AKADEMIYA2063 has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) to facilitate collaboration in climate change research, provision of technical support to global and regional climate change initiatives, and the advancement of policy dialogue through stakeholder engagement.
Through this partnership, AKADEMIYA2063 and WASCAL will facilitate scientific exchange among researchers in both organizations, leverage artificial intelligence, remote sensing, and big data technologies for agricultural monitoring and prediction, and conduct joint fundraising for research, capacity building, and outreach activities.
“AKADEMIYA2063 is excited to partner with WASCAL to combine and translate our expertise into capacity building, scientific research, and technical support to contribute to efforts in climate change, mitigation, and adaptation. We are committed to leveraging this new opportunity to promote and deliver evidence-based research to guide climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts of countries in the West African region,” said Dr. Ousmane Badiane, AKADEMIYA2063 Executive Chairperson.
The partnership will equally provide a forum for scientific exchange among AKADEMIYA2063 and WASCAL staff, students of WASCAL’s Graduate Studies Program and member universities, as well as the WASCAL Competence Center scientists.
“This partnership is a testament of WASCAL’s commitment to working with strategic partners such as AKADEMIYA2063 to ensure a successful campaign to combat climate change and improve livelihoods. I am convinced that this partnership will go a long way to enhance a bilateral collaboration to help achieve the UNSDG 13 on climate action through empirical research and capacity building,” said Dr. Moumini Savadogo, the Executive Director of WASCAL.
Other areas of collaboration covered in the agreement include capacity building and short- term training programs on topics of mutual interest for local experts, technical support to climate change initiatives, including the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP) and the African Union’s Green Recovery Action Plan, and developing relevant curricula to help transform higher education systems in West Africa and raise students’ awareness of climate related issues.
About AKADEMIYA2063
Established in 2020, AKADEMIYA2063 is an Africa-based non-profit research organization with headquarters in Kigali, Rwanda and a regional office in Dakar, Senegal. Inspired by the ambitions of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and grounded in the recognition of the central importance of strong knowledge and evidence-based systems, the vision of AKADEMIYA2063 is an Africa with the expertise we need for the Africa we want. This expertise must be responsive to the continent’s needs for data and analysis to ensure high- quality policy design and execution. Inclusive, evidence-informed policymaking is key to meeting the continent’s development aspirations, creating wealth, and changing livelihoods for the better.
AKADEMIYA2063’s overall mission is to create, across Africa and led from its headquarters in Rwanda, state-of-the-art technical capacities to support the efforts by the Member States of the African Union to achieve the key goals of Agenda 2063 of transforming national economies to boost economic growth and prosperity.
Following from its vision and mission, the main goal of AKADEMIYA2063 is to help meet Africa’s needs at the continental, regional and national levels in terms of data, analytics, and mutual learning for the effective implementation of Agenda 2063 and the realization of its outcomes by a critical mass of countries.
AKADEMIYA2063 strives to meet its goals through programs organized under five strategic areas—policy innovation, knowledge systems, capacity creation and deployment, operational support and data management, digital products and technology—as well as innovative partnerships and outreach activities. For more information, visit www.akademiya2063.org.
About WASCAL
WASCAL is a large-scale research-focused Climate Service Centre designed to help tackle this challenge 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. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), WASCAL is implemented in a collaborative effort by West African and German partners, with the vision to become one of Africa’s leading science-based institutions in the provision of climate services in and for West Africa. WASCAL is dedicated to providing information and knowledge at the local, national, and regional levels to its West African member countries to cope with the adverse impacts of climate change and devise integrated mid and long-term options to build up resilient and productive socio-ecological landscapes. We do this through capacity building and environmental services in West Africa.
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Media Inquiries
Dr. Layih Butake
Director, Communication and Outreach, AKADEMIYA2063
Lbutake@akademiya2063.org
Nii Commey
Manager, Public Relations, WASCAL
commey.n@wascal.org