Future Resilience for African CiTies And Lands (FRACTAL)

Lead Research Organisation: Climate Centre
Department Name: Innovation & Research

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Planned Impact

FRACTAL aims to fundamentally alter how African cities include climate change in development planning, in a context with no direct historical precedent. This is critical given that the interests of the majority urban population place an inviolable demand (with substantial regional dependencies) on water, energy and associated infrastructure. FRACTAL recognizes that supply-driven climate information (e.g. IPCC) is having limited impact in real world decision making, largely due to messages of limited relevance or robustness at the scales and for the contexts of decision making.
We directly address this inadequacy through increased understanding of regional climate information and informed by co-exploration with decision makers. FRACTAL seek s to bring fundamental changes in key decision pathways (around water, flooding and energy) to increase the resilience of city-regions. This will leave a legacy of new knowledge, capacity and learning exemplars in 5 city-regions from which Africa can build. FRACTAL will provide an essential counterpart and balance in a landscape where the majority of climate development actions have non-urban, sectoral or rural foci.

There are four groups of beneficiaries:
a) Policy and decision-makers in government, resource management and infrastructure from local officials (case-study cities) to national-scale line Ministries which oversee urban development and the planning of infrastructure and regional services. These benefit through: co-generation of information and policy guidelines; new frameworks for incorporating climate change information in the context of multiple stressors and competing agendas; deep co-learning benefits led by researchers embedded in city governments; peer-to-peer relationships that lead to learning opportunities amongst the city partners; written materials generated by the project.
b) International and regional development institutions. The project will present research findings to guide development organizations and funders who are important contributors to development and adaptation trajectories. This will be strengthened by leveraging existing networks, such as the consortium's IPCC/WCRP/SASSCAL/Future Earth presence.
c) Academic disciplines and research communities in Africa and internationally. A publication strategy will place papers in disciplinary journals and the work will be disseminated at major conferences. Academics from under-capacitated African universities will benefit through the production of research, teaching tools and supporting publications. New inter-institutional relationships will foster the establishment of critical research capacity within the region to initiate key research agendas. Collaboration with the international community provides much needed reverse flows of knowledge, giving African researchers valuable entry to participate in research governance on the international scale (e.g. WCRP, IPCC, etc.).
d) Society. While largely an indirect process, this grouping has potential to receive the largest impact and benefit. By operating in the placed-based context of the majority of the population, FRACTAL can help steer development to enhance the quality of life and human security of large sections of society, as well as protect the economic system through both enabling opportunities and managing the very high risk of maladaptation with its attendant costs, damages, and inefficiencies. Informed city governance can lead to greater awareness and understanding in the voting population which can introduce major shifts in how nations choose to respond to climate change. Likewise, by changing the policy environment new opportunities for economic engagement are created.

Lastly, a significant cross-cutting impact is the building of trust relationships, dialogue and learning between and within these communities, which fosters growth potential as adaptation increasingly adopts a policy-first approach (versus a science-scenario-first-ap)

Publications

10 25 50
 
Title FRACTAL: Embedded researchers in brief 
Description Describing in brief the process of Embedded Researchers within FRACTAL, with interviews of researchers and embedded researchers. 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact There is some interest in the Embedded Researcher approach as a way of sharing the approach with other partners working in the complex field of climate change and having the ambition to effectively link practice with the local governance. 
URL https://vimeo.com/manage/338522830/general
 
Title Video: Learning Labs: creating collaborative ways to address climate change in African cities 
Description - Learning Labs bring diverse stakeholders together to spur new thinking about how to tackle the climate change adaptation issues emerging in urban Africa. This video outlines the Learning Labs approach as used in Windhoek: https://www.sei.org/featured/learning-labs-creating-collaborative-ways-to-address-climate-change-in-african-cities/ 
Type Of Art Film/Video/Animation 
Year Produced 2019 
Impact Learning Labs bring diverse stakeholders together to spur new thinking about how to tackle the climate change adaptation issues emerging in urban Africa. This video outlines the Learning Labs approach as used in Windhoek 
URL https://www.sei.org/featured/learning-labs-creating-collaborative-ways-to-address-climate-change-in-...
 
