The Consortium for Capacity Building received a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to enhance capacity building related to climate, water, and weather information in Africa. The project aims to support vulnerable societies in mitigating and adapting to climate change by creating a network of collaborators including universities, consortia, and the African diaspora. Key activities include collaborating to increase farmers' capacity for climate change adaptation, training on using buried clay pots for irrigation, and establishing climate centers. Expected outcomes are a new climate degree program, involvement of the African diaspora, diffusion of appropriate technologies to vulnerable areas, training manuals on adaptation and mitigation, and establishing regional climate centers.

1. An abstract of the Rockefeller Foundation supported Project under the Climate Smart for Rural
Development Initiative
Project Title: Consortium for Capacity Building
Grant number: 2008 NCG 301
Name of the Organization: Consortium for Capacity Building (CCB) – Climate and Water Affairs
Country: United States
Name of the Contact Person: Michael H. Glantz/Tsegay Wolde-Georgis
Email: tsegay@colorado.edu
Telephone: 1-303-492-6068
Key Objectives
 Capacity building to enhance the value and use of climate, water, and weather information.
 Support the most vulnerable societies mitigate, adapt or prevent the impacts of climate change.
 Create a network to enhance climate and water related capacity building in Africa.
Key Activities
 Expansion of network of collaborators including universities and consortia
 Collaboration to increase the capacity of farmers for climate change adaption in Africa.
 Capacity building on the use of buried clay pots for irrigation to cope with climate change in an
Ethiopian village. Create a roof water harvesting system for the clay pots irrigation system.
 Exchange of views with the AU to establish an All Africa Climate Center for Climate Affairs.
 A policy research on the policies of biofuels production in Africa
 Networking with the African diaspora to support capacity building for climate change adaptation
 Collaborated with the Ethiopia agricultural research organization on a proposal
 Research on biofuels development in Africa
 Enhance china-Africa collaboration to establish Integrated Env Risk Gov (IRG) in Africa
Key Deliverables
 A successful Mekelle University and CCB proposal to establish the Ethiopian Institute of Climate
and Society for the Climate Affairs certificate and degree Program.
 A roof water harvesting system with a capacity of 20,000 liters of water set up at an Ethiopian
village, northern Ethiopia to provide water for the clay pots for irrigation demo site.
 Introduced the use of clay pots for sub-surface irrigation in an Ethiopian village.
 Peasants trained the use of clay pots irrigation and planted fruit trees for the first time.
 Supported an Ethiopian Agriculture Res Org research grant proposal to mainstream climate
change adaptation
 Report: Biofuels in Africa: A Pathway to Development? ICEED Occasional Papers: Number 43.
Expected Outcomes
 Establish a new climate affairs degree program at Mekelle University
 Involvement of the African Diaspora in climate change adaptation in Africa
 Diffusion of appropriate technology (such as clay pots irrigation) by the vulnerable areas
 Develop training manuals (both print and new-media) climate change adaptation and mitigation
 Establish a regional IRG in Africa and an All Africa Center for Climate Affairs training.