Last week the Weather and Climate Information Services (WISER) Early Warnings for Southern Africa project hosted workshops in Kanyama and Lusaka central. The workshops were the first in a process of co-producing short-term weather alerts for thunderstorms with socially disadvantaged urban populations.
The first day was attended by 30 residents of the Kanyama area of Lusaka who are regularly exposed to flash flooding as a result of storms, together with national disaster risk reduction and disability organisations. The second day was attended by 12 representatives of national disaster risk reduction and disability organisations, as well as Kanyama-based organisations Youth in Action for Disability Inclusion and Kanyama Disabled Persons Association.
The workshop then moved to Lusaka central, where users met with meteorologists to plan for a testbed due to take place in February 2024. The testbed will provide the opportunity to simulate the issuing of nowcasts, on which validation and feedback will be provided by a variety of the users from Kanyama.