This paper analyses a pilot study which used regional climate services to provide farmers in South Sudan with user-friendly seasonal weather information to inform their day-to-day farming activities, based on a similar service in Uganda. Taking place in rural Tonj South, Aweil West, and Aweil North, this paper studies climate services reception and application in South Sudan, the pilot climate service was first of its kind directly delivered to farmers and agro-pastoralists in the country. Using stakeholder discussions and end user feedback surveys, the study found that a majority of the project beneficiaries received climate conditions advice, used it, trusted it, and were interested to make use of such services in the future.
The authors recommend the establishment of a permanent national technical working group on climate services to coordinate, review, translate and disseminate climate information to key end users, supported by a financial and meteorological strategy for long-term climate services in South Sudan. They also call for an increased understanding of the role of traditional rainmakers and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in order to create an integrated climate services model.
