Despite the widely-documented exposure of lives, livelihoods and assets to rising climate risks in the Global South, the integration of information about those risks into long-term planning and decision-making remains limited. A significant issue within the research uptake and knowledge brokering space is identifying and monitoring the effectiveness of specific approaches with particular stakeholder groups. Through the experiences of Future Climate For Africa (FCFA), the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA) programmes, the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA) and session participants, we hope to share lessons from the success and failures of existing efforts to answer the following questions:

• What are we learning about effective approaches to research uptake and knowledge brokering?
• How can uptake and brokering be integrated into the very beginning of projects so that we don’t face the lag effects where impact happens after a project closes?
• What are the opportunities and the limits of focusing on ‘knowledge products’ as a means to achieve impact?
• What are the common strengths across the programmes that need to be taken forward?

The learning session provided an overview of the novel approaches from FCFA, CARIAA and CDKN and engaged with participants during interactive breakout sessions to further interrogate how we can strive towards more effective research uptake and knowledge brokering in the future.

  Watch the recording: If you would like to view a recording of any of the interactive breakout sessions, please email info@futureclimateafrica.org.  

SPEAKERS

• Rosalind West: the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
  • Introduction to the Adaptation Research Alliance (ARA)

Download Rosalind’s presentation

• Georgina Cundill Kemp: International Development Research Centre
  • Perspectives from the Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia (CARIAA)

Download Georgina’s presentation

• Blane Harvey: McGill University
  • Perspectives from the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) programme

Download Blane’s presentation

• Shehnaaz Moosa: SouthSouthNorth
  • Perspectives from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) programme

Download Shehnaaz’s presentation