FOCUS-Africa – Full-value chain Optimised Climate User-centric Services for Southern Africa – is developing sustainable tailored climate services in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region for four sectors: agriculture and food security, water, energy and infrastructure.

It will pilot eight case studies in six countries involving a wide range of end-users to illustrate how the application of new climate forecasts, projections, resources from Copernicus, GFCS and other relevant products can maximise socio-economic benefits in the Southern Africa region and potentially in the whole of Africa.

Led by WMO, it gathers 14 partners across Africa and Europe jointly committed to addressing the recurring sustainability and exploitation challenge of climate services in Africa over a period of 48 months. Our kick-off meeting held virtually on 16th & 17th September 2020.

The meeting started with an introduction from Roberta Boscolo (WMO) who welcomed all participants and shared some practical information regarding the meeting organisation. She briefly reviewed the kick-off meeting agenda for approval. Filipe Lucio (WMO Director in charge of project and coordination) and Maxx Dilley (WMO Director in charge of Climate) both gave an introductory speeches. They presented the project in a broad perspective and emphasized how FOCUS-Africa is in line with the global framework for climate services (GFCS), a UN initiative led by WMO. Bob Stefanski, WMO Head of Applied Climate Services Division, chaired the rest of the meeting.