ENACTS Steals the Show at East Africa’s Largest Climate Event

The 53rd annual Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum (GHACOF) took place in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania this past August 26th – August 29th. The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC) and the Tanzanian Meteorological Agency organized three days of discussion and useful presentations with the theme “Early Warning for Early Action in Support of Climate Resilience.” The forum brought together meteorologists, researchers, decision makers and civil society stakeholders from across the region. 

ENACTS enjoyed a fantastic representation and reached the hundreds of climate professionals, policy makers, and users gathered at the 2019 GHACOF. The meteorological agencies of both Ethiopia and Rwanda, as well as ICPAC itself all featured IRI’s ENACTS (Enhancing National Climate Services) initiative at their stalls. The marketplace has helped to spotlight how ENACTS is being used at both the national and regional level, demonstrating the program’s value in supporting decision making in agriculture, public health and other sectors.

On the third day of this year’s GHACOF, a select group of climate service providers participated in a marketplace-style event where they could present and discuss their products, programs and impacts in the Greater Horn region with forum goers. The “marketplace” approach is a very effective way that allows group of participants to visit different stalls and then discuss what they have observed.

“ENACTS has been implemented by six countries in the region as well as by ICPAC now,” said IRI’s Tufa Dinku. “The marketplace gave a lot of visibility to the ENACTS approach of improving climate data and information products, as well as their use. We are very happy that the first three stalls were ENACTS stalls.”

DfID’s WISER program, which has been supporting the strengthening and expansion of ENACTS in the region, also supported the participation in the marketplace.