On December 20, 2018, GGGI organized the official launch workshop of Least Developed Countries Universities Consortium on Climate Change (LUCCC) in Ethiopia with Commissioner of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change of Ethiopia. Representatives of universities, research centers in Ethiopia, international and national research institutes as well as officials of developmental agencies attended the workshop to share their experience, challenges, insights and best practices with the participants.

The workshop was intended to create awareness about the importance of LUCCC initiative, develop a shared understanding of what the participating university consortia need to build their capacity to address climate challenges through knowledge sharing and education and establish a mutual understanding of the current state of research on climate change and policy, and the significance of ‘learning’ as a tool to think beyond traditional Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) mechanisms.

The workshop also focused on pursuing long-term capacity building efforts throughout Ethiopian universities and research institutes, creating a platform for universities to share their work, experience and challenges regarding their climate change programs, and coming up with a roadmap on universities’ engagement with climate change-related capacity development which will feed into the LUCCC initiative.