Author: Liz Stephens

Thanks to everyone who joined our monthly progress call, the minutes are below. Please add your thoughts on the discussion point in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Work Package 1 report (Liz on behalf of Hannah)

• Andrea has been continuing his work on the influence of ENSO / Indian Ocean Dipole on flood likelihood in sub-saharan Africa.
• He made a presentation to the Tropical Research Group in the Department of Meteorology at Reading and gained some valuable feedback. Liz will be presenting this work for Andrea at the European Geophysical Conference in Vienna next week.
• Arlindo Meque, based in Mozambique, has been researching tropical cyclone impacts and the precipitation and wind thresholds which lead to different impacts.

Andrea Ficchi presenting his research to the University of Reading Tropical Meteorology group

Work Package 2 report (Joy)

• Joy is in the process of finalising the research tools which have been co-produced among all the case study teams, final versions will be shared soon. From this the teams will be working on desktop reviews and begin the fieldwork.
• The WP2 team had the opportunity to meet up at the Dialogue Platform in Nairobi.
• Joy is currently working on a paper on the methodological approach used in FATHUM.

Rui da Maia leading a discussion at the Africa FbF Dialogue Platform on the challenge of understanding human behaviour for FbF in Mozambique

Work Package 3 report (Sara)

• Sara has been refining the interview protocol and will be preparing a report based on her initial observations, identifying key themes and looking at factors that inhibit / enable the use of uncertain forecasts.

Work Package 4 report (Emily W)

• This work is about to start with Toby joining the University of Reading in June. Toby has been working with the Start Network on FbF-related research.
• Toby introduced himself to the team. All of the WP4 team will be in Stellenbosch / Cape Town in June.

Other collaborations (Liz)

• We welcome Arielle Tozier de la Poterie and Anne-Catherine Vanhove as collaborators with the FATHUM team. They are working on research related to FbF in Mozambique.

Report on FbF Activities (Erin)

• A new DREF mechanism for early action will be launched in May in Geneva. Following the Africa FbF Dialogue Platform in Nairobi there will be similar Dialogue Platforms in Latin America and Asia in the coming months where FATHUM work will be featured.
• FATHUM work will also be presented by the Climate Centre team at the Understanding Risk conference in Mexico City in May.

Communication Channels (Liz)

• I’m keen for a shift from email to shared comments on the blog posts (obviously where appropriate).
• Next month’s progress reporting will be done via the blog before the Skype call, giving more time for discussion during the call.
• I also welcome contributions to the blog, however short, even just a photo of your activities!
• Anything on the blog will be syndicated via Twitter (to our external audience) and via Slack (to our compatriots in other SHEAR projects).
• There is a FATHUM shared OneDrive folder that hasn’t been well used, please upload relevant reports, publications, photos etc.

Annual meeting in Stellenbosch / Adaptation Futures

• I have a final deadline for all information related to the Adaptation Futures session of April 20th.
• Please could everyone register for the conference by end of the day on Monday. Reading will pick up the invoice for registration fees for those of you under a subcontract if registration has been carried out by then.
• Joy has been managing accommodation and shuttle bookings for South Africa, please let Joy know if you think you are missing from these arrangements.

Discussion point:

• What presentations / discussions / activities do you want to see at the annual meeting in Stellenbosch?

NEXT CALL: 2pm GMT+1, Thursday May 3rd