Capacity development

our research, learning and innovation agenda

Critical capacities

Alongside our research and dialogue activities, we build the capacities of dryland stakeholders to manage environmental shocks through the Dryland Futures Academy. Alongside our  support for early career doctoral and post-doctoral training, the Academy aims to deliver face to face, online and blended learning through several pathways:

  • Dryland leadership: This pathway is for early career professionals who aim to grow their expertise on drylands and the tools that they need to be future leaders on drylands food security early action and related issues.
  • Continuing education: This pathway aims to develop capacities through taught and self-study short professional, technical and academic courses, designed and delivered with regional institutions.
  • Academic and formal education: This pathways aism to provide a wider range of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and vocational training in which individuals can advance their learning on dryland issues.
  • Community skills sharing: This pathway focuses on pastoralist and agro-pastoralist communities themselves, facilitating their sharing and gaining livelihood and resilience building knowledge and skills – through “peer to peer” learning methodologies, exchanging local and indigenous knowledge, and other forms of individual and collective or social learning.
  • Some achievements

    • Appointing a cohort of young drylands professionals carrying out Master’s, PhD and postdoctoral research, and integrated into local, regional and international networks for maximum future impact and leadership opportunities

    • Creating a community of practice, a dedicated opportunity to move beyond silos and develop capacities through partnerships and collaboration

    • Launching the Dryland Futures Academy

    • Developing the Dryland Education Framework that is inclusive and responsive, centred on the needs and concerns of communities living in drylands areas and those that work with them

    • Co-convening a one-week drylands summer school with 33 PhD and Master’s students on ‘exploring local constructs of resilience in the face of shocks and uncertainties in the drylands’

    • Co-organizing a workshop to harmonize climate risk management in agricultural extension curricula targeting livestock systems in Africa

    • Launching a pastoralism and drylands development seminar series

    Milestones

    In May 2024, we convened a workshop to start developing an ‘education framework’ for the Academy.

    Contact us for more information or to discuss collaboration:

    Bridging data and policy: Assessing livestock feed balances for African livestock

    John Mutua reflects on his work assessing livestock feed demand and supply with ILRI and AU-IBAR

    Harmonizing agricultural extension curricula targeting dryland livestock systems

    We joined the ‘AICCRA project to develop the livestock component of an agricultural extension curriculum.

    Drylands capacity development education framework now available

    Framework released to guide joint capacity development for dryland food security early warning/early action

    Drylands Summer School: capacity building for dryland resilience

    The Observatory partnered in the second Drylands Summer School on agrosilvopastoral systems

    Education Framework drafted for Dryland Futures Academy

    In May, we brought together drylands capacity development providers and users to co-design a Dryland Futures Academy education framework