Description Much of the work has been focused on understanding where and how climate change information can be used at the city-region scale in southern Africa. Through the FRACTAL engagements and research, climate scientists have gained a deeper understanding of city decision processes and how their work does (or does not) fit in. Decision-makers have also gained a deeper understanding of the nature of climate change information. The team has learned a lot about the transdisciplinary research processes required to facilitate such engagements. Working papers, games, think pieces, conference contributions etc. related to urban complexity and governance, climate change planning in cities, urban resilience and transdisciplinarity have been developed.
Exploitation Route The Climate Risk Narratives and the idea of the City Learning Labs have been adopted by a number of research programmes.
Sectors Environment

Government

Democracy and Justice

Other

URL http://www.fractal.org.za
 
Description Contributed to urban governance discussions and planning related to the future of cities in southern Africa under conditions of climate variability and change (in particular Blantyre, Cape Town, Durban, Gaborone, Harare, Lusaka, Maputo and Windhoek). The development of the Learning Lab methodology to support trans-disciplinary co-production on city level has been developed and implemented. There is a great interest in this methodology and the findings have been published in a working paper to share the approach and to influence more integrated decision making processes on city level. The Learning Lab Approach as implemented in three FRACTAL cities (Lusaka, Windhoek and Maputo) was a multi stakeholder learning processes that actively contributed to climate information begin integrated in urban decision making through a number of policy processes. Engagements in Lusaka actively shared the findings at various points in High Level Breakfasts, with a number of co-produced policy briefs. Climate Risk Narratives developed for all three cities were also a good tool to ensure that decision makers actively engage with climate information and the possible impact for various sectors.
First Year Of Impact 2018
Sector Government, Democracy and Justice,Other
Impact Types Policy & public services

 
Description Enriching the Integrated Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for the city of Windhoek
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Citation in other policy documents
Impact The third learning lab brought together city stakeholders with more national government representatives. This Learning Lab focused on enriching the Integrated Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan for the city of Windhoek which we have supported since inception. This Action Plan provides the legislative environment for improved consideration of climate change issues in urban decision making.
 
Description Influenced training of practitioners or researchers - Influenced the development & implementation of the Lusaka Water Security Action and Investment Plan
Geographic Reach Local/Municipal/Regional 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The Water Security and Investment plan is crucial to ensure sound access to safe and clean drinking water. The plan is important and strengthening capacity to implement the plan is key.
 
Description NAP process in Maputo, Mozambique
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
Impact The NAP focal point participated and as Mozambique is in the initial NAP processes, there is now a commitment to consider an Urban focus in the NAP. We also developed jointly with the City task teams the NAP communication materials for Windhoek and Maputo.
 
Description Presenting policy messages on urban climate change to High Level Breakfast in Lusaka, Zambia
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
Impact The presentation of 3 policy briefs to the High Level Breakfast were presented in Lusaka to a range of national ministers and decision makers on national and city council level in Lusaka. The presentation included the sharing of the 3 policy briefs developed in the Learning Lab approach, and included the presentation of the Climate Risk Narratives - sharing how climate change scenarios might affect national and city level planning and decision making. The policy briefs have been welcomed by decision makers and have been considered in formulation of national guidance on water abstraction and quality.
 
Description South Africa-Netherlands dialogue on Education and Research: Resilient Cities
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact The presentation served to inform the South African Netherlands research collaboration and to influence future research agendas.
 
