GCRF - Building REearch Capacity for sustainable water and food security In drylands of sub-saharan Africa (BRECcIA)"

该提案的总体目标是发展三个撒哈拉以南国家（肯尼亚、马拉维和加纳）在水和粮食安全相关领域的研究能力，并加强其现有的研究能力。气候多变性对撒南非洲大部分地区的生计产生巨大影响，在这些地区，雨水灌溉的农业生产是当地生计的特点，也是大多数国家经济的支柱。再加上人口增长、城市化和收入增加带来的需求增加，气候变化预计将导致GDP减少6%，为移民和冲突创造条件。由于这些原因，水安全被认为是全球发展面临的最大风险之一。水安全也是实现许多可持续发展目标的基础，是应对一系列挑战的制约因素，包括粮食安全，获得清洁水和抵御水文灾害。与此同时，实现粮食安全是撒南非洲国家国家政策的优先事项，也是发展的重要组成部分。在实现水和粮食安全方面进展不足的原因是复杂的，但需要进行精细的、与当地相关的研究和解决方案，这些研究和解决方案最好由当地研究人员和从业人员制定和测试。虽然撒南非洲国家在这一领域开展研究的能力各不相同，但在所需技能和资源方面存在一些根本性差距。为了解决这些问题，我们的项目将制定和实施一项全面而灵活的活动计划，旨在加强英国和撒哈拉以南非洲国家之间的研究能力，同时解决围绕水和粮食安全的重大挑战。我们将制定一系列活动，以一系列关键研究问题为指导，并在研究人员和从业人员的协作网络范围内实施，以更广泛地维持和传播能力和知识。我们的重点是撒哈拉以南非洲的三个国家：肯尼亚、马拉维和加纳。这些代表了不同的地理、气候、社会经济、文化和体制环境和挑战，将允许进行比较研究和交流思想，并发展更丰富的合作网络。在这些国家，我们还与处于不同能力发展水平的机构开展互补的、持续的大学研究项目和合作，重点关注水/粮食安全的各个方面。能力建设活动方案将通过共同评估需求、共同开展活动和共同执行，包括南南能力建设和知识交流，针对每个机构及其目标进行调整。

The overall aim of this proposal is to develop research capacity and strengthen existing research capabilities in three sub-Saharan countries (Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana) in the related areas of water and food security. Climate variability has an enormous impact on livelihoods across much of SSA, where rain-fed agricultural production characterizes local subsistence and is the mainstay of most national economies. Coupled with rising demand from growing populations, urbanization, and rising incomes, climate change is projected to lead to cuts in GDP of up to 6%, setting the stage for migration and conflict. For these reasons, water security is considered one of the top global risks to development. Water security is also fundamental to attaining many of the Sustainable Development Goals, being a constraint on meeting a range of challenges including food security, access to clean water, and resilience to hydrological hazards. At the same time, attaining food security is a priority of national policy in SSA countries and is a key building block of development. The reasons for insufficient progress in attaining water and food security are complex, but requires fine-scale, locally relevant research and solutions that are best developed and tested by local researchers and practitioners. Although capacity to carry out research in this area in SSA countries is variable, there are a number of fundamental gaps in the required skills and resources. To address these, our project will develop and implement a comprehensive and flexible programme of activities aimed at strengthening research capacity between the UK and SSA countries while addressing the grand challenges around water and food security. We will develop a pipeline of activities that is guided by a set of key research questions and implemented in the context of a collaborative network of researchers and practitioners that can sustain and propagate capacity and knowledge more broadly. Our focus is on three countries in SSA: Kenya, Malawi, and Ghana. These are representative of different geographical, climate, socio-economic, cultural and institutional settings and challenges that will allow for comparative research and exchange of ideas, and the development of a richer collaborative network. These countries are also where we have complementary, ongoing university-level research projects and collaborations focused on various aspects of water/food security with institutions at different levels of capacity development. The programme of capacity building activities will be tailored to each institution and its goals through a process of co-evaluation of needs, co-development of activities and co-implementation, including south-south capacity building and knowledge exchange.