CCCPA conducted the first edition of the “Climate Responsive Programming for Sustaining Peace” training course from 17-21 September 2023. The training was held in partnership with the Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS) of the African Union Commission (AUC).

The training course kickstarted with an opening ceremony featuring opening remarks by
Ambassador Ahmed Abdel-Latif, CCCPA Director General; H.E. Mohamadou Labarang,
Ambassador of the Republic of Cameroon and Dean of the African Group of Ambassadors in Cairo; Dr. Prosper Addo, Climate Change Focal Point--on behalf of H.E. Ambassador Bankole Adeoye, Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, African Union Commission, H.E. Yvonne Baumann, Ambassador of Switzerland to Egypt; Ms. Anne Schouw, Deputy Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt; and Mr. Alessandro Fracassetti, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Egypt.

Building on the outcomes of a pilot training conducted in March 2023, the training contributes to the implementation of the COP27 Presidency Initiative “Climate Responses for Sustaining Peace” (CRSP), with the objective of strengthening the capacities of African countries on climate, peace and security-related issues.

This training also comes in line with the African Union Communiqué adopted by the Peace and Security Council at its 1051th meeting in November 2021, on the theme "Climate Change and Peace and Security: The Need for an Informed Climate-Security-Development Nexus for Africa."

The Communiqué emphasizes the importance of capacity-building to address capacity and coordination gaps across the climate, peacebuilding, humanitarian and development communities.

The training brought together African stakeholders from 15 African countries and regional organizations, tasked with addressing aspects of the climate, peace, security and development nexus and engaged in policymaking as well as national and regional planning in Africa.

The training course aims to enhance knowledge and understanding of how to assess and respond to climate-induced risks in a holistic and integrated manner to advance climate adaptation, resilience, and peacebuilding in Africa, while grounding analysis and responses in context-specificity and national ownership. Furthermore, the training specifically focuses on understanding the science of climate change, and the climate-peace-security nexus.

Participants are equipped with risk and resilience analysis tools as well as gender-sensitive risk and resilience analysis tools to enable them to analyze the complexity and interconnectedness of climate change and its associated implications.

In addition, representatives from the AUC, the African Development Bank, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the Office of the Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa, the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as CGIAR Focus Climate Security provided guest lectures on topics such as climate finance for sustaining peace and climate-induced displacement in Africa, and climate resilient food systems.

The training was implemented with the generous support of the European Union and the Swiss Government through UNDP.