Cascading Climate and Health Risks in African Cities (CASCADE)

In partnership with scientists, policymakers, and communities, CASCADE aims to deepen understanding of complex and cascading climate health risks in African cities, and co-produce knowledge to respond to these risks. To this end, CASCADE is committed to fostering research skills, knowledge exchange and scientific leadership through a collaborative, transdisciplinary approach.

CASCADE is funded through the second phase of the Developing Excellence in Leadership, Training and Science in Africa program (DELTAS II) and implemented by the Science for Africa Foundation, with support from Wellcome and the UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.

SEI has worked closely with CASCADE’s early-career researchers through their Scholars Research Program. There, SEI has led student researchers across the five core universities through leadership skill-building focused on transdisciplinary and collaborative skills including systems thinking, gender, intersectionality, empathy, reflexivity, positionality, agency, and the value of stepping out of one’s comfort zone. 

SEI also contributes to the project’s city learning labs. These deeply collaborative engagements bring together a range of perspectives from diverse city stakeholders including government officials, planners, civil society, the private sector and media together with university-based partners to explore urgent climate-related challenges facing the cities.