Utilizing an end-to-end systems engineering approach; 
• Encouraging use of innovative, less expensive fully integrated monitoring and forecasting equipment; 
• Basing communication systems for data collection and dissemination of information products on the cell network; 
• Establishing long-term agreements for procurement of integrated packages of hardware, software, installation services, and training; 
• Creating a multidisciplinary support team to work with and across countries, aid in procurement actions, and facilitate learning and information sharing; 
• Fostering collaboration with private providers of weather equipment, services, and communication; and 
• Supporting outreach to businesses in need of tailored weather and climate information services to help define needed system improvements and potentially to become sources of revenue for improving the sustainability of public weather services.  

The implementation of CIRDA with its innovative features over a four-year period produced some notable successes and identified many challenges to improving weather and climate information services in LDCs. The lessons learned in the CIRDA Programme are now being reflected in the design of more recent projects and the consideration of new policies by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and other international organizations.  

While the CIRDA Programme, officially concluded in December of 2019 the project developed various communications and information products to guide a new generation of climate information projects for adaptation. Resources include the report A New Vision for Weather and Climate Services in Africa, a continental-scale market assessment on the potential for climate information services in Africa, a communications toolkit for communicating early warning systems and most recently the project has produced a terminal evaluation report with the aim of generating best practices and lessons learned when looking to replicate a similar approach to vulnerable countries in enhancing their climate information services. 

Among the conclusions of the evaluation report includes an acknowledgment of the success of the Programmer to deliver considerable results by the end of its implementation, including its capacity to enhance national efforts in monitoring and forecasting extreme weather and identifying effective communication channels through potential partnerships. The evaluation also recognized the Program's success in facilitating the efficient and effective use of hydro-meteorological information for generating early warning and long term development plans, as reflected in national score cards and in the commissioned market assessment. A key achievement identified through the project is the support provided by programme specialist to identify capacity gaps in national partners and mobilizing support to address these including in helping guide appropriate exit strategies to ensure long term sustainability.

The evaluation also recommended as a lessons learned from the project an improved focus on baseline analysis as well as risk monitoring to allow for an enhanced systematization of impact. The project, if replicated should consider an enhanced monitoring framework to allow for a better documentation of project results. 

Applying Lessons from Early Warning Systems in the Philippines to Africa – Part II

Representatives from UNDP-supported Climate Information and Early Warning Systems Projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia recently toured meteorological facilities in the Philippines on a cross-continental mission to explore 'New Opportunities for the Deployment of Modern Climate and Weather Information Systems.' In this blog, Pascal Onegiu Okello looks at how takeaways from the South-South learning mission can be applied in Africa.

By Pascal Onegiu Okello

How do we take the lessons learned from the Philippines and apply them to the unique context of Africa? While the methods, technologies and applications being used in the Philippines offer a wonderful glimpse at how we can create a substantial grid of low-cost, easy-to-maintain Automatic Weather Stations, these lessons need to be adapted and molded to fit the specific social, political and economic challenges of Africa today.  

In my home country Uganda for instance, there are a number of challenges relating to sustainable deployment, maintenance and operation of hydro-meteorological monitoring stations. Not only are we vulnerable to changes in climate – the economic impact of climate hazards on the agricultural sector alone is estimated to be in excess of $46.9 million – but we also have low coverage of electrical grid power and high energy costs, infrastructure deficiencies, and numerous border areas that require increased regional cooperation and data sharing. While these challenges present real obstacles in the efforts to deploy weather and climate monitoring systems – and reach end users with actionable early warning information that can save lives, improve productivity and foster greater resilience – firm steps are being taken to move forward and address these needs. The example from the Philippines gives us some good footing to commence this work towards innovation and improving the situation.

Like the Philippines, the Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) is looking to pilot and scale up outreach initiatives that will provide weather updates to citizens in collaboration with Mobile Telecommunications Companies, and there is a pilot programme in place to share weather alerts via SMS message. While this new pilot takes an important step in bringing information to end-users, we also need to have the hardware in place to ensure quality data, ongoing power, security and communications for remote Automatic Weather Stations.

