Projects

DRFN's work on climate change aligned to the national policy on climate change with a specific focus on  research and knowledge development, research into use, adaptation and resilience strategies on the local level.

To date we have been involved in the following projects: 

• The  five-year (2014-2018), multi-institutional and multi-scale ASSAR project combined interdisciplinary scientific research (at regional and thematic levels), capacity building, and stakeholder engagement to improve understanding of the barriers and enablers to effective climate adaptation. Our work centred on informing climate adaptation policy and practice in ways that advance the agency and long-term wellbeing of the most vulnerable. ASSAR was a project within the CARIAA (Collaborative Adaptation Research Initiative in Africa and Asia) programme, funded by IDRC and DFID.
• The Donkerbos-Sonneblom community project on climate change adaptation which focuses on various locally adapted interventions to assist the communities cope to the impacts of climate change. This project is funded by the Global Environmental Facility's Small Grants component.

• The Uptake of Climate Change Adaptation research results in Africa (CLARE-Namibia) project which builds onto the research results from the Adaptation at Scale in Semi-Arid Regions project (ASSAR) which was co-implemented by the Desert Research Foundation of Namibia (DRFN) and the University of Namibia (UNAM) from 2014-2018. The CLARE project is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and be implemented  from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2021. 

The DRFN is also the accredited entity to the World Bank's Adaptation Fund, since 2014.