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DARAJA, which means ‘bridge’ in Swahili, is a service and partnership that aims to improve weather and climate information services (WCIS), including early warnings of extreme weather, for urban users.
By adopting a systems-wide approach, DARAJA builds ‘bridges’ and operational partnerships between the actors critical to the co-design of the products, dissemination channels and feedback loops for weather forecasts and extreme weather alerts.
These actors in the system include:
The DARAJA Service is delivered into a growing programme of urban demonstrators via a range of digital tools, apps and resources hosted on a digital platform. The DARAJA Platform supports a growing learning network of partners engaged in DARAJA deployments.
The DARAJA Service has been piloted already in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam with strong impact results. These included a 20:1 benefit cost ratio (BCR) in enhanced productivity and avoided climate related damage and loss to users.
The Service is also being adapted for deployment into Small Island States (SIDS) via a demonstrator for the Caribbean based in Kingston, Jamaica (IDB).
DARAJA is receiving additional support to scale out of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam into other global cities, from the EIT Climate-KIC, the EU‘s leading public private climate innovation partnership.
Our vision is to scale DARAJA to provide actionable climate information and early warning services to 250 million urban residents, prioritising the most vulnerable, by 2026 and ultimately to all 1 billion people living in urban informality.
DARAJA aims to make a significant contribution to the Risk-informed Early Action Partnership (REAP) and its goal to make 1 billion people safer from climate disasters by 2025.
Resurgence is also proud to be a partner of the UN-backed Race To Resilience, through our Weather Climate Information Service, DARAJA. Race To Resilience aims by 2030 to catalyse Climate Action by non-state actors and the private sector, to build the resilience of 4 billion people from communities who are vulnerable to climate risks.
Financed initially by the FCDO Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER), DARAJA has won two significant independently judged awards: from the Global Resilience Partnership (Innovation in Resilience) and from British Expertise (International Climate Cooperation).
Partners in past and ongoing DARAJA pilots and deployments include: FCDO Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) Programme, Climate-KIC, IDB, Met Office, Cross Climate Centre, Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA), Meteorological Service of Jamaica (MSJ), Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), Centre for Community Initiatives – Tanzania (CCI), Centre for Caribbean Climate Innovation (CCIC).
On the 21st October 2020, Resurgence won the International Collaborative Project of the Year Award for DARAJA, at the British Expertise International Awards 2020. The Award recognises and celebrates the best of UK expertise in international development, infrastructure and capacity building.
