Food systems are caught between rising demand and a changing climate. Smallholder yields remain volatile, post-harvest losses erode returns and agriculture is both a victim of and contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Governments, donors and private investors increasingly require programmes to show how they build resilience and reduce emissions rather than treating climate as an add-on.

The Management of Climate-Smart Agriculture & Food Systems Training Course follows the full management cycle. It begins with climate and food system diagnostics, including exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity analysis, and then examines practical options such as conservation agriculture, agroforestry, integrated soil fertility, water harvesting, drought-tolerant varieties and climate-smart livestock management. Participants study climate information services, insurance and digital advisory tools, as well as how value chain upgrading, storage and market access make adaptation pay. Sessions on finance, safeguards, gender inclusion, monitoring and learning show how to move from concept to a funded programme.

The learning approach is applied: participants work with agro-ecological zone profiles, farm budgets and programme logframes. They close the week with a concept note outlining priorities, partners, risks and indicators for a programme in their own region.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• Assess climate risks, vulnerability and adaptive capacity of farming systems and value chains.
• Explain and apply the productivity, adaptation and mitigation pillars of climate-smart agriculture.
• Select and sequence practices suited to a given agro-ecological zone and farm type.
• Integrate climate information services, insurance and digital advisory tools into extension.
• Analyse food system losses and design interventions across storage, processing and markets.
• Mainstream gender, youth and nutrition considerations in programme design.
• Identify financing sources, including results-based and carbon finance, and apply environmental safeguards.
• Build a monitoring and learning framework with relevant resilience and emissions indicators.

The programme will benefit those who plan, fund or oversee agriculture and food system initiatives, such as:

• Agriculture, livestock and fisheries officers in ministries and counties
• Programme managers in NGOs and development agencies
• Climate and environment advisers working with farming communities
• Cooperative, farmer organisation and agribusiness managers
• Extension service supervisors and agricultural trainers
• Agricultural finance and insurance product developers
• Researchers and academics in agronomy and food systems
• Donor and development partner programme officers

Participants finish the week with:

• A climate risk and vulnerability screening tool for farming communities.
• A shortlist of climate-smart practices matched to their own agro-ecological conditions.
• A concept note and logframe for a climate-smart programme.
• A checklist for integrating gender, nutrition and youth inclusion.
• An overview of finance options and their eligibility requirements.
• A monitoring plan with practical resilience and emissions indicators.

The programme uses field-oriented, participatory methods, including:

• Facilitator-led technical sessions with regional examples
• Participatory vulnerability mapping and practice-selection games
• Farm-level budgeting exercises comparing conventional and climate-smart options
• Case reviews of successful and failed adaptation projects
• Peer feedback on programme concept notes

Every participant who attends the sessions and presents a programme concept note receives a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion from Vision Reach Global Consultancy.