National Learning Alliance prioritizes climate change policy action in Tanzania

A National Learning alliance was created
at the end of last year to facilitate the sharing of information, knowledge, and experiences as well as carrying out joint policy engagement action on climate change particularly in relation to food security in Tanzania. The Alliance has identified key priority areas to focus on and further developed an action plan to help meet its objectives.

The one-day workshop was held on 31 March in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. During the event, various case studies for policy engagement were presented and
discussed including on climate change financing mechanisms, institutional capacity needs and entry points for mainstr­eaming climate change adaptation into development planning, water use efficient technologies and approaches for climate, among others.

The learning alliance is sponsored by the Policy Action for Climate Change
Adaptation (PACCA) project of the Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) of CGIAR and led by IITA. It is being implemented in both Uganda and Tanzania. In Tanzania, the project is coordinated by the Environmental Management Unit (EMU) of the Ministry of Agriculture Food Security and Cooperatives (MAFC) as well as the Vice President’s Office.

The project is being implemented in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Bioversity International, and World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF).

Speaking at the meeting, the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Vice President’s Office, Engr Angeline Madete, said the National Learning Alliance was an important platform to strengthen climatic change policy action in the country from national to local levels especially for developing climate resilient food systems.

She therefore urged all the actors in the Alliance to continue sharing their knowledge and experiences on policy action to support the farming community cope with climate change, to develop a climate change communication strategy as well as guidelines for monitoring and evaluation of initiatives addressing climate change in the country.

Perez Muchunguzi, a multistakeholder specialist with IITA based in Kampala, said the goal of the learning alliance was to bring together all the different climate change actors in the two countries (Uganda and Tanzania) to identify opportunities and policy gaps.

Muchunguzi said the Tanzania learning alliance, at its formation, had settled on four thematic areas to work on based on the major gaps and challenges identified in the country related to climate change and policy action. These are financial resources, capacity building, institutional arrangement and policy issues, and information sharing and knowledge management.

“By the end of the meeting, each of the four groups came up with action plans for policy engagement. They varied from short-term issues such as putting together a climate change adaptation database to developing climate change policy,” he said. “It is important for the groups to prioritize and start with doable actions so the Learning Alliance members can be motivated as we continue learning together.”

He added that one of the targets of the national learning alliance was to set up at least two district learning alliances to get closer to the farmers and to where policy implementation takes place. “This will enhance effective implementation of proposed policies at district level,” said Muchunguzi.

The selected districts for setting up District Learning Alliances are Lushoto and Kilosa in Tanzania.

The meeting was attended by members of the learning alliance drawn from climate change actors from central and local governments, national and international research organizations, civil society including farmers’ organizations, the private sector, and the media.