Through the Climate Information and Early Warning Systems Project, Uganda is in the process of acquiring the equipment to beef up our weather monitoring and forecasting systems. Some of these systems will be installed as early as December of this year starting with the Automatic Message Switching System (AMSS), to ensure data is processed quickly and effectively. A more substantial integrated system will allow for better data, enable us to build trust and provide effective weather alerts, like flood warnings, and support increased political trust within the nation. Building the capacity to share these warnings and package information to meet user needs will be a challenge as we move from procurement and installation of new equipment to a second stage that looks at applying data in the field. 

Regional Cooperation

Sharing data across regions is a unique challenge facing many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. While the Philippines needed to adapt its weather and climate monitoring system to island life, Africa needs to adapt its practices to share data across borders. A new pilot project was launched in 2014 to try to tackle the unique challenges of creating a smart weather network for the region. The “Pilot Project on Severe Weather Now-casting Based on Total Lightning Detection in Lake Victoria Region” brought together a diverse group of actors from both the public and private sector, with the East African Community (EAC) playing a vital role in initiating the project, building political will across the four countries, and finally, ensuring that the project design included both technical and knowledge transfer. The main actors include technicians and trainers from the private weather company Earth Networks; community outreach and technical experts from a regional non-profit, the African Centers for Lightning and Electromagnetics (ACLE); and public-sector leaders from the four NMHS. More information on this project and other initiatives will be shared in an upcoming UNDP publication on “Building Resilience to Climate Change through Public Private Partnerships and Advanced Weather Systems.”

Other Takeaways

Other actionable takeaways from the Philippines experience include the following.

·      The credibility and demand for meteorological services – both in the public and private sectors – is dependent upon the accuracy of weather data.

·      In order to increase the density of local weather monitoring networks, the NMHS should consider cost-effective alternatives like AWS, provided there is a sufficient support system and capacity to maintain and monitor their functionality.

·      It is possible to improve resource mobilization through corporate social responsibility. There is a market for high-quality data across a variety of sectors.

·      To avoid the risk of data loss, NMHS should consider integrating cloud-based technology into their ongoing digitization efforts.

·      A pragmatic approach to product marketing is critical for sustaining the image of weather service providers.

·      We should look to local talent to develop cost-effective data loggers. In Uganda for example, such an initiative between UNMA and a local University is being piloted through a Meteorological Information Technology Project (WIMEA).

·      Increased fidelity of data can help ensure investment in the weather and climate sub-sector. This can be achieved through inclusion in the budget at the national and sub-national levels, as well as in district development plans.

·      The issue of vandalism of weather equipment in the field can be mitigated through public private partnerships. Options here include hosting AWSs on telecommunications towers or outsourcing the maintenance function.

·      Young people embrace change. By increasing awareness of weather and climate issues through school education programmes, we hope to build trust, educate rural people of the importance of early warnings systems, and bridge the gap to bring the data created by new local monitoring systems to end-users.

Pascal Onegiu Okello is the Project Manager of the UNDP-GEF project on Strenghtening Climate Information and Early Warning (SCIEWS) in Uganda. He previously worked with Disaster Risk Reduction portfolio in the UNISDR-Uganda, Livelihood recovery project and UN peace keeping operations in East Timor, as well as various projects in the NGO and the Public Sector.

South-South Knowledge Sharing Mission Ignites New Opportunities for the Deployment of Modern Climate and Weather Information Systems

The Weather Philippines Foundation and MeteoGroup Share Lessons on the Deployment of Automatic Weather Stations with Representatives from Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia

By John T. Snow

Finding solutions to Africa’s persistent weather and climate information challenges is a tough job. It will require new technology, new approaches and new ways of thinking. Shifting the way we think is never easy. But solutions are out there. One just has to look for them.

In the Philippines, for instance, a new network of nearly 1,000 Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) – installed and maintained through innovative public-private partnerships – is looking to provide the 100 million people of this island nation with free, accurate and localized weather information that can be used to save lives, build resilience and improve livelihoods.

In order to learn from the experience of the Philippines and apply lessons learned to the unique political, cultural, economic and social context of sub-Saharan Africa, representatives from UNDP-supported Climate Information and Early Warning Systems Projects in Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia recently toured meteorological facilities in the Philippines on a cross-continental mission to see first-hand how such an extensive weather and climate observing network can be deployed.

How Does It Work?

The 7,100-plus islands of the Philippines lie in the Pacific Typhoon Belt, meaning plenty of bad weather comes this way. And a decade or more of strained budgets and severe storms has left the Philippines without many of the modern weather observing or localized weather forecasting systems one might find in other developing countries.

