Africa

Region: Africa

Africa:

Projects
106
Resources
155
Stories
308
Feature
12th August 2025
Brokering justice in a changing climate: Amplifying African youth voices as pathways for transformation On this International Youth Day, we celebrate African youth across the continent that are stepping forward to advocate for transformative climate justice through storytelling, creative media, and community-led projects. From mental health awareness in Ghana to Indigenous gardening in South Africa and eco-feminist art in Uganda, these 12 young leaders are helping reshape policy, culture, and practice. The following blog, authored by Zizipho Royi and Nadia Sitas, demonstrates that resilient and equitable climate futures become possible when youth are treated as active agents of change.
Feature
3rd July 2025
Integrating Indigenous knowledge into environmental policies for sustainable forest management in Benin This blog, written by Ferdinand Ayimasse, Esdras Obossou and Edmond Totin, highlights SURVIE NGO’s collaborative project in southern Benin, where Indigenous knowledge from sacred forest traditions is being integrated into national biodiversity policy through multi‑stakeholder co‑production dialogues. By engaging traditional leaders, government bodies, NGOs, and local communities, the initiative aims to bridge cultural and institutional gaps, advocating for legal frameworks, public awareness, and co-governance models to sustainably protect forests and cultural heritage.
Resource
30th June 2025
Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) training manual for Ethiopian practitioners   This Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) training manual is a key resource for the Ministry of Planning and Development of Ethiopia and its partner institutions. It provides guidance to GESI experts (and facilitators) on how to plan, prepare for, and conduct training on GESI integration in the design and implementation of development and climate change projects. 
Resource
29th June 2025
Technical briefs: Building water resilience in Kenya These five technical briefs outline the key findings and recommendations derived from a comprehensive functionality and governance study that assessed public good climate investments in water infrastructure implemented through the County Climate Change Fund (CCCF) mechanism across five counties in Kenya.
Feature
29th June 2025
Hope, action, and resilience: The future of Nairobi’s informal settlements in the hands of young leaders What do 30 young leaders from Muungano wa Wanavijiji, representing different informal settlements in Nairobi, envision for their communities, and how do they plan to get there? This blog co-authored by Sarah Ouma, Kevin Stanley Mburu, Lucia Scodanibbio, Christine Wambui, Jacob Omondi, Zizipho Royi, explores the inspiring visions these young people shared at a recent knowledge brokering workshop, highlighting their commitment to driving change.
Feature
12th June 2025
Improving local access to climate finance: Lessons from the CDKN Namibia country programme This blog, by Amanda April and Margaret Angula, dives into the critical challenge of ensuring climate finance effectively reaches local communities in Namibia. It examines the complexities of current funding flows, highlighting significant barriers and offering practical recommendations to bridge the gap between national climate goals and essential on-the-ground adaptation efforts.
News
20th May 2025
CDKN at Rise Africa Festival 2025 The Rise Africa Festival 2025 takes place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 25-29 May. CDKN will be co-convening a two-day workshop on 29 and 30 May to explore human rights-based approaches (HRBA) for biodiversity and climate action in cities.
Feature
10th April 2025
Bridging Indigenous and Western knowledge systems for inclusive forest-based resilience in Benin Rooted in cultural and spiritual traditions, sacred forests offer unique opportunities for conservation. This feature article by Edmond Totin, Esdras Obossou, and Ferdinand Ayimasse highlights the Knowledge-to-Action (K2A) project in Benin, led by the NGO SURVIE de la Mère et de l’Enfant. The K2A initiative aims to integrate Indigenous Knowledge and sacred forest management into biodiversity and climate policies across six districts.
Feature
2nd April 2025
What does a just transition mean for Africa? The concept of a just transition is not new and has been around since the 1980s when it was used by Trade Unions to draw attention to the social effects of environmental measures (United Nations, 2023). In the context of climate change, it aims to ensure that no one is left behind, or excluded, in the transition to environmentally sustainable and low-carbon economies.
Feature
26th March 2025
What do knowledge brokers working on locally-led adaptation need to get right to enhance their impact? This was one of the questions we posed to project partners involved in the Step Change initiative, who recently met in Arusha, Tanzania. CDKN facilitated a session using the 'All hands on deck' card game to bring out the most important aspects of their knowledge brokering approaches.
Feature
19th March 2025
Connecting early-career researchers with creatives for climate knowledge brokering in Ghana As climate change continues to pose unprecedented challenges across different sectors in Africa, the role of evidence-based research has never been more critical, as it provides the basis to diagnose and contextualise these challenges and design appropriate place-based solutions.However, there is limited capacity among researchers in Africa to connect  evidence-based research to place-based solutions that can address Africa’s unique challenges, especially for researchers who are aspiring or starting their professional research journeys.
Feature
18th March 2025
Advancing sustainable food systems and enhancing water security through supporting ecosystem-based approaches: Insights from the Step Change initiative Last month CDKN had the pleasure of attending a learning review of the Step Change initiative which brought together multiple project partners to reflect on progress, surface synergies and outline pathways for collaboration between projects to amplify impacts across research, policy and practice.