Building Knowledge to Support Climate Change Adaptation for Pastoralist Communities in East Africa (2015 – 2017)

This is a three- year project funded by the Open Society for Eastern Africa (OSIEA) that targets the Arid and Semi-Arid areas of 5 OSIEA countries which include Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The project aims to build the capacity of pastoral communities in order to enhance their resilience to climate change impacts particularly, in addressing food security challenges. The project plans to achieve this through capacity building and research.

Through CCCS, the project will offer a MSc. in Climate Change and Sustainable Development (MSc.CC & SD) program with a bias in Pastoralism and Climate Change and short courses on Climate Change, Pastoralism and Food Systems. Scholarships will be offered to 10 candidates/ students- 2 from each of the OSIEA countries to pursue the Master’s program by coursework and 10 candidates/ students per OSIEA country in a year to attend the short course program. 

The project will also carry out international collaborative research on pastoralism and climate change. The research will focus on three thematic areas: Political-economy of pastoral systems; Vulnerability and Responses to climate change impacts on pastoralism; and Pastoral Knowledge Systems and Institutions in a changing climate. The research will be shared through various platforms including dialogues, workshops, seminars and training to ensure that it reaches the key policy and decision makers.