Training and Capacity Building

Training, capacity building and knowledge-sharing are central components of the AFRICAP programme, ensuring our impact extends beyond the lifetime of our grant. Through training programmes and research and innovation (R&I) development, this theme is designed to help our partners adapt their structure and support systems in order to effectively attract and manage global challenge projects like ours. The University of Leeds has invested £100K of pump priming within GCRF-AFRICAP to aid this process.

Capacity-strengthening

AFRICAP is providing opportunities across the programme consortium to improve individual, organisational and institutional capacity in agri-food system resilience.

Individual

  • Two-year Cheney fellowship awarded to the programme manager at lead partner FANRPAN
  • A joint fellowship programme in policy leadership hosted at Chatham House for team members from Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia

Organisational

  • A suite of activities is being implemented with the four country node organisations to enhance organisational capacity in areas such as strategy development and resource mobilisation.
  • National meteorological agencies in the focal countries are engaging with UK Met Office colleagues to share data and knowledge in evaluating climate models and testing code.

Institutional

  • GCRF-AFRICAP’s policy design and implementation theme affords partner organisations based in DAC-listed countries the opportunity to engage with high-level stakeholders in agriculture, food security and nutrition circles.
  • We are working across the consortium to ‘change the rules of the game’ of ODA research in UK higher education institutions by increasing institutional capacity to attract grants of this size and nature. The AFRICAP team has already secured several further awards as a result of these efforts.
Knowledge-sharing

The AFRICAP knowledge-sharing seminar series launched in January 2019 and ran until July 2021, offering the opportunity to team members and external speakers to share relevant research across the broader programme network.

For more information on upcoming and previous seminars, please visit our events page.

Theme Lead – Dr Helen Coskeran, University of Leeds

Spotlight

Building agricultural resilience to climate shocks and pandemics in South Africa and the wider continent

When he was growing up in South Africa, Ndumiso Mazibuku’s grandmother sparked his interest in the agriculture sector. He later studied in the North West where he quickly recognised the differences between smallholder and commercial farming. “Seeing how different farming enterprises are in the smallholder basin and how things were being done by commercial farmers…

Continue Reading Building agricultural resilience to climate shocks and pandemics in South Africa and the wider continent

NEW PUBLICATION: Climate change impacts on soil erosion in Tanzania and Malawi

Soil erosion is a global problem which negatively impacts on food productivity, water security and biodiversity, and it is a major environmental challenge in Africa, which has some of the highest soil erosion rates worldwide. In the present-day, soil erosion already negatively impacts agricultural yields in Africa. Increasing rainfall amount or intensity due to climate…

Continue Reading NEW PUBLICATION: Climate change impacts on soil erosion in Tanzania and Malawi

Learning alliances, COVID-19 and climate resilience: Tanzanian fellow builds lifelong policy and research skills

Since primary school, Agatha Kiama has been fond of the environment. Though some childhood passions fade over time, Kiama’s love for nature was a launch point for her career tackling climate change, sustainability and food systems in Tanzania. “My passion is about opening people’s eyes to the impact we have on the environment,” she says.…

Continue Reading Learning alliances, COVID-19 and climate resilience: Tanzanian fellow builds lifelong policy and research skills