WeatherWalay has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with KhudMukhtar SAWI, establishing a framework for collaboration on climate resilience, disaster preparedness and community awareness. The agreement was signed by Fozia Hussain, Senior Manager Projects and Partnerships, on behalf of WeatherWalay, and by Marriam Kaiwan, President of KhudMukhtar SAWI, in the presence of team members from both organizations. The signing gives the two organizations a formal basis on which they can plan joint work, and it covers three areas that are closely connected, since awareness among communities is an important part of preparing for floods, storms and other events linked to weather and climate.
According to WeatherWalay, the partnership brings together its localized weather and climate intelligence with the strong community presence and humanitarian experience of SAWI. The organizations said that together they aim to ensure that timely weather information reaches communities in a form that people can understand and act upon. This aim addresses a common difficulty, because weather information is often available but is not always presented in a manner that people in a particular area can use to make decisions. By combining the technical information of WeatherWalay with the access that SAWI has to communities, the two organizations intend to close the gap between the forecast and the action that people take.
The first joint initiative will take place in Nowshera, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and it places a special focus on gender inclusion. It aims to bridge the information gap faced by women and girls by disseminating timely climate, weather and disaster information directly to them. The initiative also aims to improve local preparedness through Women Change Champions, and it will deliver capacity building that is designed for and with women. By reaching women and girls directly rather than through other members of a household, the project seeks to make sure that information arrives in time for them to use it, and by involving women in its design, it takes their own needs and experience into account.
WeatherWalay expressed gratitude to Marriam Kaiwan and the KhudMukhtar SAWI team for their support, and it said that it looks forward to expanding the collaboration through joint capacity building training, research and awareness initiatives for vulnerable communities across Pakistan. The announcement named Junaid Yamin and Syeda Iffat Kazmi alongside the signatories, and it was shared with hashtags that include climate resilience, disaster preparedness, gender inclusion and women in climate action. The initiative in Nowshera therefore serves as the starting point of a partnership that both organizations hope to develop into wider work for communities that are most exposed to climate related risks.
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