Description Supporting Adaptation Policy Development
Geographic Reach Africa 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Title City Learning Lab Approach 
Description The City Learning Lab approach is a tool to support multi-stakeholder dialogue in a complex environment, supporting co-production of new knowledge. The 'City Learning Lab' approach described here is designed to facilitate multi-disciplinary problem- solving at the intersection of these two trends across ve cities in Southern Africa. It has been developed and is being used by the 'Future Resilience for African Cities and Lands' (FRACTAL) project, which aims to advance and integrate scientific knowledge into climate-sensitive decisions on the city and regional scale. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2017 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Dialogue for decision-making: unpacking the 'City Learning Lab' approachby Julie Arrighi, Bettina Koelle, Monica Coll Besa, Meggan Spires, Jess Kavonic, Dianne Scott, Aynur Kadihasanoglu, Sukaina Bharwani, Chris Jack 
URL http://climatecentre.org/downloads/files/RCCC_JA_wps%207%20City%20Learning%20Lab%20v2.pdf
 
Title Climate Risk Narratives 
Description The Climate Risk Narrative approach involves the development of 3 possible climate risk scenarios and an in depth reflection of how this would impact the city / sectors. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2019 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The Climate Risk Narratives have attracted great interest and have already been applied by various other programmes. 
 
Title Navigating complex dialogues in cities: The City Learning Lab approach 
Description City Learning Labs are an approach designed to facilitate transdisciplinary co-production (and co-exploration) at the intersection of climate change and urban planning and development. At the heart of the approach is the co-exploration of 'burning issues' and climate change (science), and the co-production of new knowledge created from a range of valuable types of knowledge brought by participants from different disciplines and organisations. City Learning Labs are based on the principle that the knowledge of all participants has value and needs to be considered - whether scientific or practical, from national or city level decision-makers, from civil society or community organisations or from researchers. The Learning Lab creates a space or platform for this wide range of different stakeholders to come together and share their respective knowledge, experience and perspectives about an issue, question or problem of common interest or concern (a "burning issue") and potential solutions to address this issue. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The City Learning Lab approach has been embraced by many other projects working in the urban space and wishing to engage in trans-disciplinary research, using a systems perspective and the knowledge of diverse stakeholders. 
 
Description Joint intent with Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI) 
Organisation Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company Limited
Country Zambia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Partnership with LuWSI to ensure sound co-production and effective sharing of climate information to support decision making processes in Lusaka. This ongoing partnership has been key to ensure that the FRACTAL process is contributing to the concerted effort in Lusaka to address the water crisis.
Collaborator Contribution Active collaborations in meeting, join workshops and events, information sharing and join strategy development
Impact Lusaka Policy briefs Policy briefing report: Nyanga, P., Mwanza, Mulwanda, Daka, Bharwani, Koelle, Chitondo, Daniels, Mwalukanga. (2018). FRACTAL and LuWSI. GROUNDWATER POLLUTION: Key Threat To Water Security & Health. Policy briefing report: FRACTAL and LuWSI. Preparing For Increased Flooding. Nchito, W,, Siame, Funga, Daka, Banda, Mwalukanga, Banda, Lubasi, Kalalushi, Jones, Scott, Daniels. (2018). FRACTAL and LuW
Start Year 2016
 
Description Joint intent with Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI) 
Organisation University of Lusaka
Country Zambia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Partnership with LuWSI to ensure sound co-production and effective sharing of climate information to support decision making processes in Lusaka. This ongoing partnership has been key to ensure that the FRACTAL process is contributing to the concerted effort in Lusaka to address the water crisis.
Collaborator Contribution Active collaborations in meeting, join workshops and events, information sharing and join strategy development
Impact Lusaka Policy briefs Policy briefing report: Nyanga, P., Mwanza, Mulwanda, Daka, Bharwani, Koelle, Chitondo, Daniels, Mwalukanga. (2018). FRACTAL and LuWSI. GROUNDWATER POLLUTION: Key Threat To Water Security & Health. Policy briefing report: FRACTAL and LuWSI. Preparing For Increased Flooding. Nchito, W,, Siame, Funga, Daka, Banda, Mwalukanga, Banda, Lubasi, Kalalushi, Jones, Scott, Daniels. (2018). FRACTAL and LuW
Start Year 2016
 
