RCMRD Empowers Kenyan Counties with Climate Adaptation Tools through AAAA Workshops

In a step toward strengthening climate resilience in Kenya’s agricultural sector, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) successfully conducted County User Engagement and Capacity Building Workshops across over 38 counties. These sessions aimed at sensitizing counties on the African Agriculture Adaptation Atlas AAAA - a digital data-driven platform. The objective was to enable counties visualize climate impacts, contribute to prioritization of adaptation investments, and alignment with key development frameworks such as the County Integrated Development Plans (CIDPs), governors’ manifestos, and the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA). The expectation is to bridge the gap between climate data and local action.

Held in the month of April 2025, the workshops targeted the following officials
 • County Director of Agriculture 
• County Director of Livestock
 • M&E Officer 
• Data/GIS Officer
 • County Crop Officer 
• County Gender Officer

These workshops provided practical, hands-on training on how to navigate and interpret data from the AAAA platform. Participants were guided through the Atlas interface, to enhance their capacity in reading maps, charts, and accompanying narratives to support climate adaptation planning. 

RCMRD also facilitated a walkthrough of Spotlight Notebooks—interactive knowledge tools within the platform—and introduced counties to four tailored knowledge products, including factsheets, bulletin, feasibility reports, and gender-sensitive enterprise selection. From these products, county officials present are to select the most appropriate product to their county as they see fit. These knowledge products will then be co-developed by RCMRD with each county to ensure their local realities and priorities are reflected. To support a more inclusive and responsive approach, RCMRD also administered a Digital literacy, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) and Gender and Intersectionality Questionnaire during each county visit. This tool targeted to assess existing capacity needs, highlight technical gaps, and encourage gender-sensitive approaches to climate action. These resources are expected to directly support counties in integrating climate resilience strategies into agriculture programs.

‘The African Agriculture Adaptation Atlas will provide counties with the data and insights needed to make informed decisions in the face of climate risks. By integrating climate projections with local planning priorities, the Atlas will enable us to design targeted adaptation strategies, strengthen food systems, and safeguard livelihoods through more resilient and sustainable agricultural development.’- Mr David Korir County Director of Agriculture –Kericho County.

Through this initiative further support to already existing integration of geospatial data into agricultural planning contributes to strategic planning by the counties to enhance productivity, strengthen food security, and respond to the realities of climate change. AAAA aims to support data-informed climate action at local level for sustainable agriculture and inclusive resilience for generations to come.

Authored by Gladys Wambui Mwangi