Dialogue
our research, learning and innovation agenda
Informing and influencing
Alongside our research and capacity development activities, we inform, engage and influence practitioners and policymakers by convening inclusive dialogues, fostering partnerships and building consensus on necessary policies and interventions.
Such engagement to create partnerships, share learning, identify gaps in knowledge, build consensus and prioritize actions is a key to achieving our vision. Our core convening activity is through a Community of Practice that unites data, science and practice to identify, prioritize and deliver action research, learning and innovation.
Through our Community of Practice that brings together groups such as humanitarian agencies, agricultural specialists, climate scientists and food security experts, alongside policymakers, private sector representatives and local communities, we explore pathways for early warning and anticipatory action that can mitigate and address the confluence of crises facing pastoralists and dryland communities.
Activities to date include regular CoP meetings, co-formulation of an early action challenge agenda, contributing to a Pastoralist Leadership Summit, involvement in the first Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform on anticipatory action and contributing to various regional and international events and policy processes.
Some achievements
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Face-to-face and online community of practice meetings and dialogues so far involved 550+ individuals across the region, including representatives of local community members. The sustained engagement has led to more systematic and regular discourse on research gaps as well as policy and programming.
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The Observatory’s role as broker and convenor of collaboration leads to regular requests and invitations to co-convene discussions.
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The Observatory’s challenge agenda derives from the voices and needs of dryland communities and identifies actions to overcome roadblocks to effective early warning and early action.
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Collaborators and partners say that the Observatory informs and influences their strategic thinking, decision-making and priority-setting processes, including helping them to think more critically and concretely about how they can harmonize their efforts with others in the region.
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In 2025, the Observatory and partners lanched a pastoralism and drylands development seminar series.
Portfolio
In April 2022, our first face to face community of practice meeting in Nairobi, Kenya was key to framing our wider agenda and priorities. The second meeting took place in May 2023, again in Kenya. The third meeting took place in May 2024. Our fourth face to face meeting was held in Addis Ababa in May 2025.
In April 2025, we launched a Pastoralism and Drylands Development seminar series in Nairobi and online. Read more
In May 2025, following our CoP meeting in Addis Ababa, we convened a drylands food security and resilience early action research and evidence dialogue. More information.
In April 2025, we contributed to a CGIAR Science Week side session on drought early action for resilient drylands. Read a report
In April 2025, we joined the Drylands Learning and Capacity Building Initiative and Kenya’s Pastoralist Parliamentary Group to convene an informal dialogue on ‘growing dryland futures‘ with policymakers, politicians, researchers, development partners and young scholars to explore ‘grounded’ narratives on drylands in the Horn of Africa. Read a report.
In March 2025, with Mercy Corps and the SPARC programme, we co-convened a workshop to review evidence on weather and climate information services (WCIS) use by pastoralist communities in the Horn of Africa. Read a report.
In December 2024, we co-organized several sessions on the theme ‘pathways to pastoralist prosperity, resilience and food security‘ at the UNCCD COP16 event in Saudi Arabia. Read a report.
In December 2024, we contributed to the organization and reporting of the 4th Pastoralist Leadership Summit in Wajir, Kenya. Read a report.
In October 2024, we joined the group of organizations planning the first Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action meeting.With a focus on ‘policy to practice’ the event explored ways to strengthen disaster risk management through anticipatory action. Read a report.
In August 2024, we held a project workshop on ‘anticipatory action in the drylands: exploring key challenges and opportunities for early warning in pastoralist contexts‘.
In May 2024, we held a project workshop on ‘breaking down silos: towards effective integration of resilience and humanitarian aid in the Horn of Africa‘. Read a summary.
In February 2024, we co-organized a workshop on ‘policy disconnects and their effects on pastoralists in Eastern Africa’ with the Center for Research and Development in the Drylands and the Feinstein International Center of Tufts University. Read a summary
In December 2023, we joined partners to co-organize a COP28 food systems pavilion session on ‘anticipatory action’ at the intersection of livestock agri-food systems, climate action, land and mobility rights, security, governance and humanitarian action. Read a summary.
In September 2023, we joined partners to organize several sessions at the Africa Climate Week in Nairobi. Read a summary.
During 2022, we joined with partners to convene a series of virtual mini-dialogues to explore potential issues that should be on the Observatory agenda.
- The definition and timing of anticipatory action to food crises in East Africa: do they matter? View or Download a summary brief.
- Enablers and blockers for effective anticipatory action against food crises in East African drylands. View or Download a summary brief.
- Data-driven early warning, prediction and analysis for coordinated/directed food security action in East Africa’s drylands. View or Download a summary brief
- Integrating community-based knowledge to advance early warning and anticipatry action on food security in drylands of the Horn of Africa. View or Download a summary brief.
- Livestock as pathways to food-secure and resilient livelihoods and ecosystems in climate-vulnerable drylands of the Horn of Africa. View or Download a summary brief.
- Enhancing drought prediction, preparation and response, and climate resilience in dry areas: The scope for more and better livestock data. View the summary.
- De-risking, financial security and safety nets for more resilient and food-secure communities in the drylands of the Horn of Africa. View or Download a summary brief.