- Climate Resilience and Adaptation
- Disaster Risk Reduction
- Global Framework for Climate Services
- Capacity Development
- Governance
- Data Management
- Forecasting
- Service Delivery
- Early Warnings
Project background
The four-year Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) Malawi project – with a total contribution of US$3 million – aims to strengthen the production, delivery, and use of weather, hydrological, and early warning services to protect vulnerable communities and support risk-informed development. The project aims to enhance Malawi’s capacity to forecast floods, droughts, and other climate-related hazards, and to ensure that warnings reach those most at risk, including women, children, the elderly, and rural populations. The project supports sustainable development by improving preparedness, reducing disaster losses, and reinforcing climate resilience across agriculture, water resources, and urban and rural communities.
The WMO-implemented component (US$1.46 million) supports Malawi’s national institutions – including DCCMS, the Department of Water Resources, and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs – to strengthen the climate and early warning services value chain through improved observations, modelling, data processing, community-centred dissemination, and last-mile communication. Underpinned by capacity development, gender and social inclusion, and user-driven co-production, WMO technical guidance addresses enhanced climate services (ENACTS), flood forecasting in the Shire Basin, drought monitoring, and the development of inclusive community-based early warning systems aligned with national and district-level policy processes.
Objective(s)
- Strengthen Malawi’s ability to produce and co-produce climate and early warning services by modernising forecasting systems, improving drought and flood monitoring, and ensuring that climate information is accessible, reliable, and developed together with users across key sectors.
- Improve the dissemination, coordination, and use of early warning information so that national, district, and community stakeholders can clearly understand warnings, activate preparedness procedures, and respond effectively, with attention to gender, social inclusion, and last-mile communication.
- Build long-term institutional and community capacities by training technical staff, strengthening disaster management structures, and equipping local actors to interpret, communicate, and act on early warnings, ensuring sustainability of services beyond the project’s lifetime.
Outputs
Output 1 - Improved climate and early warning information systems, including upgraded forecasting tools, drought and flood monitoring platforms, and user-friendly services such as ENACTS Maprooms and Climate Watch Advisories — all designed to be more accessible and inclusive for diverse user groups, including women, youth, elders, and people with disabilities.
Output 2 - Strengthened early warning dissemination and preparedness mechanisms, featuring gender-sensitive SOPs, inclusive communication strategies, and expanded last-mile channels (radio hubs, community networks) that ensure women and vulnerable groups receive timely, understandable alerts.
Output 3 - Enhanced community and urban risk information products, such as flood risk assessments and management strategies that incorporate gender considerations and support equitable preparedness for both women and men in high-risk districts.
Output 4 - Reinforced institutional and community capacity, with training for DCCMS, DWR, DoDMA, MRCS, and district-level actors that mainstream gender and social inclusion, and equip community members — including women and youth — to interpret, communicate, and act on early warnings.
Expected outcomes
- More inclusive, timely, and actionable early warnings, enabling women, men, youth, elders, and people with disabilities to understand risks and make informed decisions to protect lives and livelihoods during floods, droughts, and extreme weather.
- Enhanced gender-responsive preparedness and response capacity, as improved SOPs, communication pathways, and community engagement approaches ensure that women and marginalised groups actively participate in preparedness actions and benefit equally from early warning systems.
- Greater resilience in urban and rural communities, with risk information and planning tools that reflect different vulnerabilities and capacities of women and men, strengthening equitable disaster preparedness in cities such as Zomba and Mzuzu.
- Stronger national institutions equipped to deliver gender-sensitive early warning services, supported by trained staff, inclusive operating procedures, and sustainable technical systems that ensure long-term delivery of equitable climate and early warning services.
Achievements
- Improved climate and early warning systems are already operational, including upgraded drought and flood monitoring tools, early versions of ENACTS Maprooms, and enhanced hydrological modelling in the Shire Basin — providing more reliable and location-specific warnings.
- Strengthened early warning dissemination and preparedness, with district authorities updating SOPs, radio hubs expanded, and community feedback mechanisms improved to ensure clearer, more consistent warnings reaching rural and vulnerable populations. Gender and inclusion considerations have been incorporated into these dissemination pathways.
- Urban risk information has advanced, with probabilistic flood risk assessments initiated for Zomba and Mzuzu and early development of flood management strategies, improving city-level preparedness and enabling more gender-aware risk planning.
- Capacity across institutions and communities has been significantly strengthened, with DCCMS, DWR, DoDMA and MRCS staff trained in forecasting, modelling, communication, and understanding and action on early warnings preparedness.
- Region:
- Region I: Africa
Implemented in
Donors
Partners
