As part of efforts to strengthen West Africa’s human resource capacities to analyze regional climate change impacts, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany, (BMBF) has given scholarships to 100 postgraduate students to pursue courses in Climate Change thematic areas in West Africa.

The program is managed by the Capacity Building Department of West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL).

The students, who will be studying in 10 of the highest universities in West Africa, expressed delight about the opportunity given them by BMBF through WASCAL.  They pledged to fully maximize for their future and that of West Africa.

The scholarship also forms part of WASCAL’s commitment to training and building the capacity of the next generation of African scientists to champion the fight against climate change, while influencing governments and policy makers.

The graduate program also aims at designing strategies to adapt to threats, opportunities and uncertainties of climate change within the region.

The 100 students, comprising 60 Doctoral Research Program and 40 Master’s Research Program Students were drawn from Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Togo, Benin, The Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire. They will be moving into their various universities, depending on the climate change thematic courses they have chosen to pursue.

This is the third batch of students admitted into the WASCAL program since the inception of the WASCAL Capacity Building Program in 2012.  So far 255 students have benefited from the scholarship program. The postgraduate program is a partnership between 10 West African Universities and selected German Institutions.

The West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) is a large scale research focused Climate Service Centre mandated to help tackle the challenges of climate change in West Africa.

It was established by its member countries- Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Mali and Togo- with the support of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

With the vision of becoming one of Africa’s leading name in the provision of climate change services in and for West Africa, WASCAL is organized around three principal departments: Climate Service Department, The Research Department and the Capacity Building Department.