2018-05-30 – 16:29h to 2018-07-01 – 16:29h

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The 2018 WASCAL Alumni Home-Coming is slated for August 15-16, 2018.

Fifty(50) alumni are expected to participate in the two days conference in Accra to reflect on “Climate Change Adaptation in West Africa: The Footprint of WASCAL”.

selected current students within the WASCAL programme are also expected to participate in the event.

Among the activities expected to take place include”Paper presentations on Climate Change thematic areas and Entrepreneurship as well as soft skills development on proposal writing and cross country thematic workshops.”

Further details will be communicated soon.

Interested persons should send their letter of expression of interest and current curriculum vitae by email on or before July 1, 2018 to:

Director of Capacity Building,

West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use,

Accra Office,

CSIR Office Complex, 6 Agostino Neto Road,

Airport Residential Area,

Accra, Ghana.

Email: capacitybp@wascal.org; adelegan.j@wascal.org,

Copy: weto.s@wascal.org; odame.g@wascal.org

2018-05-30 – 12:35h to 2018-07-01 – 12:35h

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West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is a large-scale research-focused Climate Service Center designed to help tackle severe challenges posed by climate change and thereby enhance the resilience of human and environmental systems to climate change and increased variability. It does so by strengthening the research infrastructure and capacity in West Africa related to climate change and by pooling the expertise of ten West African countries and Germany. The WASCAL Capacity Building Program through the Graduate studies program handle helps educate the next generation of scientists attain an intimate knowledge of different climate related issues in order to help the region develop suitable management strategies.

Moreover, 258 students have been admitted into the 10 WASCAL graduate schools. WASCAL graduate schools have conferred in total 196 postgraduate degrees. An alumni email group and facebook page for friends of WASCAL already exist.

WASCAL’s alumni are engaged in research institutions and academia, climate service organizations and non-governmental organizations. More than half of the alumni are in research organizations and academia with long term positive externalities and multiplier effects in producing more climate scientists.

WASCAL offers an internship program for alumni in relevant government ministries. For 10 of the doctoral awardees, WASCAL can provide support for 3 months internship with the relevant ministries and government departments. This will help to integrate the earlier career scientists into understanding the peculiar climate change challenges confronting the countries and enable them to provide solution to their countries.

Alumni interns will spend 2-3 months with the relevant ministries and government departments in their countries. During this time they support the relevant government ministries or department in their field of expertise especially putting into practice their research findings on climate change adaptation in the climate change thematic areas in their countries. At the end of the internship, alumni interns are expected to provide a field report of the internship, while their supervisors in the relevant government ministries will provide a letter detailing the accomplishments of the interns while working with the government ministries or departments for the 2-3 months internship.

Selection Criteria

Applicants should meet the following requirements:

i) Hold a PhD degree from any of the WASCAL Doctoral research program (DRP)

ii) Have one publications in a refereed journal.

Applicants whose research findings overlaps with the national development plan of the host country and government ministry or department and relates to any aspect of Climate Change adaptation and mitigation issues in West Africa are preferable

Application Procedure

Applications should include the following:

i) A letter stating what the alumni wishes to do while in the relevant government ministries or department and how the relevant ministries will benefit from the internship;

ii) An invitation letter from the relevant government ministries or department offering to host the alumni for 2 -3 months.

iii) The curriculum vitae of the alumni and .

iv) A copy of the publication of the alumnus and how it relates to the relevant the relevant government ministries or department.

Financial Assistance

Alumni will be provided with a desk and computer by the relevant government ministries or department. A modest stipend of 500 euro per month will be provided by WASCAL to cover the cost of living during the internship.

Closing Date for Applications: 1st July 2018.

Selected applicants will be informed by email of the final decision within four weeks of the closing deadline. The selected applicants must confirm their decision to take up WASCAL’s offer two weeks after being contacted.

All applications should be sent by email addressed to:

Director of Capacity Building,

West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use,

Accra Office,

CSIR Office Complex, 6 Agostino Neto Road,

Airport Residential Area,

Accra, Ghana.

