There is growing optimism about the potential of digital innovations to support climate action and transform agricultural markets. We review and characterize the landscape of digital innovations in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region. We highlight major success stories associated with the potential of digital innovations to facilitate rural market transformation and support climate action, including adaptation and mitigation. Our desk and landscape review identifies various digital innovations used in Egypt, Morocco, and Uzbekistan. We then create a typology of digital innovations based on seven broad service categorizations: weather and climate; agricultural finance; energy and early warning systems; data and crowdsourcing; market information and market place; extension and advisory information; and supply chain coordination. Three technical and validation workshops supplement this review. Our review shows that digital innovations have the potential to build resilience to climate change and increase market access, but their adoption remains low and varying across contexts. Significant heterogeneity and differences exist across these countries, possibly due to different institutional and regulatory frameworks that guide demand and capacity. We identify several supply and demand-side constraints facing the digital ecosystem in the region. There is the existence of a significant digital divide fueled by gender, literacy gaps, and related socioeconomic and psychosocial constraints. A seeming disconnect also exists between pilots and scale-ups, as most existing digital applications are unsuccessful in expanding beyond the pilot phase.

The aim of this guide is to facilitate the utilization of Black Soldier Fly (BSF) as an alternative protein and fertilizer source, contributing to employment generation and poverty reduction. It is designed to support farmers, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), Extension Agents, and other stakeholders in acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to engage in BSF farming as a viable business opportunity. Serving as an all-encompassing guide, it systematically outlines the ‘how’ and ‘why’ behind each stage of the BSF production cycle, starting from initial startup (point zero) to the successful harvesting phase. The manual also delves into the science of BSF farming, elucidates the steps for establishment, covers best practices, and provides insights into potential challenges within the production chain, along with strategies for ensuring the sustainability of the BSF enterprise.

Water resources management under a changing climate requires a multi-scale water resources understanding of a given basin. The Awash River Basin of Ethiopia is experiencing various water management challenges due to its complex hydro-climatological conditions and a range of water users, hence understanding the anthropogenic impacts on hydrological changes is complex. The study is aimed at improving the climate resilience of water management practices at multiple spatial scales. This report is a synthesis of the multi-scale water resources assessment of the Awash Basin. The objectives are: (1) characterization of the basin’s distribution and availability of water; (2) identification of the existing water resources planning and management practices; (3) challenges at multiple scales; and (4) developing recommendations to address observed gaps. The approach used to meet these objectives is a water resources assessment from the landscape to the basin-scale. This is to understand the current practices on water management through field observation, stakeholder consultations, and the analysis of existing data and literature on water resources of the basin. Field observations were conducted on selected learning watersheds in three sub-basins: Borkena, Mille and Awash Terminal. The specific watersheds are Felana, Lake Maybar and Gelana, and Ewa and Afambo. The key challenges to water resources management that were observed at basin, sub-basin and watershed levels are: (1) inadequate data and information on key hydrological variables that led to a lack of recent knowledge on water availability, actual water use, types and potentials of water sources; (2) lack of decision-support tools that would provide strategic and operational level information for risk-based planning and management of water resources (3) lack of appropriate water infrastructure and context-specific technologies that can support small-scale producers (SSPs) and basin-level water managers; (4) lack of well-coordinated institutions to govern and manage water resources from catchment to basin levels; and (5) lack of technical skills and knowledge on how to monitor water availability, water use, and the application of tools. The implications of these challenges are visible in water scarcity observed during dry seasons for different sectors; low agricultural productivity; upstream-downstream tension on water; flooding damages in peak rainfall seasons; and deterioration in water quality that impacts agriculture and drinking water supply. This study finds out that the practice of water resources management in the basin requires substantial strengthening to make it climate resilient. The study proposes strategies that would help in making climate-smart water resources management practices in the basin. Climate-smart water resources management is defined as the practice that would maximize the goods and services that can be produced from limited water resources; minimize the impact of climate ext