The Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) programme will build on and further the successes of the Climate
Science Research Partnership by turning attention explicitly towards improving “advancing scientific
knowledge, understanding and prediction of African climate variability and change on 5 to 40 year
timescales, together with support for better integration of science into longer-term decision making,
leading to improved climate risk management and the protection of lives and livelihoods”1. To provide
inputs into the direction of climate science and ensure its better use in informing decision-making,
understanding the varied needs and priorities of target decision-makers is critical. Recognising this,
and in order to better target the nature of the FCFA programme, the Department for International
Development (DFID) through the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)
commissioned four pilot case studies in different African countries to elicit the current and potential
future use of weather and climate information.
The report presents the findings from one of the pilot case studies in Malawi, led by Kulima Integrated
Development Solutions and the University of Leeds in 2014. It identifies climate-related information
needs and decision-making priorities to inform decision-making for climate-resilient development in
Malawi. Our focus is on social protection systems, food security and disaster risk management. These
cross-cutting sectors meet FCFA’s needs to demonstrate complementarity with existing DFID
programmes and were also selected based on our assessment of the greatest opportunities incountry.
Findings from this case study will both inform the FCFA programme and contribute towards
addressing the already-recognised gap between the development of climate science and its effective
communication for use in decision-making.