Partnerships and networks Photos: Spanish Red Cross

Why engage in partnerships and networks? Ensure right information available for climate-smart programming and planning at all levels in National Society Red Cross Red Crescent cannot accomplish everything – other partners can supplement Influence policies so national adaptation planning benefits vulnerable people Often National Societies do not have all the information and expertise needed to address climate change in their programmes and policy work, so new partners may be needed to supplement existing expertise. It is important to remember that Red Cross Red Crescent actions are just part of the broad range of actions needed to tackle the issue at a national scale. Most of the time, Red Cross Red Crescent societies will deliver small scale activities to vulnerable communities as well as organising some level of disaster response preparedness (and contingency planning) in collaboration with relevant authorities and other organisations. It does however often require support from several actors to make the interventions climate smart. First of all it would require National Societies to work with providers of climate information to understand how to better design our interventions. Often local policy implementation in vulnerable areas sometimes lacks linkages to land degradation and other related issues which severely impact livelihoods. National Societies can have more impact if their interventions are accompanied by agreements at local level with local governments.

Who is already involved in your country? Create a stakeholder list and collect information from e.g.: Scientific community Governments Communities International agencies National Society NGOs There will likely be many organizations working on climate change in your country and region. Hence, much information should already be available and it is useful to have a good overview of all these stakeholders and what they could potentially contribute to your work in terms of knowledge, skills and ideas. It will require a permanent dialogue with many of these partners to get to a fruitful cooperation. Remember that many organisations will have differing views on climate change – it is important to always let the Fundamental Principles of Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement guide you in determining a humanitarian perspective on the issue in your country.

How to prepare for dialogue with others? Scientific Institutes: Weather and climate information -- but ask for information, not data Establishing the first steps of a dialogue with experts can be a bit challenging. It is important that you are well prepared. Having a climate risk assessment for your country can already help you to feel more confident, but don’t worry too much. Orientation always comes with asking as many questions as possible. It will be good to keep in mind what you want to achieve in the end. The most important partnership to build is with meteorological offices, to improve the communication of complex climate and weather information so that end-users can better understand – and act on – the early-warning messages issued. It will be key to explain to the Meteorological office what you do and don’t understand. Having a dialogue with your Met office should be ongoing. Building the foundation for a flow of relevant information takes time, and is difficult to do once a crisis situation is underway. It requires an investment from both ends to make sure you understand each other’s needs and language. Quite often met offices want to show their complex data sets and assume everybody will understand it. This is absolutely not the case. You have to explain to them what you need and how you would like to have it communicated. For a list of sample questions that you can ask your met office, please visit the Relevant reading section of this module. At the global level, the IFRC and the Climate Centre have established a strong network with the world’s key research institutes in the area of climate change and further builds on the successful “Partnership to save lives” between the IFRC and the IRI (the International Research Institute for Climate and Society), which was brokered in 2007. The IRI will support IFRC on seasonal and shorter term weather forecasts and continue to assist through the IFRC/IRI Helpdesk: ifrc@iri.columbia.edu)  

How to prepare for dialogue with others? Different government departments Climate change is cross cutting, though issues are covered by different departments As auxilliary to governments, National Societies can often help influence national planning – this includes adaptation policies to ensure that they meet the needs of the most vulnerable National Red Cross Red Crescent Societies are auxiliary to government but in operational terms, most of the National Societies have partnerships and agreements with government ministries. Partnerships with the Ministry of Environment and its climate change focal point are new to most National Societies. Experience so far demonstrates that the Red Cross Red Crescent can play a very constructive role in bringing governmental actors together on the issue of climate change, even when they did not have regular contact in the past. In a number of countries National Societies have become engaged in national climate change adaptation strategies and programmes (national adaptation plans), playing an important role of contributing a risk reduction approach and bringing the humanitarian implications of climate change to the fore. Bringing stakeholders together from different government departments can also be a fruitful way of showing how climate change impacts are a cross cutting issue, touching upon many different sectors in every society, e.g. water, health, agriculture, environment, etc.

How to prepare for dialogue with others? International agencies like: World Meteorological Organization World Health Organisation Food and Agriculture Organization UNICEF Many UN agencies have growing roles in relation to climate change. Not only do they have useful online resources but their country and regional representatives will be worth getting in touch with. Joint cooperation on climate change adaptation with them can be effective. They might have access to international finance. A humanitarian perspective on climate change is often welcomed.

Training, conferences and workshops Through inviting external partners to your climate change workshops and to participate in other organizations’ climate change workshops will be an important investment. Expertise from science providers and experiences from other organizations working on climate change adaptation (more specifically climate-smart disaster risk reduction) will enable relevant exchange of knowledge and open opportunities for collaboration. For different events it will be good to always repeat certain issues as a refresher, such as: an introduction on the science on climate change, current trends (is it getting hotter, drier, and wetter?) and current and possible future impacts in your country, extreme weather events in relation to ongoing disaster management, health and care and/or water and sanitation programmes within your National Society.