Description Lusaka City Collaboration 
Organisation German Federal Enterprise for International Cooperation (GIZ)
Country Germany 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution These partners are actively participating in the City Learning Labs held at regular intervals to document the inclusion of climate information in city level planning and decision making. Two labs have been held to date. The project partners will facilitate this engagement and process, and various researchers will contribute climate and other information to inform decision making processes.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are contributing their insights and expertise in their respective fields to the process.
Impact This collaboration is still in early stages. In the first learning labs priorities were identified for researchers to further explore. This includes water access to the city. In addition a Climate Centre working paper on city level engagement was developed. This link is shared above.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Lusaka City Collaboration 
Organisation Lusaka City Council
Country Zambia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution These partners are actively participating in the City Learning Labs held at regular intervals to document the inclusion of climate information in city level planning and decision making. Two labs have been held to date. The project partners will facilitate this engagement and process, and various researchers will contribute climate and other information to inform decision making processes.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are contributing their insights and expertise in their respective fields to the process.
Impact This collaboration is still in early stages. In the first learning labs priorities were identified for researchers to further explore. This includes water access to the city. In addition a Climate Centre working paper on city level engagement was developed. This link is shared above.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Lusaka City Collaboration 
Organisation Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company Limited
Country Zambia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution These partners are actively participating in the City Learning Labs held at regular intervals to document the inclusion of climate information in city level planning and decision making. Two labs have been held to date. The project partners will facilitate this engagement and process, and various researchers will contribute climate and other information to inform decision making processes.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are contributing their insights and expertise in their respective fields to the process.
Impact This collaboration is still in early stages. In the first learning labs priorities were identified for researchers to further explore. This includes water access to the city. In addition a Climate Centre working paper on city level engagement was developed. This link is shared above.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Lusaka City Collaboration 
Organisation Millennium Challenge Account Zambia (MCA-Zambia)
Country Zambia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution These partners are actively participating in the City Learning Labs held at regular intervals to document the inclusion of climate information in city level planning and decision making. Two labs have been held to date. The project partners will facilitate this engagement and process, and various researchers will contribute climate and other information to inform decision making processes.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are contributing their insights and expertise in their respective fields to the process.
Impact This collaboration is still in early stages. In the first learning labs priorities were identified for researchers to further explore. This includes water access to the city. In addition a Climate Centre working paper on city level engagement was developed. This link is shared above.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Lusaka City Collaboration 
Organisation University of Zambia
Country Zambia 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution These partners are actively participating in the City Learning Labs held at regular intervals to document the inclusion of climate information in city level planning and decision making. Two labs have been held to date. The project partners will facilitate this engagement and process, and various researchers will contribute climate and other information to inform decision making processes.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are contributing their insights and expertise in their respective fields to the process.
Impact This collaboration is still in early stages. In the first learning labs priorities were identified for researchers to further explore. This includes water access to the city. In addition a Climate Centre working paper on city level engagement was developed. This link is shared above.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Lusaka City Collaboration 
Organisation Zambia Red Cross society
Country Zambia 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution These partners are actively participating in the City Learning Labs held at regular intervals to document the inclusion of climate information in city level planning and decision making. Two labs have been held to date. The project partners will facilitate this engagement and process, and various researchers will contribute climate and other information to inform decision making processes.
Collaborator Contribution The partners are contributing their insights and expertise in their respective fields to the process.
Impact This collaboration is still in early stages. In the first learning labs priorities were identified for researchers to further explore. This includes water access to the city. In addition a Climate Centre working paper on city level engagement was developed. This link is shared above.
Start Year 2015
 
Description Maputo City Council 
Organisation Maputo City Council
Country Mozambique 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Working closely with the Maputo City Council in implementation of City Learning Labs
Collaborator Contribution Jointly facilitating the City Learning process to link scientific information to city decision making processes and policy
Impact City Learning Labs
Start Year 2016
 
Description NDC Partnership 
Organisation Lusaka City Council
Country Zambia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Engagement with the NDCP in Zambia around the NDCP assessment
Collaborator Contribution Collaboration during the assessment mission to Zambia and follow up
Impact Mission report Zambia
Start Year 2019
 