AWS deployed.

To partially meet the need for better weather observations and localized forecasting across the archipelago, AboitizPower – a major energy supplier in the Philippines – in partnership with UnionBank, established the non-profit Weather Philippines Foundation (WPF) in 2012. The WPF in turn engaged with MeteoGroup Philippines to build a robust, low-cost system of Automatic Weather Stations. The cost is about $2500 per site, and to date, about 1,000 units have been deployed across the nation. The resulting data streams, together with numerical model output and satellite imagery, drive a local forecast system.

The WPF has also developed a strong public outreach program to assist the population of the Philippines in becoming “weather-wiser,” that is, knowing what weather information will be made available from the WPF, understanding how such information can be used in a variety of situations, and then applying that information properly, especially in times of severe weather. There’s an app, a webpage, dedicated TV channel, and of course Facebook and Twitter pages. The real star are the localized, and quite accurate, five-day forecasts and automated current weather feeds that update every ten minutes from the system of AWS monitoring stations.

Working under a Weather As A Service Model (WAAS to use yet another acronym), this partnership effectively uses new technology, localized maintenance to ensure power and security, and cell communication to bring weather information to end users. Through effective outreach, it has encouraged use of weather and climate information in decision making at the lowest levels in communities. In short, it’s a localized observing and forecasting system that meets local needs.

Storm tracks provided through the cloud.

Lessons Learned from the Mission

·      The Philippines technological offering is sufficient to provide highly localized weather observations, forecasts of future weather, and early warnings of severe weather. This information allows individuals to make better, more informed decisions during life-threatening weather events.

·      Successful installation of a national system like the one in the Philippines requires careful end-to-end planning and tightly monitored execution. Key steps include sensor selection, establishing links with telecommunications providers, effective delivery systems to share actionable alerts with end users, and smart information sharing partnerships that allow joint ownership of the data created through the network.

·      It is possible to install an extensive local observing network using high-quality equipment at a relatively modest cost. There’s a real opportunity to benefit from economies of scale. Local fabrication of components, in-house assembly of the stations from components, and the use of labor from the receiving communities (with some training) to install and maintain them further reduces cost – at the same time building local ownership and pride in the new station.

·      Establishing strong partnerships with communities, public-sector agencies at all levels, private-sector players and umbrella organizations to facilitate the operation and maintenance of the stations is key. These partnerships are useful to create advocacy support, reduce installation and maintenance costs, increase access, and benefit from the strengths of various partners.

·      Effective outreach to the diverse user communities is essential for political and financial support and to reach those most affected by high-impact weather.

You can learn more about the WPF approach in the upcoming UNDP publication, “A New Vision: Building resiliency to climate change through public-private partnerships and advanced weather systems in Africa,” scheduled for release in early 2016. Stay tuned for more details on applying lessons learned to the unique context of Africa.

Hot Links

Report on SCIEWS Projects’ Team Exposure Visit to the Philippines

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Further Coordination between Climate Information Projects in Africa



UN intergovernmental agencies, development banks, and Met services gathered in Nairobi to take part in the “Roundtable on strengthening development of weather, climate and hydrology related early warning systems in Africa.” The discussions at the event centered on ensuring that the various activities centered on enhancing climate information systems in Africa are complimentary and that early warning systems (EWS) investments are coordinated and build on each other.

Programme Manager, Bonizella Biagini, presented the collaborative approach of the multi-country UNDP project “Climate Information for Resilient Development and Adaptation to Climate Change (CIRDA),” while highlighting its role on facilitating access to reliable data and technology transfer; data interpretation and processing; identification of end users; integration of data into adaptation planning and actions.  A key innovative aspect of the CIRDA approach will be helping countries to identify climate information end users and working with the private sector to facilitate data access.

Through its presentation, UNESCO highlighted its use of crowdsourcing in Mathare slums (Nairobi) to collect data, underscoring that social media has become a trusted source of information for many people. Furthermore, WMO showcased its experience in implementing tools such as mobile weather alerts in Lake Victoria. The role of communications between information providers and users was underscored by the BBC, stressing that language needs to be adapted to the target audience. As a result of the roundtable, opportunities for engaging in cooperating with other agencies and met services such as Kenya Met through South-South cooperation will be forthcoming.