Climate services for the Greater Horn of Africa: interviews exploring practitioner perspectives from Kenya and beyond

Climate and weather services support important decision making in many sectors across the Greater Horn of Africa. Though constantly improving, there is a mismatch between the provision of these services and the needs of target stakeholders. To better understand this, we interviewed 23 practitioners who work with climate, weather, and hydrological information in East Africa, to gain a qualitative understanding of their work and how they use climate services. We found a complex network of stakeholders within this climate services ecosystem, each with their own foci that dictate their information needs and use cases. We found that information is typically transferred from one stakeholder to another by means of a value chain structure. Thematic analysis provided a deeper understanding of participants' needs and motivations, revealing trust and information suitability as key issues in encouraging uptake. We also found that participants had strong motivations to overcome barriers to improve the livelihoods of end-user communities. We argue for evaluating the broader interconnected climate services ecosystem in a more holistic manner, instead of focusing only on impact in end-user communities, which can lead to the design of better systems and benefits for all stakeholders.