Description Windhoek city 
Organisation City of Windhoek
Country Namibia 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Collaborating with Windhoek City in implementation of a City Learning Lab
Collaborator Contribution Windhoek partners are hosting the lab and assisted in stakeholder invitations.
Impact City Learning Lab process is ongoing and includes a series of workshops and dialogues on City Level, aimed at including scientific climate information in city level decision making processes
Start Year 2016
 
Description Adaptation Futures 2018 - Community Kraal 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Adaptation Futures 2018 took place in Cape Town in June 2018. The Community Kraal was an informal platform that promoted innovative and active dialogue between conference delegates, and included a range of city delegates and FRACTAL partners.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Annual Planning Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This was the annual planning meeting for FRACTAL where the partnership came together to discuss progress to date and make plans for the coming year.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017
 
Description Cities Alliance Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact From the 13th to 15th December one FRACTAL staff member attended the Cities Alliance assembly meeting in Jinja, Uganda
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Cities IPCC Meeting 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A side session was organized at the Cities IPCC meeting in Edmonton, Canada in March 2018. Jonathan Mwanza from Lusaka City was invited to attend. Although he was not abel to due to visa constraints, he recorded a video of his remarks which was shown to a room of about 50 people. The side event was focused on identifying climate related research priorities for the most vulnerable people in a city context.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Climate Science Training for City Councillors and government employees 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This training course on climate science and climate information was offered for city officials in Lusaka to increase the capacity of understanding and interpreting climate information, with the ultimate goal to support a better uptake of climate information in decision making on city level. The training course was hosted by the University of Zambia and also supported by the UK Met office and University of Cape Town.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Development & Climate Days during UNFCCC COP in Katowice 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Development & Climate Days is a two day event organised by the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre in collaboration with IIED and other partners. It takes place on 2 days during the UNFCCC COP and seeks to stimulate innovative dialogues that will ultimately reflect on current negotiations and seek to influence negotiation results by sharing summary findings of the event in the course of the UNFCCC COP (during week2). In the D&C days taking place in 2018, we offered an urban session.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Engagement at UCLG in Durban 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact From 11-15 November, 2019, Durban, South Africa, hosted the World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders. 3000 participants took part in this event, organized every 3 years by United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG).

During the five days, UCLG Africa made significant contributions through the organization of and participation in twenty sessions. African local and regional elected officials mobilized by UCLG Africa took part in the debates and shared their experiences on themes relating to local finance, urbanization, gender equality, migration, human capital, cultural policies, mobility, climate, territorial development financing and youth.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.uclg.org
 
Description FCFA Learning Review workshop in Cape Town 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The FCFA Learning Review workshop was held in Cape Town in 2017, and included a critical review of all progress achieved by the research consortia to date, as well as a phase of planning joint publications and processes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description FRACTAL City Mega Lab 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact A final learning lab was held online in April. Previously, learning labs have been held at city level. For this lab, the FRACTAL team brought together participants from across the southern African region, with representatives from each of the nine cities where the project has been working.

Participants considered climate risk planning in their cities and also regionally. They also brainstormed how best to continue FRACTAL's creative learning processes around climate resilience in their cities.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.fractal.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/FRACTAL-Megalab-Report-2021.pdf
 
Description FRACTAL Fellowship Programme 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The FRACTAL Fellowship programme was a virtual training course, supporting capacity development of virtual engagement and facilitation. This included a practical engagement in a virtual conference, where participants facilitated an urban cartoonathon.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description FRACTAL Learning Retreat 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact A virtual Learning Retreat for documenting our learning journey and sketching out the way forward
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Facilitation of City Learning Labs - supporting decision making processes in city level 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The City Learning Labs are processes taking place in all Tier 1 Cities of FRACTAL ( Lusaka, Maputo and Windhoek). The Learning Processes are ongoing and facilitated with members from the wider FRACTAL team.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017
 
Description Global Parliament of Mayors 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Annual GPM Summit 2019 took place in Durban, South Africa at the ICC. Around 75 mayors and city network leaders from all around the world gathered in Durban to convene on the topics of multilevel governance, migration, urban security and public health, reflecting the pressing issues of the world. The outcome of the debates between mayors led to the GPM Durban Declaration 2019 which emerged from this year's Annual Summit.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://globalparliamentofmayors.org
 