Email: capacitybp@wascal.org; adelegan.j@wascal.org,

Copy: weto.s@wascal.org; odame.g@wascal.org

2018-05-14 – 22:00h to 2018-05-26 – 17:20h

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1. The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is an inter- governmental organization dealing with training, capacity building and research to devise tools and services that will help reduce risks from natural disasters (e.g. droughts, floods) and strengthen the resilience of socio-ecological landscapes across West Africa. To fulfil its mission, WASCAL has (i) established a strong network of Graduate School Programs (GSP) in 10 ECOWAS member states (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo) in collaboration with their public universities; (ii) rolled out a first-class research program from 2013 to 2017 which established field laboratories, on-site ecological and agronomic field experiments and hydro-meteorological stations for standard climate measurements in the Sudanian savanna belt (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana).

The outputs of these initiatives were expected to provide insights into social and environmental drivers of climate change and climate variability (CC&CV) along with pathways to strengthening the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers and improve their livelihoods. Recently, WASCAL has re-focused its research program to make it more development- and impact-oriented by addressing the main challenges faced by policy-makers, stakeholders, smallholders (end-users) in connection with CC&CV and generate quick wins in terms of climate and environmental services provision within the next few years.

In order to transition towards the new strategic plan, a scientific gathering seems necessary to take stock of the achievements and interact with key stakeholders prior to deploying the new program. Therefore, the WASCAL Science Symposium (WASS) aims to showcase WASCAL achievements and launch the new research program termed as WASCAL Research Action Plan 2018-2021.

2. Expected outputs
The expected outputs of the symposium include the following:
• A catalogue of the major achievements of WASCAL and their contribution to delivering climate and environmental services (CES)
• A report on the state-of-the art of CES implemented in West Africa to combat the devastating impacts of CC&CV
• Official launch of WASCAL Research and Action Plan (WRAP) 2.0 call for proposals
• Reinforcement of WASCAL ties with policy makers, ECOWAS, Africa Union and other key stakeholders active in Climate Service domain.

3.Target audience
• West African doctoral and postdoctoral researchers with less than 10 years’ experience
• Scientists and stakeholders working in any area of climate change and climate service provision
•Policy makers
• Donors
• Civil society.

4. Call for abstracts
Potential participants are encouraged to submit abstracts for consideration. They will have the opportunity to present results of their research activities in an oral or poster session. Twenty-five (25) participants will be chosen for oral presentations (20 min + discussion) while the others will participate in the poster session.

• Deadline: Abstracts may be submitted until May 26, 2018 and must include (in English):
– a letter of motivation (max. 300 words, Microsoft word format)
– abstract of presentation (max 500 words, Microsoft word format), including preference for oral or poster session
• Applicants will be informed about the acceptance or rejection of their abstract by May 31st.
Complete applications may be submitted to the following addresses: forkuor.g@wascal.org;

neya.o@wascal.org.

5. Symposium programme in a nutshell
Tuesday, 19/06 Wednesday, 20/06 Thursday, 21/06
High Profille Forum Oral and poster session Plenary session on climate services
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Opening Session Opening ceremony Recap of day 2
Plenary session 1 Parallel session 1 Plenary session 1
Plenary session 2 Parallel session 2 Plenary session 2
Plenary session 3 Parallel session 3 Plenary session 3
Plenary session 4 Parallel session 4 Plenary session 4
Plenary session 5 Poster session Plenary session 5

6. Symposium details
High Profile Forum: “Achieving sustainable development under a changing and variable climate in West Africa”

• Climate Change and its potential impact on key developement sectors of West Africa
• Climate Change as a threat to the development of West African States
• Climate Change and food security in West Africa: demand for integrated Climate Services
• Impacts of climate change on cocoa production in Ghana: mitigating adverse effects through agroforestry-based options
• Mainstreaming climate services into African Union development plan through effective science-policy dialogue

Parallel poster and oral sessions
• Theme 1: Agriculture and Food security
• Theme 2: Climate Monitoring and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Theme 3: Water Resources Management
• Theme 4: Renewable Energy
• Theme 5: Resilient Socio-Ecological Landscapes

Plenary sessions on WASCAL
• WASCAL in a nutshell
• Achievements of the Capacity Building Program
• Achievements of the first research Program
• The new Resarch Program: WASCAL Reaecrh and Action Plan 2018-2021 (WRAP 2.0)

Plenary sessions on climate services

• Delivering on Climate Services‘ promises in West Africa: what is the current situation?
• Effectiveness of Climate Smart Agriculture in improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers
• Pathways towards setting up tailored-climate service delivery systems in West Africa
• Strategies to scale up demand-driven climate services in West Africa
• West Africa under the global warming scenario: what solutions from the Paris Agreement?