Gidraf Wachira

Challenge

Each programme sat in a different regulatory, cultural and donor environment, in remote-first delivery, and needed rigorous governance alongside room to adapt.

Approach

• Designed governance, reporting and performance management from the start of each cycle
• Directed multicultural teams, budgets and resources, refining delivery with MEL data and a lessons-learned matrix
• Evaluated programmes and wrote quarterly donor reports and annual portfolio updates

Results

• 95% of programmes delivered on time and within budget
• 250,000+ smallholders reached, with 73%-122% income uplift
• Delivery bottlenecks cut 30%

Takeaway

At this scale you need structure that holds under pressure and enough flexibility to adapt.

Challenge

Strategy only counts when it becomes funded, accountable action, and small community organisations need a process they can actually complete.

Approach

• Ran every stage: call, due diligence, award, monitoring and reporting
• Funded 9 INGOs and 16 CBOs and worked with national and local governments
• Published an Early Warning Systems training course for community use

Results

• $3M+ deployed to 25+ organisations
• 97% compliance and audit readiness
• Processing time cut 30%
• Weather index insurance and advisory services reached 100,000+ smallholders, raising farm output 27%

Takeaway

Simple, well-documented grant processes widen who can get funded while strengthening compliance.

Challenge

Uganda has national hazard data and a monthly early warning bulletin, yet warnings often stall at the district office. Floods, droughts, landslides and lightning hit communities that are remote, poorly connected and last to hear. Roles are unclear, funding is thin and local committees have had little training.

Approach

• Partnered with the government, which chose districts by hazard exposure, and commissioned an expert facilitator to deliver the training
• Taught through group work, scenario simulations, peer learning and case studies instead of lectures
• Mapped how warnings actually flow in each district and where they break down
• Added a district action plan session, with activities, owners and timelines, to build ownership
• Measured learning with pre- and post-tests and a participant survey

Results

• 37 district and sub-county committee members trained, with average test scores up from 77.6% to 97.3% (+19.7 points)
• 36 of 37 improved, and 19 scored full marks after starting with none
• No participant rated the programme fair or poor: 57% rated it excellent and 43% good
• 10 district action plans plus a national set of recommendations on coordination, mobile alerts, budgets and inclusion of women, youth and people with disabilities

Takeaway

Knowledge is quick to build, but lasting change needs funding and follow-up. Only 58% of participants felt fully confident to design a CEWS, so the next step is quarterly action-plan reviews and rolling the training down to parish and village level.

Challenge

More than 370,000 people live in Tana River County, which floods and droughts repeatedly. CBOs knew their communities but lacked stable internet, resources and the ability to interpret climate data, so warnings reached them late or not at all.

Approach

• Set a theory of change: access to early warning systems, skills to interpret alerts, ways to relay them, and preparedness
• Designed a multi-day early warning and connectivity training that can be adapted to other places, and recruited a local facilitator
• Brought the Kenya Meteorological Department and the National Drought Management Authority into the training, and linked CBOs to the county meteorological officer
• Provided 16 solar-powered Starlink kits, with training on using and maintaining them

Results

• 38 CBO and local government staff trained, and 16 organisations connected
• CBOs report reaching 200,000+ people with hazard alerts
• A farmer moved his plot after a WhatsApp flood alert, and one conservancy reported no loss of life in flash floods after alerts went out
• In February 2025 the county government asked NetHope to extend the kits to its commissioner and special programmes offices

Takeaway

When local government joins the training and trusted CBOs hold the tools, communities act early instead of waiting for outside help. The model was built to be replicated.

Challenge

Climate decisions in these places rest on thin local data. Yumbe faces drought and deforestation, with land and water under pressure in a district of 945,100 people that includes about 198,500 refugees in Bidibidi settlement. Southwest Nigeria faces erratic rain, flooding, heat and erosion. Community knowledge rarely reaches planners.

Approach

• Co-created surveys in discovery sessions with women, youth, elders, people with disabilities, government and civil society
• Collected data by SMS, WhatsApp, a mobile app run by trained local data champions, and Ushahidi's AI-powered Distant Voices social media listening in English and Yoruba
• Validated findings in community and stakeholder meetings before publishing them
• Turned the results into response, adaptation and mitigation recommendations

Results

• Uganda: 1,752 community members across 14 sub-counties, against a target of 1,000+, and a report, risk maps and policy brief; prolonged drought was the top threat for 55% of respondents
• Nigeria: 9,506 community submissions against a target of 5,000 (190%), 63% through the mobile app and 37% through Distant Voices
• State ministries in Nigeria committed to use the findings, including adjusting school hours during heatwaves and revising agricultural extension materials
• Both sets of recommendations called for stronger community early warning systems

Takeaway

Communities already hold detailed climate knowledge. Local data champions and validation are what make it credible enough for officials to act on.

Challenge

Governments, corporates, donors and community groups work on different timelines and incentives.

Approach

• Convened partners through workshops, inception meetings and data validation sessions
• Worked with UN bodies and industry groups such as GSMA
• Founded the Climate Intersections Working Group, a 160+ member community of practice

Results

• 50+ strategic partnerships
• $7M+ co-investment leveraged
• Capacity building delivered to 5+ sub-national and 2 national governments

Takeaway

Partnerships last when each partner clearly gains something real.

Challenge

Without documented process, delivery depends on individuals and slows as programmes grow.

Approach

• Designed programme and grant management systems and reporting frameworks
• Ran weekly risk registers and lessons-learned reviews
• Trained teams and partners through formal sessions and regular check-ins

Results

• Process timelines cut by up to 40%
• 90%+ on-time delivery sustained
• Consistent audit readiness across programmes

Takeaway

The best SOP is firm on what matters and flexible everywhere else.

Challenge

Starting from nothing means no playbook and no proof, so assumptions need testing before money is committed.

Approach

• Tested market and community gaps with low-tech MVPs
• Designed pilots with a clear path to scale
• Built feedback loops through focus groups and digital champions

Results

• 4 initiatives reaching 2.5M+ people
• 3 initiatives built from the ground up in 3 organisations

Takeaway

Learn cheaply first, then scale what communities actually use.