CREWS in Africa

Programme in Focus: West Africa

Focus on the core Indicators

12 LDCs/ SIDS with national investments plans and budgets for MHEWS

0 national plans, strategies and legislations on early warnings approved and/ or implemented

0 multi-hazard assessments, analyses, and other mapping of needs, gaps and priorities that inform investment requirements on early warning

6 hazards which pose a risk of life and economic loss for which forecasting and warning services are in place

0 climate and weather information products co-designed with users’ needs

Countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo

The CREWS West Africa programme has been in operation since 2018 and has supported 15 countries since inception, 3 of which were subsequently included in the CREWS Central Africa programme and some countries which are not LDCs/ SIDS (Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria).

Originally due to complete at the end of 2024, a time-extension has been requested to align with a GCF project which runs until the end of 2026. Specifically, the extension will enable the remaining funds approved by CREWS to be used to provide technical assistance to support the successful implementation and operation of capital investments under the GCF project.

Strengthening operational multi-hazard forecast systems

The programme has strengthened forecasting and warning systems and services for 6 hazards prevalent in the region:

• Drought and severe weather in place before 2018, both enhanced by CREWS (including by setting-up a high-performance computer in Regional Specialized Meteorological Centre (RSMC) Dakar) and providing training to LDCs and SIDS on optimal use of model outputs;
• Riverine floods: available since 2018 through FANFAR, with AGRHYMET and SMHI providing operational flood forecasting and alerts for 10 days ahead and enhanced by CREWS;
• Sub-seasonal forecasting (6 week lead time): available since 2018 through MISVA and enhanced by CREWS
• Dust and sandstorms: available since 2019 in Burkina Faso and since 2022 for a further 6 countries, with further improvements in 2024 and implemented by CREWS; and
• Flash floods: available through the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS) for Burkina Faso, Malli and Niger since 2024 and implemented by CREWS.

Key weather and climate information products have also been improved through the project. For example, before CREWS West Africa, 10-day agricultural bulletins (known as dekads) included only observational data for the past 10 days and a seasonal forecast, leaving a crucial gap. Informed by outputs from other centres (e.g. RSMC Dakar and AGRHYMET), these bulletins now include a forecast of the weather in the coming week, significantly improving their usefulness to the region’s farmers. Other activities linked to CREWS West Africa include the development of Crop Calendars in Togo and Chad and the roll out of a suite of digital tools across the continent (see Feature: Open-source Digital Tools).

Building effective regional networks
A key aspect of CREWS West Africa has been the development of effective regional networks. The strengthening of regional centres has been a particular highlight bringing economies of scale at the national level and demonstrably leading to lower investment costs for Burkina Faso, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Guinea.

Through an inclusive, collaborative approach, the programme has brought together:

• National public sector institutions in the region: NMHS, NDRMA/O and those responsible for civil protection.
• Regional centres: WMO centres responsible for meteorology, agrometeorolgy, climate and related applications, training and data distribution some collaborating for the first time and formalizing these arrangements (e.g. RSMC Dakar and AGRHYMET).
• International institutions: European NMHS as well as international academic and research institutions which are committed to supporting the region.

The programme has also encouraged the development of a cooperation framework to strengthen the capacity of national hydrological and meteorological services and their partnerships with the private sector (see Feature: Partnering across the sectors). The World Bank is also close to finalising guidance on Public Private Engagement in the region.

Leveraging other financing
CREWS West Africa has benefitted from other investments in the region, for example the ability to monitor country progress on the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services and/ or National Strategic Plans in NMHS in the region through a monitoring tool. Countries in the region are also benefitting from other CREWS funding, for example Guinea who has received CREWS Accelerated Support Window funding to support the development of a strategy for the newly created national meteorological agency (ANM).

Numerous other funding opportunities are also being explored, including GCF investments (e.g. GCF-IDA 31 million USD in Burkina Faso and in Mali) and regional World Bank programmes such as the West Africa Food System Resilience Program (FSRP) and West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience (WACA). The appraisal of new investments for Hydromet services leveraged through the Development, Resilience and Valorization of Transboundary Water for West Africa project (DREVE), an investment which is under preparation and is expected to strengthen the capacity of hydrological services in the region.

Developing a warning advisory system for sand and dust storms
Seven countries across the West Africa region are receiving sand/ dust warnings from the Sand and Dust Storm Warning Advisory System provided by the Barcelona Dust Reginal Center (AEMET-BSC ¹). In addition, a summary of the concentration index for the thirteen regions of the country was produced.

CREWS supported the provision of the tool, which in Burkina Faso, has been connected to the website of ANAM Burkina Faso to ensure semi-automatic conversion to warnings in Common Alerting Protocol format.

In 2024, the system was further improved thanks to AEMET installing dust/ sand sensors in several countries. The first of these was installed in Burkina Faso (funded by the European Union) with sensors subsequently installed in Chad, Mail and Niger thanks to CREWS support. These sensors, measure dust concentrations and enable the calibration of the sand and dust storm warning advisory system in relation with field observations.

Installing a Flash Flood Guidance System
In 2024, CREWS West Africa fully funded the installation of FFGS in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. This was a cost-effective approach which leveraged a pre-existing USAID-funded system which was already in place for nearly 70 countries globally achieving significant economies of scale. The system is running with a single hosting arrangement for the three countries. The extension of flash flood forecasting to additional countries in Central and West Africa is under consideration, bringing together different tools.

