Policy Dialogue 4 — From Institutional Strengthening to Economic Transformation: Climate Adaptation and Productive Energy for Resilient Food Systems

This session explores how strengthening the organizational systems, leadership, and implementation capacities of African think tanks enables them to move from research and advocacy to delivering practical climate adaptation and productive-energy solutions for resilient food systems. Drawing on the Strengthening African Leadership in Climate Adaptation (SALCA) program, it showcases catalytic initiatives by HESPI, ICCASA, ACED and CERAPE advancing productive uses of renewable energy, climate-smart agriculture, and low-carbon value addition. Hosted by the ACBF Climate and Energy Unit (SALCA Program).

Moderated by Mr. Charles Kofi Owusu (ACBF), with Dr. Ali Abdi (HESPI), Dr. Mary Nyasimi (ICCASA), Dr. Frejus Thoto (ACED), Dr. Jean-Christophe Boungou Bazika (CERAPE) and Dr. Yasmine Fahim (ERF).

Objective: show, through SALCA cases, how strengthening think tanks' organizational and leadership capacities enables scalable climate adaptation and productive-energy solutions. Expected outcomes: shared understanding that energy-enabled agribusiness transformation depends on strong institutions, not infrastructure alone; SALCA models shared; partnerships strengthened to scale implementation-ready solutions.