DARAJA

DARAJA: The Inclusive City-Community Forecasting and Early Warning Service

DARAJA, which means ‘bridge’ in Swahili, is a service and partnership that aims to improve weather and climate information services (WCIS), including early warnings of extreme weather, for urban users.

By adopting a systems-wide approach, DARAJA builds ‘bridges’ and operational partnerships between the actors critical to the co-design of the products, dissemination channels and feedback loops for weather forecasts and extreme weather alerts.

These actors in the system include:

• Vulnerable Urban Residents, including the residents of informal settlements;
• National Weather Agencies providing residents with climate information;
• Civil Protection and Disaster Management Agencies that keep them safe;
• Infrastructure Operators that serve them;
• Media houses and telecommunications companies, schools, all key in dissemination to them.

The DARAJA Service is delivered into a growing programme of urban demonstrators via a range of digital tools, apps and resources hosted on a digital platform. The DARAJA Platform supports a growing learning network of partners engaged in DARAJA deployments. We will use the platform as a key resource to continue scaling but also deliver service via the UK Met Office, National Meteorological Agencies, and community partner organisations.

The DARAJA Service has been piloted already in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam with strong impact results. These included up to a 20:1 benefit cost ratio (BCR) in enhanced productivity and avoided climate related damage and loss to users.

The Service is also being adapted for deployment into Small Island States (SIDS) via a demonstrator for the Caribbean based in Kingston, Jamaica (IDB).

From 2023, DARAJA is scaling across East Africa’s urban informal settlements in the following countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda.

Our Vision

DARAJA is receiving additional support to scale out of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam into other global cities, from the EIT Climate-KIC, the EU‘s leading public private climate innovation partnership.

Our vision is to scale DARAJA to provide actionable climate information and early warning services to 250 million urban residents, prioritising the most vulnerable, by 2026 and ultimately to all 1 billion people living in urban informality.

DARAJA aims to make a significant contribution to the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) and its goal to make 1 billion people safer from climate disasters by 2025.

Resurgence is also proud to be a partner of the UN-backed Race to Resilience, through our Weather Climate Information Service, DARAJA. Race To Resilience aims by 2030 to catalyse Climate Action by non-state actors and the private sector, to build the resilience of 4 billion people from communities who are vulnerable to climate risks.

Financed initially by the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER), DARAJA has won two significant  independently judged awards: from the Global Resilience Partnership (Innovation in Resilience) and from  British Expertise (International Climate Cooperation).

Partners in past and ongoing DARAJA pilots and deployments include: FCDO Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) Programme, Climate-KIC, IDB, Met Office, Red Cross Climate Centre, Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA), Meteorological Service of Jamaica (MSJ), Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), Centre for Community Initiatives – Tanzania (CCI), Centre for Caribbean Climate Innovation (CCIC).

DARAJA: Nairobi and Dar es Salaam Pilots

DARAJA has been delivered to date in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam by Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) in Nairobi, the Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) in Dar es Salaam, Resurgence, the Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) and array of key local community partners, leaders and stakeholders.

DARAJA aims to improve the climate resilience of vulnerable populations living in informal settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya by building bridges between communities and weather and climate information providers.

DARAJA has been financed and developed under the UK FCDO (UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) Met Office-led Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) Programme.

DARAJA’s goal in East Africa is to improve the climate resilience of vulnerable populations living in informal settlements in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya by improving their access to actionable weather, climate and early warning information.

DARAJA IMPACT FINDINGS

A joint Resurgence-KDI-CCI research team working under DARAJA has carried out one of the most comprehensive mappings of information flows through the two cities to date, solely dedicated to access, uptake and use of extreme weather and climate information services.

As a result of DARAJA , communities living in the informal settlements of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam have been able to take better preventative action ahead of high impact weather events. This has resulted in both avoided loss and improved livelihoods for the communities.

The impact results achieved on the ground in each city by KDI, CCI, KMD, TMA and  DARAJA  local partners and stakeholders are based on research conducted  at the start and end of the project involving  over 700 household surveys  across the two cities.

Download: DARAJA Impact Results Slides

DARAJA 2020 AWARD WIN

On the 21st October 2020, Resurgence won the International Collaborative Project of the Year Award for DARAJA, at the British Expertise International Awards 2020. The Award recognises and celebrates the best of UK expertise in international development, infrastructure and capacity building.

To read more, please click here.

Watch Awards win announcement here.

DOWNLOAD DARAJA IMPACT FINDINGS

The impact information below, is taken from a robust sample of community residents who accessed or used Weather and Climate Information through DARAJA services.

Download: DARAJA Impact Results Slides