The publication is based on the lessons of the “Meteo Media Days” organized in 15 countries in West Africa and Chad between 2012 and 2016.
The activity was an element of communication strategies of METAGRI and the Global Forum for Climate Services GFCS, two programs implemented by the World Meteorological Organization.
Acknowledging that communication specialists and meteorologists have a different perception of the adequate way to convey useful messages to final users, the exercise aimed at providing them an opportunity to interact in a manner different from the usual coverage of meteorological events by journalists.
The interaction allowed to identify the obstacles on both sides minimizing the chances for the farmers and other beneficiaries to make the best use of the very valuable information produced by the meteorological services.
In most cases, it was the first time that the two groups were sitting together in a workshop and discussing the challenges in making the climate services more relevant to end users.
Lack of confidence, inability to understand the jargon used by the meteorologists, inability to translate the key concepts in local languages, insufficient training, particularly in the use of ICTs, access to the information in the met services, lack of basic equipment to ensure quality of data (met services)and radio/tv/print productions (media houses) were mentioned in all countries.
The main lessons summarized in the publication include the importance of tailoring the climate services (content, format and communication channels) keeping in mind the needs of different categories of users. I was also stressed that the delivery of meteorological information should be part of comprehensive communication strategies along with of the use of ICT, seen as a goldmine for instant exchange between users, communication specialists and met experts.
To order the book: https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/communication-strategies-for-effective-climate-services/isbn/978-613-9-87318-0
The author of this publication is Oumy Khaïry Ndiaye from Senegal. It is a 84 paged publication written in English. For more information you can visit https://www.lap-publishing.com/