The West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (), Kumasiis hosting a three day training workshop to help universities integrate climate smart agriculture (CSA) and climate information services (CIS) into their curricula.
The workshop, which began in Kumasi, Ghana, brings together university lecturers and academic leaders from across West Africa. It focuses on two thematic modules: Disaster Risk Management in Crop Production, Livestock and Aquaculture and Pest and Disease Management in Crop, Fish and Livestock Production.
Opening the event, Professor Wilson Agyei Agyare, Director of the WASCAL Climate Change and Land Use programme at , said embedding CSA and CIS into university teaching will help build a generation of professionals capable of driving sustainable agricultural transformation in the region.
“This training is not just a knowledge sharing exercise. It is a call to action,” he said. “We are building a complete climate smart toolkit for higher education, from soil carbon sequestration to disaster risk and pest control.”
The event is organised by WASCAL in partnership with the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) with support from the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) initiative.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mrs Rita Akosua Dickson, underscored the urgency of the initiative, calling climate change a “borderless crisis” that requires coordinated solutions. She noted Africa’s heightened vulnerability due to its dependence on natural resources and limited adaptive capacity.
“Africa’s vulnerability makes this training not just necessary, but urgent,” she said. “ will closely monitor the outcomes and explore incorporating the new modules into our existing curricula as short courses.”
Dr Alcade Segnon, AICCRA’s Science Officer for West Africa, said the training seeks to empower institutions to adapt their academic offerings to reflect climate realities.
“We hope that by the end of this training, more departments will adopt these modules and train the next generation of climate resilient professionals in West Africa,” he said.
Professor Daouda Kone, Director of Capacity Building at WASCAL, explained that this training is part of a broader programme comprising four thematic modules. He added that all materials will be made available on RUFORUM’s online platform to support long term access and impact.
The three day workshop targets lecturers and deans from Ghana and other West African universities, especially WASCAL alumni and faculty, tasked with creating roadmaps for integrating climate smart agriculture into higher education across the region.
