Creative and Innovative approaches needed to combat the glaring climate crisis

African Countries are facing persistent climate crisis which is affecting livelihoods of communities and slowing down the development of countries. All development actors including governments, private sectors, Civil society organization have been working hard to ensure that impacts caused by the climate crisis are minimized.

On the continent, Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) is a robust coalition of CSOs that has been undertaking activities in line with the betterment of livelihoods of communities through advocacy, policy influence, capacity building among others.

In a three-day reflective meeting Representatives of CSOs coalescing under PACJA convened in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to assess the progress made so far and plan for the year 2023 and ensure they are in line with PACJA’s vision which is “A global environment free from the threat of climate change with sustainable development, equity and justice for all.”  Furthermore, the retreat was convened with the intention to collectively reflect and review 2022 performance of the Secretariat and Alliance against the work plans developed in February 2022 using the balanced score cards.

Participants also are dialoguing and documenting key lessons learnt from 2022 as well as success stories as well as setting goals, objectives and develop a costed 2023 work plan while incorporating learnings obtained from the 2022 reflections, among others in his opening remarks, Dr. Mithika Mwenda, the Executive secretary of PACJA indicated  that “we as the thought leaders, agenda setters in matters of climate justice, we need to be creative and innovative on our approaches towards combating the glaring climate crisis”.

He insisted that Africans have the capability to build their resilience towards the effects of the adverse climatic conditions and define for ourselves. Leveraging the intergovernmental and other regional stakeholders we can then achieve our ambitions and create sustainable projects for the people of Africa.

“The retreat is not only time to present achievements but also an opportunity for cross learning among national designated  Platforms in order  to improve on activities implemented at national level” he said.

Charles Mwangi, the Head of Programs and Research, PACJA has achieved a lot, the work done by national Platforms are the sign of PACJA’s journey in achieving its goals.  He called participants to use the retreat as the opportunity to reflect on the work done, cross learning and plan for the next implementation of work.

In 2022, PACJA work revolved around the key result areas of PACJA which are  in line with PACJA strategic plan for the year 2021-2025.

Speaking during their presentations, the National Coordinators exuded a lot of passion and commitment towards the vision and mission of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance.  Sarah Ngoy  from Tanzania  said  that  being part  of PACJA  has  raised the  trust between  the national platform and  the community  and the government  due to the impact  they are making in the  country.

Faustin Vungoma from Rwanda emphasized on the need to harmonize activities and branding in order to boost the visibility and impact of PACJA at national level.

The retreat takes place at the time the climate activities, government and UN bodies are preparing  to convene  in Arab United  Emirates  for 28^th Conference of Parties.  Participants are also discussing on how to enhance accountability and drive-up ownership in delivering climate and environmental justice programs.