Climate information prize launched in Kenya

 Climate information prize launched in Kenya By Duncan Mboyah   A climate information prize, The Tekeleza Prize worth USD$ 200,000,  has been launched by the Climate Information Prize programme  to incentivize the development of innovative solutions and to help vulnerable communities to be better informed. Explanations.   Bridging the Gap A climate information prize, The Tekeleza Prize worth USD$ 200,000,  has been launched recently in Kenya to make climate change information more usable and accessible for vulnerable communities and to incentivize the development of innovative solutions. The winning organizations will help vulnerable communities  having access to the information they require. It will  enable them to tackle climate uncertainty and risk. To quote  Assistant Director of the Kenya Meteorology Department, David Gikungu, “The organizations [ Winners]   will be getting valid information from the Kenya Meteorology Department (KMD) and disseminate to consumers for free in helping create awareness.” “Since climate change has adverse effects on individuals and communities, especially those whose livelihood are dependent on weather,  better access and usability of products and services are needed”, explained Gikungu. He observed that there is a lot of information on climate change but unfortunately they are not in formats that communities are able to understand and use.“We have to use climate information to develop initiatives that help the vulnerable adapt to climate variability and change,” he pointed out . The meteorologist said that the gap between producers and users of climate has existed for a long time due to the way the information was packaged and the language used. “The department has devolved its services to all regions in the country and has set up radio stations broadcasting in vernacular languages with the aim of informing farmers, pastoralists and other users in far flung parts of the country,” he added. The means Nicki Spence, the Climate Information Prize manager said that climate change has caused massive sufferings to many people globally hence the need to encourage innovators develop new ideas of tackling it. “The winning organizations will listen and respond to local needs of different groups within their locality by availing easily understood information,” Spence said. For him, Kenya is the best country globally to carry the program due to the government’s commitment to help and also the level of knowledge on climate change in the country. CARE International Kenya’s leader for Adaptation Fiona Percy observed that given the adverse effects of climate change, experts and organizations need to start translating information in a language they understand and not foreign languages. “We must begin to ask ourselves who are the consumers of climate change information and what  is the medium they prefer...