Reinforcing the Mission Driven nature of CIDC work – Don Ellison, SVP, ICF

Reinforcing the Mission Driven nature of CIDC work:

Climate Resilience – Accelerating Solutions Through Knowledge Transfer

Whether decades old or newly formed, CIDC member companies bring years of experience with them based on their passion for development work. This knowledgebase ranges widely: from sector-specific expertise to broader program management and U.S. contracting experience.

Because many CIDC companies also respond to needs here in America for federal, state and counties, they can apply those lessons learned in their work overseas. This transfer of knowledge and practices not only ensures more comprehensive responses to proposals – thus speeding up the contractor selection process – it also produces results that address what otherwise would likely have been unforeseen complications – thereby reducing implementation times and reducing costs.

For some sectors knowledge transfer from one to the other can accelerate programmatic responses. One area where this is quite fruitful is climate resilience.

In the United States over the last 30 years, many CIDC companies have provided climate resilient infrastructure, policies, and programs to local governments - especially in jurisdictions vulnerable to flooding. As a result, these county and municipal governments integrate climate resilience into all aspects of planning. This occurs with activities such as infrastructure development, emergency planning, and land-use policy. By anticipating and mitigating changing climate impacts over the next several decades, thousands of lives and billions of dollars in recovery costs can be saved.

The benefit of this work means that knowledge and practices implemented domestically in the US can be easily adapted into USAID projects. One example is a USAID funded project in Mozambique – Coastal City Adaptation Project. Home to 60 percent of the country’s population, Mozambique’s coastal cities drive national economic development. But because of their locations, they are also some of the most vulnerable cities in Africa: they are exposed to rises in sea level, cyclones, erosion, tropical storms, and other effects of climate change. The USAID Coastal City Adaptation Project (CCAP) worked with five cities — Pemba, Quelimane, Nacala, Mocimboa da Praia, and Ilha de Moçambique — to protect livelihoods from the effects of climate change and improve residents’ lives.

There are many other examples of knowledge transfer of climate and environmentally related knowledge and practices into USAID projects by firms that first worked in developed countries. This approach is critical in accelerating adoption of lifesaving approaches, especially as climate related events increase and expose populations to severe risks.

Conclusion

As climate change progresses and USAID seeks programming that supports more resilient outcomes, climate resilience sits at the top of that list. Firms and organizations with decades long experience with these issues in the US and Europe, already adapt solutions for different conditions in their countries. Adaptation of climate resilience into the great variety of low- and middle-income countries, is but one more problem they are eager to solve.

Don Ellison, SVP, ICF