In Mali in April 2024, an FFGS national training workshop was held to ensure national forecasters (meteorologists and hydrologists) are equipped with appropriate expertise and knowledge to ensure optimal use of the system for forecasting and warning.

1. The WMO Barcelona Dust Regional Center was created in 2007 thanks to the formal agreement of two Spanish institutions: the Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMET) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC).

Programme in Focus: Burkina Faso

Focus on the core Indicators

1 LDCs/ SIDS with national investments plans and budgets for MHEWS

2 national plans, strategies and legislations on early warnings approved and/ or implemented

2 multi-hazard assessments, analyses, and other mapping of needs, gaps and priorities that inform investment requirements on early warning

4 hazards which pose a risk of life and economic loss for which forecasting and warning services are in place

3 climate and weather information products co-designed with users’ needs

CREWS Burkina Faso programme started in 2017 and was the first national CREWS programme to be launched in Africa. The aim of the programme was to improve meteorological and hydrological warning services in the areas of hydrology and management of water resources, agriculture, food security and other economic sectors.

There have been 2 phases to the programme, the first completing in 2021 and the second which was due to complete at the end of 2024 but for which an extension to the end of 2026 has been requested to align with the timeline of the GCF-funded project. This alignment is important as through its implementing partner (WMO), CREWS is most able to provide the technical assistance (e.g. training) that is required to maximise the benefit of capital investments made by the GCF.

Implementing recommendations from programme evaluations
Following best practice, a mid-term evaluation was undertaken in 2019 by an evaluation expert with technical knowledge of agrometeorology and hydrometeorology. Recommendations from this evaluation enabled programme activities to be adjusted for maximum impact. A final evaluation was carried out in 2021 based on five evaluation criteria, namely relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability.

Key findings from the evaluation were that the programme was highly relevant yet moderately efficient – mainly due to the complexity of the programme, for example, in terms of the number of inter-related activities and institutions involved. Programme effectiveness in terms of achievements was affected by delays but training events were reported as highly effective. The programme was assessed as having had a positive impact on beneficiaries, especially in relation to the provision of sand/ dust-storm forecasts and improved agrometeorological warnings and services. Finally, the sustainability of the programme would rely mainly on strengthening the skills of ANAM staff and the synergies and collaborations that were developed with other projects such as ClimSA (funded by the European Union) and Hydromet (funded by the GCF). A series of recommendations were made, for example the need to further calibrate the sand/ dust-storm forecast – an action that was completed in 2024.

Sustained support has a multiplying effect
CREWS has been operating in Burkina Faso for a long time, providing many opportunities for alignment with other interventions and investments in the country (for example, GCF FP074 which has the same objective as CREWS and ClimSA which is focused on co-developing services with end users). Continued support from CREWS, especially the provision of training, has ensured that the software and hardware is operated efficiently and maintained.

The early development of a Strategic Plan for the National Meteorological Agency (ANAM) has enabled continued progress to be made despite three changes of leadership since CREWS first started operations in Burkina Faso. Also key to sustainability, government support for the NMHS has increased over time as demonstrated by the new buildings provided to both the meteorological and hydrological services and the additional staff recruited. Good management, strategic planning and sustained funding has directly led to a larger, stronger and more capable ANAM.

In Burkina Faso, the close partnership between the World Bank and WMO helped mobilise GCF project funding (e.g. FP074) to scale up CREWS interventions. In this way, CREWS has demonstrably enabled funds and implementing partners to build on each other’s strengths through co-ordinated, complementary interventions.

Technical assistance from CREWS maximises the benefits of other investments
Whilst other investments (e.g. GEF and GCF) have purchased essential equipment for Burkina Faso, a focus for CREWS has been the provision of training. For example, in relation to the Flash Flood Guidance System (FFGS), a national training workshop in April 2024 ensured that national forecasters (meteorologists and hydrologists) were equipped with appropriate expertise and knowledge to ensure optimal use of the system for forecasting and warning. This complemented a wide package of support provided by WMO and funded by GCF and IDA under the World Bank project ‘Strengthening Climate Resilience in Burkina Faso’ (P164078). Other examples include training in the use of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) outputs from global and regional centres, training in the use of the digital tools delivered through the ClimWeb package (see Feature: Open-source Digital Tools).

Improved agrometeorological bulletins
Before the CREWS Burkina Faso programme, the agrometeorological bulletins were of limited use to farmers as they were mainly a report on the state of water resources based on observations data from the previous 10 days and did not include an outlook for the next 10 days – the forecast section has now been improved with a seamless approach. To enable forecasters to add this information, weekly briefings were initiated under CREWS, supported by Meteo France and RSMC Dakar (regional lead for the WMO’s Severe Weather Forecasting Programme) and these provided accurate predictions of the likelihood of rainfall events in the next 7 days to 6 weeks. Also, for agriculture, outreach to communities through roving seminars ensured the dissemination of seasonal forecasts pre-season and also a mid-season update enabling farmers to provide feedback on the season and the forecast accuracy.

Note: Burkina Faso has also benefited from activities and investments made under CREWS West Africa including the roll out of ClimWeb and the installation of sensors to calibrate the dust/ sandstorm forecast (see also Programme in Focus: West Africa).