At the occasion of the launch of the Zambian UN CC:Learn project, Ms. Shamiso Najira, UN CC:Learn Ambassador for climate change learning had the opportunity to share her and Malawi’s experience on the process of developing and implementing a national climate change learning strategy.
By sharing Malawi’s process, Ms. Najira was able to inspire the new UN CC:Learn partner country, Zambia. The Zambian project was launched on the 16th and 17th July 2019 and discussed how they would develop their own strategy.
As one of the few countries that have fully implemented what they set out to do in their national climate change learning strategy, Ms. Najira was able to share full list of lessons learnt from initiation to implementation. She shared how the various stakeholders that were involved in the process and how each of those stakeholders played a role during the implementation phase. Some of the key lessons highlighted include:
- Importance of stakeholder mapping and knowing their roles e.g. working with curriculum development institution/departments to facilitate mainstreaming climate change into national curricula.
- Flexibility to conform to sectoral priorities and timelines.
- Prioritizing key actions that can yield maximum impact and have multiplier effects.
- Anchor project within existing coordination and institutional structures for climate change management.
With Malawi receiving additional support to update their strategy to allow for consideration of NDC and NAP needs, Ms Najira will be continuing her work in promoting climate change learning and this time inspiring other SADC colleagues in Zambia and Zimbabwe.