Co-Creating Climate Resilience: Reflections from the SAFE4ALL Zimbabwe Case Study Visit
July 09, 2025
In June 2025, the SAFE4ALL project marked an important milestone through a three-day engagement in Zimbabwe, one of our core co-creation case studies. This visit brought together a wide range of stakeholders to collaboratively explore how climate information services can support resilience in food systems, particularly for smallholder farmers. The sessions were rich in dialogue, local insights, and shared ambition.
The visit included a two-day workshop in Harare, followed by a field visit to Marondera District, where we connected directly with farming communities. Our activities focused on building relationships, introducing key SAFE4ALL tools, and jointly shaping the roadmap for the project’s next 2.5 years in Zimbabwe.
Day 1 – Linking Data, Institutions, and Local Knowledge
The first day set the tone for our collaborative approach. After an opening session introducing SAFE4ALL and its objectives, we convened a diverse group of stakeholders: representatives from the Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe (MSD), agricultural extension officers, members of the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, local municipality actors, and civil society representatives.
We kicked off with a session on the use of TAHMO weather stations in the project and how these can be integrated with MSD’s existing observation network. This was followed by a technical session with MSD personnel on data integration strategies – a key step for developing tailored, actionable climate services.
In parallel, we ran a participatory workshop with other stakeholders focused on climate change, resilience, and impact pathways. Participants engaged in creating Climate Impact Diagrams to identify how climate variability affects different actors and systems in Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector, and beyond.
A hands-on session on the eWaterCycle platform rounded off the day, allowing participants to explore open-source hydrological modeling tools and their potential for supporting localized decision-making.
Day 2 – Mapping the Foodshed and Building Academic Synergies
The second day centered around the Foodshed concept – a key element in SAFE4ALL’s methodology for connecting climate information with food system resilience. In this workshop, stakeholders identified critical agricultural moments (e.g., planting, harvesting, input availability, forecast horizon) and the specific crops important to different agro-ecological zones in Zimbabwe.
We collaboratively mapped where stakeholders are situated or have influence within Zimbabwe’s foodsheds. This exercise brought to light the complexity of agricultural systems, but also helped clarify entry points where climate information can make a difference for planning and action.
Later in the day, we held an exchange with university partners to share our project vision and explore opportunities for synergy. We discussed how the SAFE4ALL project could support academic research, teaching, and student engagement, and how local academic institutions could play a key role in sustaining the services we co-develop.
Day 3 – Bringing Climate Services to the Farm Level
Our third and final day was spent in the field in Marondera District, where we met with several farming communities. These visits allowed us to demonstrate two key tools under development in SAFE4ALL: the DROPapp, a mobile app that delivers scientific and local weather forecasts to support agricultural decision‑making, and the Uliza‑WI Chatbot, which provides farmers with weather and climate information via Telegram.
Interacting directly with farmers and extension officers was both energizing and humbling. These conversations highlighted the relevance of the tools, but also reminded us of the importance of accessibility, language, and local knowledge systems. The feedback we received will be vital as we continue to tailor and improve these services.
Reflections and the Road Ahead
This visit reinforced the value of co-creation, not as a buzzword, as our project partners from Weather Impact, Lorenzo and Monica, mentioned in a previous article, but as a process of mutual learning and shared ownership. Stakeholders brought deep knowledge of their realities, and through open dialogue, we were able to link this with the science and innovation that SAFE4ALL brings.
Over the next 2.5 years, our work in Zimbabwe will continue to focus on developing needs-based, locally grounded climate services. The foundations we laid during this visit – through relationship-building, honest exchanges, and hands-on collaboration – will shape how we move forward together.
We are grateful to all our Zimbabwean partners for their openness, insights, and enthusiasm. SAFE4ALL is about building resilience through connection — between science and society, between data and decisions, and above all, between people. This visit made those connections tangible.