Webinar series on climate information in Africa: Climate Prediction
The Earth's climate is changing, but probably nowehere else more than in Africa where the climate crisis is threatening the lives and livelihods of hundreds of million of people. How far in advance can we predict the climate? And why is this so important? Can predictions enhance the resilience of communities? Can African countries plan better if they access climate prediction in time? What role can technology play, and how can climate prediction be communicated to the public? These are some of the questions we will be asling our distinguished panellists.
Panelists

Eunice Koech
Climate modeling assistant ICPACEunice Koech is a climate modeling assistant at IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC) based in Nairobi, Kenya. Her background is in Meteorology and has a Master of Science degree in Meteorology from the University of Nairobi. She has 5 years’ experience in forecasting and her current focus is on seasonal and sub-seasonal forecasting for the Eastern Africa region. She is keen on downscaling of climate products for the agriculture sector, thus supports in strengthening the Food Security and Nutrition Working Group (FSNWG), which is a regional User Interface Platform for the agriculture sector in Eastern Africa. She is also passionate about communicating climate information to users who have no background in climate science. Her interest and professional goals include being a bridge between the climate providers and users to ensure that climate information uptake and use is increased in the region.

Charles Langton Vanya
Chief Meteorologist - Observations and Prediction Malawi Department of Climate Change and Meteorological ServicesCharles Vanya is a Chief Meteorologist with Malawi Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services. He is an agrometeorologist with MSc. in Agromet obtained in 2012 at University of Nairobi, Kenya, He is currently serving as head of observations and Forecasting in the Department. He is also a team leader of Numerical Weather Prediction in the department after being trained in Romania in 2015.

Christopher Jack
Deputy Director, Science Advisor University of Cape Town, Red Cross Climate CentreChris Jack is based at the Climate System Analysis Group (CSAG) at the University of Cape Town. He has wide ranging interests that cover the spectrum from high performance computing and big data methods, through to societal engagement and decision-making theory and practice. In particular he is involved in the following areas within CSAG and through engagement with partners: High performance computing and big data infrastructure; Computer modeling, global and regional; Downscaling, statistical and dynamical; Climate systems analysis, statistics, and processes; Science society engagement and communication; Science web interfaces; Informing decision making, theory, tools, and practice.

Hussen Seid Endris
climate scientist ICPACmoderator
Hussen Seid Endris is a climate scientist at the IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC). He received his PhD Degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Cape Town, South Africa and his B.Sc Degree in Meteorology from Arba Minch University, Ethiopia. Dr. Endris has strong experience in climate forecasting, model evaluation, forecast verification, regional climate modelling, downscaling and regional climate analysis. He published several scientific journal articles as lead author and co-author in peer-reviewed journals. He was one of the contributing authors in the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) fifth and sixth assessment reports (AR5 and AR6) on the climate section of the Africa chapter.