Description Inception Workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The inception workshop was an important starting point for the FRACTAL process and has sparked important conversation around trans-disciplinarity and co-creation of research questions and processes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Local Climate Solutions for Africa (LoCS4Africa): Resilient Cities Cartoonathon 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Local Climate Solutions for Africa (LoCS4Africa) theme, Financing for Change, aims to respond to the growing acknowledgement worldwide that, to tackle climate change, city-scale finance must be mobilised. Local finance will give subnational actors access to the resources they need to respond effectively to climate change impacts that manifest at the local level, and harness the emission reduction potential in cities.

A Cartoonathon was offered as a special session for policy makers, exploring co-production of solutions for resilient cities and the lessons learnt from FRACTAL using humour and reflection.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2020
 
Description Lusaka City Learning Labs and City Dialogues 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Lusaka Learning Labs are a series of engagements that focus on supporting bringing Climate Change Information to Urban Decision Makers, in a series of innovative and engaging events. The Learning Labs are 2 day events, usually including 50-80 delegates. The City dialogues are events that a specifically focused on training or exploring a certain issues are are usually taking 1 day for about 20-40 participants in each event.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016,2017,2018,2019
URL http://www.fractal.org.za/2019/02/06/exploring-the-power-of-collaboration-to-address-climate-change-...
 
Description Lusaka High Level Breakfast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The FRACTAL team held a high level breakfast to share FRACTAL climate information and initial results from the Lusaka Learning Lab process - a multi- stakeholder engagement process, focussing on the city of Lusaka and involving national government officials of Zambia. This event was supported by the University of Zambia, University of Cape Town, UK Met Office.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Lusaka Learning Lab: A multi-stakeholder dialogue (Learning Lab 2 and 3) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Lusaka City Learning Labs are an established formal working group, exploring burning issues in Lusaka from a trans-disciplinary perspective. In regular workshops of this group, a variety of stakeholders engage in co-production of new knowledge and has drafted a number of policy briefs on water quality, water use, water provision and groundwater abstraction in Lusaka. The aim of these engagements is to facilitate a trans-disciplinary dialogue that will allow to link cutting edge climate information effectively to city level decision making.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Tactical Urbanism Event in Lusaka 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The tactical urbanism was a day or awareness raising and action in Lusaka/ Zambia that focused on extreme heat in urban areas, raising awareness on strategies to deal with extreme heat. A day of action was supported by UNZA, Zambia Poeple's Project and the City of Lusaka and the Zambia Youth Federation.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Transformation admits the odds - an interactive workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The session comprised an interactive workshop, sharing the lessons on transformation and facilitating participatory Learning Lab processes with Applied Improvisation Network members in this interactive event. (This was an invited contribution in the Applied Improvisation Network Conference, held virtually in 2021)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
 
Description UK Inception meeting in Oxford 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This inception workshop was held to allow the different consortia to understand the Future Climate for Africa programmatic aims and objectives, while at the same time allowing for networking between the different consortia.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description UNFCCC COP21 Paris - official side event 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The panel focused on knowledge management and learning processes in large programmes. Bettina Koelle presented at the panel and shared the FRACTAL methodology on City Learning Labs and embedding climate information effectively in mid to long term decision making processes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description UNFCCC COP23 in Katowice 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The FRACTAL messages were also shared by team members participating in various official side events taking place during the UNFCCC COP23 in Katowice.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2018
 
Description Urban Caucus: A Southern African Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Urban Caucus brought together policy makers, climate scientists, government officials, practitioners, civil society delegates and businesses to discuss strategies and policy responses for cities to address climate change challenges in the long term, integrating climate information. About 150 delegates met to deliberate and discuss concrete actions to take on city level.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL http://www.fractal.org.za
 
Description Windhoek Learning Lab processes 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Windhoek City Learning Lab is facilitating a multi-stakeholder dialogue to explore the relevance and inclusion of scientific climate information in city decision making processes.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017