As a climate change adaptation expert with the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Application Centre in Nairobi, Kenya, Ogallo manages the impacts of and responses to climate change in 11 countries across the horn of Africa. But after working for almost a decade on building climate resilience in Africa, Ogallo says she was in need of a new perspective on climate adaptation strategies.

Much of the money for this work has come from donors; and much of the work has been in reaction to humanitarian disasters or focused on communicating information.

“This has been important, but as the climate risks continue to increase, I’ve found myself having many conversations on the need to change our approach,” Ogallo says, noting that recent international crises that have captured world attention and resources, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have made this even more pressing.

The CBEY Financing and Deploying Clean Energy program is giving her a new perspective and helping her initiate discussions at various government levels on creative financing mechanisms and community-level energy access, Ogallo says. Adaptation challenges, she notes, are linked to poverty, and poverty is inextricable from energy access.

“Before the course, I was looking for a program that offered innovative approaches to climate financing, but CBEY offered so much more,” she says. “I have gained a language to articulate the role of clean energy not just in mitigating climate change but, critically for Africa, in strengthening the adaptive capacity of vulnerable communities.”