SAFE4ALL at IRAD 2026: From dialogue to practical climate services in Ghana
March 15, 2026
From 25 to 28 February 2026, SAFE4ALL took part in the IRAD 2026 International Conference at the University for Development Studies, Nyankpala Campus, organized by the West African Centre for Water, Irrigation and Sustainable Agriculture (WACWISA). Through a panel discussion, community visits, and a one-day Living Lab workshop, the project contributed to discussions on climate resilience, food security, and inclusive climate services in Ghana.
The conference brought together policymakers, researchers, development practitioners, industry representatives, and students to exchange perspectives on interconnected challenges in water security, climate resilience, energy sustainability, and food systems. Within this broader setting, SAFE4ALL used the opportunity to share its experience with co-developed climate services and stakeholder engagement.
From conference dialogue to local engagement
SAFE4ALL’s contribution began with a panel discussion focused on the co-development of needs-based climate services for communities facing climate change impacts while working to strengthen food security. The panel featured Prof. Gordan Kranjac-Berisavljevic from the University for Development Studies, Mónica Estébanez Camarena from Weather Impact, Guus Wiersma from TU Delft, and Spyros Paparrizos from Wageningen University and Research, who joined online.
The discussion highlighted SAFE4ALL’s Living Lab approach, which centres on identifying local needs, co-developing tools with users, and strengthening local ownership and trust. Participants also heard about the project’s collaboration with partners such as the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) and agricultural extension actors under the Ministry of Agriculture, which are important for the long-term relevance and sustainability of climate services in Northern Ghana.
Alongside the conference, the SAFE4ALL team also carried out community visits aimed at supporting the sustainability and reach of the Uliza-WI agro-weather advisory chatbot developed by Weather Impact. A particularly important part of this field engagement was the visit to female farmer groups in Nyankpala and Zieng.
These exchanges offered valuable insight into how women access climate information and what barriers still remain. Among the women engaged, only three to four owned smartphones, and none had previously taken part in climate-smart agriculture training. At the same time, the visits showed strong interest in learning how to access agro-weather information and highlighted the importance of designing climate services that reflect women’s realities more directly.
A Living Lab workshop focused on practical exchange
The one-day SAFE4ALL Living Lab workshop brought together stakeholders working across food security, climate change, migration, and gender. It served as a space for practical exchange between researchers, farmers, extension officers, and other local actors.
In the opening remarks, Prof. Gordana noted that this was the third Living Lab workshop in Ghana, following earlier workshops held in Savelugu in April 2025 and at WACWISA-UDS in October 2025. Representatives from partner institutions, including TU Delft, Weather Impact, and VIS, also welcomed participants and reaffirmed the project’s commitment to locally driven and inclusive responses to climate and food system challenges.
One part of the workshop focused on hands-on engagement with the DROP App, facilitated by Johanna Weigel from Aalto University. Farmers and other participants were introduced to the tool and invited to share their experiences, observations, and suggestions. Their feedback pointed to practical ways the app could better reflect local realities and user needs.
This session showed the value of involving end users directly in tool development. Rather than being passive recipients, farmers and extension officers were able to take part in shaping how the tool should evolve. This kind of co-creation is central to SAFE4ALL’s approach and helps ensure that climate tools are not only technically sound but also usable in practice.
Adapting to Local Conditions
Thunderstorms do not behave the same way everywhere. Coastal regions, highlands, and inland plains each have distinct atmospheric dynamics. Seasonal patterns, local topography, and land surface characteristics all influence how convective storms form and develop.
For this reason, the SAFE4ALL tool is not a one-size-fits-all solution. The modeling approach is adapted to each country. Historical satellite data over Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe are analysed separately. Local rainfall characteristics, typical storm structures, and regional climate features are taken into account during model development and evaluation.
This adaptation process is essential. A model trained only on European storm systems, for example, would not automatically perform well in tropical or subtropical environments. By training and validating the system with regional data, the tool becomes more sensitive to the specific types of high-impact thunderstorms that affect each country.
Collaboration with national meteorological institutes also plays an important role. Local expertise helps identify which storm types are most relevant, which impacts are most critical, and how forecast outputs can best support warning decisions.
Key discussions: gender, migration, and resilience
The workshop also explored several broader themes that are closely connected to climate resilience.
One session led by Mónica Estébanez Camarena focused on gender-responsive climate services. Through group discussion, participants reflected on how women and men often experience climate information differently, including differences in access to communication channels, productive resources, mobility, literacy, and decision-making power. The discussion reinforced a clear point: climate services are more effective when they take social realities into account and are designed in ways that are accessible and relevant to different user groups.
Another session, presented by James Adam Natia of VIS, examined the role of migrating communities in food value chains and climate resilience across Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. The study highlighted that migrants make important contributions to food systems, disaster recovery, and environmental restoration, yet these roles often remain poorly documented and insufficiently recognized in policy and planning. This gap was described as an “invisibility paradox”: migrants are central to many systems, but often absent from the frameworks that shape support and decision-making.
A further presentation by Naomi Kandawini, a PhD candidate at the University for Development Studies, focused on the links between climate change, migration, and food security in Northern Ghana. Her research showed how communities are facing shifting rainfall patterns, drought, storms, heat, and occasional floods, alongside other pressures such as deforestation. It also highlighted that migration can create both opportunities and challenges, and that resilience is shaped strongly by gender, access to resources, and institutional support.
Together, these discussions expanded the workshop beyond tools alone. They showed that effective climate services depend not only on forecasts or digital platforms, but also on understanding the wider social, economic, and institutional realities in which people live and make decisions.
Digital tools and local knowledge
The workshop also included a practical knowledge-sharing session on the Uliza-WI Chatbot. Participants were introduced to basic forecasting concepts, shown how weather information can support farmer advisory services, and guided through the use of the chatbot via WhatsApp and Telegram.
The demonstration highlighted the potential of digital tools to improve access to climate information, especially when they are delivered through platforms that people already use. Participants responded positively to the WhatsApp-based approach, while also emphasizing that digital tools work best when combined with local expertise and trusted advisory structures.
This practical dimension was one of the strengths of SAFE4ALL’s participation at IRAD 2026. The event was not only about presenting project activities, but also about testing tools, collecting feedback, and creating dialogue between developers, researchers, and users.
Looking ahead
SAFE4ALL’s engagement at IRAD 2026 showed the value of combining research, stakeholder dialogue, and practical tool testing in one process. Across the panel discussion, community visits, and Living Lab workshop, a common message emerged: climate services are most useful when they are developed with users, grounded in local realities, and shaped by inclusion.
The activities in Nyankpala also underlined that strengthening resilience requires more than technology alone. It depends on co-development, community participation, gender-responsive design, and stronger recognition of groups that are often left at the margins, including women and migrants.
As SAFE4ALL continues its work in Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, these exchanges remain an important part of building climate services that are practical, inclusive, and relevant for the communities they are intended to support.