There is growing concern that tackling complex environmental challenges requires multifaceted approaches to engaging stakeholders and driving meaningful, lasting change. Mentorship and capacity building, for instance, are recognized as viable means of developing agripreneurial capacity and innovation among youth, thereby enabling food systems transformation.
From 24–28 November 2025, AFAS convened a multi-day stakeholder workshop in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, under the theme “Scaling Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) for Resilient Savannas: Integrating Indigenous and Local Knowledge, Research, and Policy.” The workshops brought together a diverse group of participants—students, alumni, researchers, policymakers, private sector actors, NGOs, and indigenous knowledge holders—to strengthen collaboration and chart the future of Nature based Solutions (NbS) across African savannas.
The AFAS Knowledge Exchange, Engagement & Dissemination week took place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 13–17 October 2025. During this week, the AFAS team from the University of Cologne, the University of Bonn, and Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny convened at the University of Nairobi (UoN). The event provided an exciting platform for knowledge exchange, collaboration, and engagement among partners, fellows, and stakeholders.
The African Climate and Environment Centre – Future African Savannas (AFAS) is now accepting applications for fully funded Master’s fellowships!
AFAS supports highly motivated graduates who are interested in addressing climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development in African savannas through Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and science–policy–practice interfaces.
🎓 18 fully funded fellowships available
📍 Study locations:
University of Nairobi (Kenya)
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny (Côte d’Ivoire)
🔎 Thematic focus areas: Water | Agriculture | Energy | One Health | Biodiversity
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire
University of Nairobi, Kenya
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire
Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d’Ivoire
Université de Nairobi, Kenya
The African Climate and Environment Center – Future African Savannas (AFAS) commenced in 2021 and is one of the DAAD Global Centres for Climate and Environment. AFAS is a consortium between two African and two German universities and strives for interdisciplinary and international exchange beyond academia by working on the science-policy-practice interface. The thematic focus of the center is nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and biodiversity loss in African savannas.
The project initiative stems from the urgent need to develop sound and robust evidence-based and science-backed strategies to preserve and protect the fragile environments of the West and East African savannas against the combined threats of extensive and diverse land use and rapid climate change. AFAS aims to train young African scholars in the interdisciplinary field of climate change adaptation and biodiversity and to transfer scientific findings into practice, while at the same time reducing the climate and environmental footprint of education, research and international cooperation. The project specifically focuses on the potential of nature-based solutions and of cooperation on the science-policy-practice interface.
Image Film by DAAD