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Connecting Climate Evidence to Action: Lessons from Co-creation Labs for Locally Led Adaptation
PCCB Network Capacity-Building For Series
29 May 2026
13:00h - 14:30h
CEST/UTC+2
Virtual event
Capacity-building
Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)
English
0
Connecting Climate Evidence to Action: Lessons from Co-creation Labs for Locally Led Adaptation
PCCB Network Capacity-Building For Series
29 May 2026
13:00h - 14:30h
CEST/UTC+2
Virtual event
Capacity-building
Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN)
English

Background

The Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) is a globally recognized initiative that works with diverse stakeholders to design and implement Locally Led climate-compatible development. Managed by SouthSouthNorth and co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) through the Step Change Initiative, CDKN operates across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, with Ghana as one of its focal countries. In Ghana, CDKN's current third phase, launched in October 2023, is specifically designed to address the country's unique climate challenges and opportunities. CDKN Ghana operates at the intersection of evidence, policy, and practice, with a particular emphasis on democratising climate knowledge and empowering local actors, (including youth, women, communities, researchers, entrepreneurs, and media professionals etc) to take climate action.  

A distinctive feature of CDKN Ghana’s approach is its use of co-creation labs (a participatory knowledge-brokering methodology) to translate complex climate evidence into accessible and actionable outputs. These include initiatives such as co-created songs with women’s groups, a climate television series, interactive toolkits, and the evidence to business innovation for young climate founders. Building on these experiences, the proposed virtual session introduces co-creation labs as a structured approach for connecting climate evidence to action. Rather than a traditional presentation-and-panel webinar, the session runs as a live co-creation lab, after a short opening presentation on lessons from CDKN Ghana's lab portfolio, participants work in breakout groups on a shared Miro board to design their own co-creation lab around one of four anchor evidence briefs spanning Ghana, Brazil, Vietnam, and Madagascar/Tanzania. The session draws on Ghana's lab experience while surfacing peer learning relevant to NDC and NAP implementation under the PCCB framework. 

Objectives

  • Share practical lessons from CDKN Ghana's co-creation lab portfolio, spanning Evidence-Policy, Evidence-Entrepreneurship, Evidence-Creative, Evidence-Media Narrative, Evidence-Institutional Toolkit, and Evidence-Local Knowledge labs. 
  • Critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of the co-creation lab process, including challenges of power dynamics, sustained participation, resource intensity, and scaling 
  • Strengthen participants' capacities to design co-creation labs that connect climate evidence with local practice across diverse stakeholder groups 

  •  Enable peer learning through group report-backs and cross-context exchange on co-creation lab design choices, drawing on participants' own experiences  

Agenda  

Duration 

Session / Activity 

5 mins 

Welcome & Opening Remarks by PCCB Member 

10 mins 

Introduction to CDKN Ghana and lessons from co-creation labs - Dr. Prince Ansah 

20 mins 

Opening Presentation and Q&A: Evidence as the Key Pivot for Co-creation - Prof. Yaw Agyemang Boafo  

30mins 

Breakout Session: Designing a Co-Creation Lab where groups work on shared Miro boards with assigned evidence briefs, guided by the four-zone Lab Design Template (Evidence & Gap, Co-Creation Team, Co-Created Output, Lab Design) 

15 mins 

Plenary Session: Group report-backs from each breakout (≈5 min per group) followed by cross-group synthesis and Q&A on lessons, challenges, and design choices 

10 mins 

Closing Remarks, Collaboration Opportunity & Next Steps - CDKN Ghana / PCCB Secretariat