Wrapping up the SAFE4ALL Learning Program 2025
December 15, 2025
Over the past months, we have had the pleasure of running the very first SAFE4ALL Learning Program – a series of online sessions created to bring together agricultural professionals, researchers, public authorities, innovators, and anyone curious about how climate resilience, digital tools, and inclusive innovation can meaningfully support communities most at risk. The Learning Program has now wrapped up for this year, and we’re grateful for the energy, openness, and curiosity everyone brought to each session as we prepare for next year’s edition.
Who joined us?
Across the online sessions, a total of 909 participants registered, with 354 people attending at least one session (39 %). On average, each session brought together around 70 participants (average), creating a setting that allowed for both learning and interaction. Attendance spanned dozens of countries across Africa, Europe, and Asia, with 67 % of participants coming from the SAFE4ALL case study countries (Ghana, Kenya, and Zimbabwe).
What stood out most was not just the reach, but the level of engagement. 67 participants joined two or more sessions, and 17 participants attended four or more, reflecting a strong interest in following the full learning journey. The diversity of backgrounds, ranging from universities and meteorological agencies to NGOs, farming cooperatives, city networks, and local authorities, made the discussions particularly rich, with scientists, policymakers, students, and innovators learning directly from one another.
What we covered
Each month, we explored a different piece of the climate resilience puzzle – always keeping things practical and grounded. We started with the fundamentals of climate change and climate science, helping participants understand what’s happening globally and why it matters locally. From there, we moved into climate risk, resilience thinking, and systems approaches, using clear examples to show how shocks and stresses interact and why communities need tools that help them “bounce forward” instead of just coping.
Later sessions shifted toward the human side of climate adaptation: stakeholder engagement, co-creation, climate services, and the importance of trust, inclusion, and local knowledge. Through real case stories, ranging from urban flooding in Nairobi to the development of farmer advisory apps in Ghana, we looked at how climate information becomes actionable when it’s shaped with communities rather than delivered to them. The program created a shared understanding that resilience isn’t theoretical. It’s practical, incremental, and deeply relational.
Our speakers
Alongside our core facilitation team – Fitsum Gelaye (Resilient Cities Network), Sophie van der Horst, and Tinka Valentijn (Climate Adaptation Services) – we were joined by a diverse group of guest speakers: experts in climate services, agriculture and food systems, digital climate tools, nature-based solutions, and community-centred resilience and implementation. Each speaker brought not only their knowledge but also personal experience from the field and real interactions with farmers, practitioners, and communities. Their contributions helped anchor the sessions in practical reality rather than theory:
- Emmanuel Ochola Matsaba (Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology) sharing insights on understanding climate risk across systems in Nakuru County, Kenya;
- Hasse Goosen (Climate Adaptation Services) talking on climate risk and climate services;
- Ignacio Saldivia Gonzatti (Wageningen University & Researchg) connecting climate risks to food security in Sub-Saharan Africa;
- Hayford Asuako Yeboah (Ghana Meteorological Agency) walking participants through climate atlases and long-term projections;
- Mónica Estébanez Camarena (Weather Impact) presenting the Uliza-WI agro-weather chatbot co-created with farmers;
- Spyros Paparrizos (Wageningen University & Research) highlighting why co-creation and stakeholder engagement are essential for meaningful climate resilience;
- Karl Astbury (Resilient Cities Network) sharing lessons on how inclusive partnerships build trust, how co-developed resilience assessments guide action, and how small community initiatives can create region-wide ripple effects;
- Carl Lens (Justdiggit) discussing how regreening can be scaled through community-driven action;
- Prince Kuipa (Zimbabwe Farmers Union) sharing a compelling example of farmer-led scaling of conservation agriculture in Zimbabwe;
- and Frank Annor (TAHMO) together with Andrew McDonald (City of Cape Town) on building buy-in for concrete climate action on the ground.
Why we created the Program
At its heart, SAFE4ALL is about enabling better climate-smart decisions by improving access to reliable climate information, practical tools, and shared knowledge, particularly for agricultural extension workers, policymakers, local authorities, and other support actors who work directly with farmers and communities on the frontlines of climate impacts. The Learning Program was developed as an important first step: a space where partners and participants from Kenya, Ghana, and Zimbabwe could build a common understanding of climate risks, learn how to use SAFE4ALL’s tools and services, and exchange experiences across regions.
It was designed as a bridge between climate data and real-world decision-making, a place for open and accessible learning, and a community environment where people could meet, ask questions, and explore how climate services can support their daily work. Alongside the online sessions, the Learning Program also includes in-person trainings in Kenya, Ghana, and Zimbabwe, where participants work hands-on with SAFE4ALL tools, connect the content to local climate impacts, and learn directly from one another. Throughout both the online and in-country sessions, this purpose remained central – reflected in the thoughtful questions, shared examples, and active engagement from participants.
Relive the sessions
All recordings are now available on the Kenya Climate Atlas and the SAFE4ALL YouTube channel. Whether you joined us live or are discovering the program now, you can access the full collection here:
Kenya Climate Atlas: https://kenya.safe4allafrica.eu/learning/
SAFE4ALL YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SAFE4ALLAfrica/playlists
Reflections and lessons learned
Along the way, the Learning Program also offered valuable insights into how climate capacity-building works best in practice. Participants consistently highlighted the importance of clear language, practical case studies, and interactive formats, as well as the value of learning from local experiences. At the same time, feedback showed a strong appetite for deeper, more focused sessions, closer spacing between topics, and additional opportunities for peer exchange. These reflections are already shaping how the next phase of the Learning Program is being designed.
What’s next?
We are already preparing the next round of Learning Program sessions for the coming year. While this year focused on building a shared foundation and introducing key concepts, the upcoming sessions are planned to go more in-depth, responding to the interests and needs expressed by participants.
Topics for the next edition will be shaped by feedback from attendees and aligned with the expertise and capacity of the SAFE4ALL consortium, allowing us to offer a focused set of sessions that build on what has already been learned. We look forward to continuing this learning journey together in the next edition.
