A District Level Stakeholders Consultation Workshop on Tanzania’s National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS) was held on 23 February 2017 in Kiteto District, Manyara Region. Organized by the Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA), the workshop is part of the implementation of the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) programme. The main objectives were to share the progress in the preparation of the NFCS with stakeholders and to solicit more inputs and comments for its improvement. The workshop was attended by community leaders, policy makers, farmers, pastoralists and representatives from Kiteto District Council, Tanzania Red Cross and civil society organizations,.
The workshop was led by the District Executive Director of Kiteto District Council, Mr. Tamim Kambo, and TMA Director General and Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the WMO, Dr. Agnes Kijazi. Mr. Kambo and Dr. Kijazi both thanked the Royal Government of Norway, World Meteorological Organization and all GFCS partners for supporting initiatives to enhance climate services in Tanzania.
After the status of GFCS implementation in Tanzania and the draft NFCS were presented, participants were organized in three groups to review the draft NFCS and provide comments and inputs for its improvement.
Some of the key comments and recommendations from the stakeholders were:
- The document needs to be aligned with the National strategies and policies including the National development vision (Vision 2025),
- Priority sectors need to be expounded to include Water, Energy and Tourism
- Livestock sector should be treated with more weight and should be mentioned in the document and should not be hidden in Agriculture
- More awareness on climate and climate change and socio-economic benefits of weather and climate information is needed. Awareness and sensitization should also target Tribal Leaders and Private Sectors
- The document should be produced in both English and Swahili.
- TMA should establish and expand observation and monitoring Network in Kiteto and other districts.