Over the course of 2020, the Climatelinks community contributed over 120 blogs on topics varying from mangrove restoration in coastal Sierra Leone to flood early warning systems in East Java, Indonesia. Climatelinks blogs serve the dual purpose of sharing USAID’s work on climate and development, and offering the Climatelinks community’s global network of development practitioners a platform for sharing their own work. Blogs are also frequently associated with Climatelinks monthly themes, which are selected to highlight the work of past and ongoing programs and activities. Below are the five most visited blogs of 2020.
5. Water for Life: Building Community Assets to Create Safety Nets highlights USAID/Zimbabwe’s efforts to increase food security through construction of community assets, including dams, irrigation systems, and dip tanks. The blog explains how communities, with the support of technical guidance provided by USAID, are able to identify, select, prioritize, and build community assets. Ultimately, these assets increase the self-reliance of the communities that create them and reduce vulnerability to climate-related shocks like flood or drought.
4. Private Sector Engagement Tools and Resources on Climatelinks, is part of our “Editor’s Pick” series, which highlights previously published blogs, resources, tools, and projects related to each month’s theme. Our May 2020 theme, private sector engagement, showcased a relatively new aspect of USAID’s work: engaging with the private sector for greater scale, sustainability, and effectiveness of development.
“Editor’s Pick” blogs are a great way to learn a lot about our theme by reading just one blog. You can view other blogs in this series by searching for “Editor’s Pick” on the Climatelinks blog.
3. The Intersectionality of WASH, Climate Change, and the Coronavirus reflects on the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic overlaps with the water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector. A number of USAID’s WASH-related programs are summarized for readers, including the USAID-supported Sustainable Wash Systems Learning Partnership (SWS) and the Drought Resilience Impact Platform (DRIP) in the Horn of Africa.
2. Reflections on Disaster Events on the One-Year Anniversary of Cyclone Idai shares lessons learned from the largest humanitarian disaster of 2019, Cyclone Idai, which devastated parts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. The blog reflects on the importance of nature-based solutions in development planning, and the need to re-think the “100-year flood” concept in the face of extreme climate-related weather events.
1. Inclusive Private Sector Engagement—A Key to Growth in Malawi’s Urban Cooking Transition is a short-form case study of Malawi, where charcoal is one of the predominant forms of cooking fuel. The blog notes the strong positioning of local enterprises in making a push for cleaner cooking methods at scale, and identifies essential components for local entrepreneurs looking to assist in this transition.
Do you have an idea for a Climatelinks blog? We would love to hear from you! Submit your blog idea to the Climatelinks team or email us to discuss next steps.
Stephan Hardeman
Stephan Hardeman is the Site and Community Manager for Climatelinks. He draws on more than five years of experience in communications for international development institutions, including the World Bank and USAID, to support Climatelinks through USAID’s Sharing Environment and Energy Knowledge (SEEK) initiative by engaging the Climatelinks community and featuring its work. Stephan has MAs in International Affairs (American University) and Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (United Nations University for Peace) and BAs in English and Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin.
