Our Approach

How Resurgence combines research, co-design, climate science and long-term partnerships to build early warning services people can actually use.

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How it works

Resurgence’s methodology is built around one core principle: climate information only works when it reaches people in forms they trust, understand, and can act on.

Every programme starts with research into how weather and climate information is currently produced, understood (or interpreted) and used. From there, Resurgence works with vulnerable communities, community organisations, forecasters, telecoms and media partners to co-design services that respond to real needs, local realities and existing communication behaviours. This makes each solution scientifically grounded in data, community-led and built for long-term use.

Phase 1

Understand the landscape

Map the information ecosystem, identify risks, and establish how communities currently access, interpret and act on weather and climate information.

Phase 2

Co-design the service

Use surveys, focus groups, interviews and stakeholder engagement to shape services around trusted channels, real behaviours and local barriers.

Phase 3

Co-produce the service

Develop warning systems and communication campaigns, refined through feedback loops that keep communities and climate science at the centre.

Phase 4

Measure, learn and strengthen

Return with the same rigour at programme close to measure what changed, capture evidence of impact, and improve the next generation of services.

Measuring What Matters

Resurgence designs every programme with accountability built in from the start. Our research and evidence framework tracks not just what we deliver, but whether it reaches people, whether they understand it, and whether it changes what they do when extreme weather threatens.

How it works

How we design and deliver inclusive early warning systems.

Understand the System

Our proprietary Information Ecosystem Mapping (IEM) identifies how risk information flows between information providers and the community, and where the blockages are. Before we design anything, we map the landscape: who receives information, through which channels, in what form, and whether it leads to action.

Track What Changes

Community surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, policy reviews, and social and mass media monitoring give us a layered picture of change, disaggregated by gender and vulnerability, so we know whether warnings are reaching those who need them most.

Learn and Adapt

Our Theory of Change is not a static document. It is a living framework, reviewed regularly against real-world conditions and community feedback. Continuous learning loops mean every programme makes the next one stronger.

We hold ourselves to the same standard as the services and partnerships we help build: trustworthy, consistent, and responsive to the people who depend on them most.

View Stories of Change DARAJA Addis Ababa

View Stories of Change DARAJA Nairobi

View Stories of Change DARAJA Dar es Salaam

View Stories of Change DARAJA Kampala

DARAJA is not known so much as Weather Mtaani in my community, but DARAJA came through as a saviour to people’s lives and how they were living. And it has prevented them from losing their property and losing their lives.

James Kirika

Laini Saba resident

“We monitor rainfall and drainage levels. When thresholds are reached, we send alerts to DARAJA Climate Champions, who share them with the community. This collaboration ensures forecasts are not just data, but life‑saving information.”

Dr. Isaac Mugume

Assistant Commissioner, Forecasting Services, Department of Meteorological Services, Uganda

“Before DARAJA, floods used to take lives. Children could not go to school. And for us women we fell sick. Every time we stepped into the flood water, we contracted Bilharzia, plus urinary tract infections. We also suffered from Cholera.”

Allen Kyomuhendo

Community Resident, Katogo Zone, Kawempe Division, Bwaise, Kampala, Uganda

“When you want to start a project like DARAJA you need to involve all those important stakeholders, especially from the city authorities and the community. Because we need to have community involvement from the beginning.”

Prudensiana Luckago

Community Development Officer, Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) Tanzania

“We worked with residents to map safe routes and rescue points. This participatory approach ensures the plan reflects local knowledge and lived experience.”

Catherine Nimusiima

ACTogether Uganda, DARAJA Project Manager

“Personally, I was not seeing weather information as an important part of my day-to-day life before DARAJA. At school we had low attendance of students about more than approximately 10% per each class during the rainy season because most of the students live in this flood plain or lower Msimbazi basin but we did not foresee that, by just following and using detailed or advanced weather information, we could boost and maintain students’ attendance at school and contribute to a better academic performance. We learnt this through the DARAJA project.”

Esther Lugulu

School teacher at Gilman Rutihinda Primary School located at Kigogo Mbuyuni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

“I look forward to working with Resurgence and DARAJA, and all stakeholders to provide the best available science necessary for addressing climate change challenges particularly in developing countries.”

Dr. Ladislaus Chang’a

Vice Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); Acting Director, Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA)

Credit: The Chanzo Reporter

“DARAJA is an iconic example of radical, disruptive collaboration in climate services for the urban poor.”

Dr. Aditya V. Bahadur

Director, Red Cross Climate Centre

Credit: Finnish Red Cross

“That’s what DARAJA means to me — it’s about connection, because that’s what bridges do. As an implementer and partner in DARAJA, in Nairobi, we want to scale it up and ensure it continues to connect diverse communities across the region. When a woman in a slum can challenge a planning professional, we know we’ve made progress.”

Regina Opondo

Senior Community Principal, Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI)

“Governance and trust are as essential as protocols — without trust, the most vulnerable will not act on warnings.”

Sheela Patel

Climate Champions Global Ambassador; Founder, Slum Dwellers International (SDI)

Credit: IISD

“DARAJA is now part of Kampala’s disaster planning. It shows how city authorities and communities can work hand in hand.”

Henry Bwire

The Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Kawempe division

“We have unpredictable weather. We have fishermen going out at night and then they have to rush back. But now they’re getting the weather forecasts, it tells them a little ahead of time what weather to expect. So now they will be more prepared.”

Nadine Earle

BReTCAT (DARAJA Replicator Model) community stakeholder, Jamaica

“The nature of DARAJA requires some sort of partnership, so strengthening the partnership with the private sector is one of our approaches to solving the problem. The other approach is bringing the community on board to understand and give value to the climate information.”

Tarekegn Abera

Executive Officer,  Ethiopian Meteorology Institute (EMI)

“When we hear the warning, I tell my mother to pack our bag. We keep water, food, and documents ready.”

Primary school student participant, DARAJA Kampala service

Bwaise, Kampala, Uganda

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to some commonly asked questions.

How does Resurgence measure the impact of its programmes?

Every project begins with a baseline and ends with an endline assessment. This uses a mix-methods approach, combining quantitative and qualitative data. There are also targeted assessments at various points of the project implementation to track changes, which enables us to adapt our approach in real-time.

This allows Resurgence to measure changes in access, understanding, trust and action over time, producing impact claims that are evidence-based, verifiable and comparable across different contexts.

What does co-design mean in practice?

Co-design means communities, forecasters, city authorities, media partners and other stakeholders actively shape the service from the start. Resurgence does not apply a pre-packaged solution. It builds services around the people, systems and behaviours already present on the ground.

Resurgence uses multiple tools for this, including participatory spatial mapping, design thinking workshops and Climate Cafés.

How does Resurgence work across very different contexts?

The multi-hazard methodology is designed to travel. It has been applied across cities, coastal communities, small island contexts and fragile or conflict-affected settings, adapting to local realities without losing its scientific and participatory foundations.

How does Resurgence know whether information is actually reaching people?

Alongside household research, Resurgence tracks engagement across channels such as radio, television and social media to understand not only whether information is being issued, but whether people are seeing it, trusting it and responding to it.

See the approach in action

Explore the programmes, partnerships and evidence behind Resurgence’s work in climate resilience.

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