RCSA: Bringing Climate Services to People Living in Rwanda’s Rural Areas

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Authors

Alison Rose (arose@iri.columbia.edu); James Hansen, International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) and CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS); Desire Kagabo, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)/CCAFS

Aim of the project

The Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture (RCSA) programme seeks to transform Rwanda’s rural farming groups and the economy by improving climate services and agricultural risk management at local and national government levels in the face of a variable and changing climate.

Dates

October 2015–December 2019

Countries

Rwanda

Community members in Kayonza District, Rwanda, discuss the seasonal forecast during a presentation on the Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture Project.

A. Nyandwi/MINAGRI Rwanda, 2017

Aim of co-production

The Rwanda initiative includes four key approaches to co-production: (i) at the level of project design; (ii) at the community level through a structured participatory communication process; (iii) at the national institutional level working with the national meteorological service and agriculture sector agencies; and (iv) embedding an iterative process to collect, aggregate and prioritise farmer feedback into climate service planning. Co-production aimed to improve the suite of climate information products available to the agriculture sector; overcome capacity constraints on both the supply and use of services, and ensure sustainability after the programme ends.

Context

The programme was designed to be implemented at a national scale, and had no pilot phase. This limited opportunity for face-to-face dialogue and co-learning among farming groups and climate information providers. Instead, the project partners acted as an intermediary network to accelerate co-learning, and to build capacity on both sides.

Who was involved and what were their roles?

CCAFS: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security
CIAT: Center for Tropical Agriculture
PICSA: Participatory Integrated Climate Services

The project is led by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS). CCAFS project leaders, based at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) in Rwanda and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society in New York, act as intermediaries among the various national and international partner institutions and facilitate the co-production processes.

CCAFS/CIAT facilitated training for agricultural extension staff and volunteer Farmer Promoters in the Participatory Integrated Climate Services (PICSA) process. In Rwanda, Farmer Promoters are volunteer community members who are trained to be farmer-to-farmer extension agents. The Farmer Promoters, in turn, then train and facillitate farmers to use and understand weather and climate information through the PICSA process.

IRI: International Research Institute for Climate and Society
RAB: Rwanda Agriculture Board

At the provider level, national institutions – Meteo Rwanda and the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) – were engaged with the planning process. They also interact continuously with IRI though knowledge exchange and learning. The project supports Meteo Rwanda to design, deliver and incorporate user feedback into a growing suite of weather and climate information products and services tailored to the needs of agricultural and food security decision-makers. IRI hosted multiple engagements/training workshops with Meteo Rwanda to produce new climate information products used in the PICSA process, and products identified by RAB for government-level agricultural planning.

What was co-produced?

A platform for co-production at the micro scale: The project was successful in helping implement a mechanism (PICSA) to support interaction of farmers and their local advisors at a large scale. Through this process, the project has demonstrated the feasibility of scaling up participatory communication and planning. To date, over 1 600 government staff and volunteer farmer promoters have been trained who have, in turn, trained more than 130 000 farmers in the PICSA process.
A suite of climate information products: Meteo Rwanda now has one of the most advanced suites of online climate information products, tailored to the known needs of farmers and other agricultural decision-makers in Africa.

How was co-production done?

The Rwanda initiative includes several key approaches to co-production. First, the project was designed by an agricultural research-for-development network (CCAFS) that has enough expertise in agricultural development and climate science to span the boundaries between agricultural user needs and Meteo Rwanda. Planning involved several workshops, where team members and local key partners gathered to develop the project’s vision and guiding principles, devise work plans and timelines, and plan monitoring and evaluation activities, among others (Munyangeri et al., 2017).

Benefits of the co-production approach

Co-production has played a role in creating and improving the climate services value chain in Rwanda.
Co-production led to a change in perception in valuing other stakeholder knowledge at institutions. For instance, Meteo Rwanda has learned how to better work with many stakeholders, including farmers.
Knowledge exchange and co-development has influenced IRI’s work on maprooms. For example, it has become clear that offering some aspects of the maprooms in local languages is important for uptake.
Co-production has built IRI’s capacity to tailor maprooms to specific country/project needs.
The confidence and knowledge of Meteo Rwanda has been significantly increased through the co-production approach.
Through partnerships with local NGOs, the PICSA approach is being introduced in the Joint Action Development Forums (JADF) of local district governments. The introduction of PICSA into existing community programs through faith-based organisations such as the Catholic Church is a clear indication of PICSA’s impact and reach.

Lessons to learn from

The need for investment in capacity: For co-production to improve climate services, users must have capacity to effectively articulate demand for improved climate information products and services that may not yet exist, and NMHS must be prepared to change the services they provide in response. Capacity constraints on the demand and the supply sides must be addressed for co-production to be effective.
Iterative co-production process: A typical one-time, survey-based needs assessment is not enough to adequately capture user (farmer) needs. However, an iterative co-production process that captures and aggregates users’ evolving demand as they gain experience has proven to be beneficial.
Process of communication: Climate communication processes, such as PICSA, can provide a platform for interaction between farmers and information providers, giving farmers a voice with the intermediaries who work with them, and supporting their decision-making processes.
Diversity of approaches: Co-production of climate services for farmers at the national scale requires different processes than the face-to-face dialogue that is feasible at a pilot scale. In particular, co-production requires institutions that can legitimately capture, aggregate and prioritise farmers’ needs.
Wide range of stakeholders: Bringing together the national extension service, RAB, Meteo Rwanda, and boundary experts led to significant changes in the products and services that were offered.
The feedback process: Processes are important for bringing out the users’ voice in improved climate services.

References

Clarkson, G. Dorward, P. Kagabo, D.M. and Nsengiyumva, G. (2017). Climate Services for Agriculture in Rwanda: Initial Findings from PICSA Monitoring and Evaluation. CCAFS Info Note. Wageningen, Netherlands: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/89122)
Dinku, T., Thomson, M.C., Cousin, R., Del Corral. J., Ceccato, P., Hansen, J. and Connor, S.J. (2017). ‘Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) for development in Africa’. Climate and Development. 10(7): 664–672. (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/91958).
Dorward, P., Clarkson, G. and Stern, R. (2015). Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA): Field Manual. Reading, UK: Walker Institute, University of Reading. (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/68687)
Hansen, J.W., Baethgen, W., Osgood, D., Ceccato, P. and Ngugi, RK. (2007) ‘Innovations in climate risk management: Protecting and building rural livelihoods in a variable and changing climate’, Journal of Semi-Arid Tropical Agricultural Research 4 (1): 1–38.
Hansen, J. and Kagabo, D.M. (2016). ‘Training on understanding, communicating and using the downscaled seasonal forecast’. CCAFS Workshop Report. Copenhagen, Denmark: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/78452).
Munyangeri, Y.U. and Mungai, C. (2017). ‘Stakeholders’ planning workshop for the Rwanda Climate Services for Agriculture project’. CCAFS Workshop Report. Wageningen, The Netherlands: CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS). (http://hdl.handle.net/10568/81174).