Paper short abstract:

NGOs across Africa and Asia are increasingly acting as brokers, and sometimes producers, of climate information as part of their "resilience building" efforts. We examine how NGOs are engaging with the wider climate services system and the opportunities and risks that this new role presents.

Paper long abstract:

The rise of the 'resilience' agenda in the context of climate and development has led to a push for more integrated approaches to planning for and responding to climate change, Disaster Risk Management, and broader development challenges. Included in this move, is an increased emphasis on the use of climate and weather information across a range of scales, including within impacted communities. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) across Africa and Asia have responded accordingly, and are increasingly acting as brokers, and sometimes producers, of climate information services as part of their "resilience building" programmes (Jones, Harvey & Godfrey-Wood, 2016). While this is promising in theory, it raises important questions about the longer-term implications of these trends: Are NGOs adequately equipped to perform these functions effectively? Is their presence enhancing or competing with the roles traditionally played by national meteorological services? And what impacts, if any, are being perceived at community-level as a result?

This session will present findings reporting on these questions from participatory research undertaken in Ethiopia and Burkina Faso, as well as a review of wider trends. It will conclude with recommendations for national meteorological services, NGOs, and funding agencies on how to best harness these brokering and intermediary roles in strengthening climate resilience, and what the implications of this approach might be for the most vulnerable.