SCOPING WORKSHOP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GFCS HELPDESK

Offenbach, Germany 19-20 June 2017

FINAL REPORT

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Scoping Workshop for the Development of the GFCS HelpDesk

Offenbach, Germany 19-20 June 2017

Final Report

Sponsors

World Meteorological Organization Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD)

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World Meteorological Organization, Geneva

© World Meteorological Organization, 2017 The right of publication in print, electronic and any other form and in any language is reserved by WMO. Short extracts from WMO publications may be reproduced without authorization, provided that the complete source is clearly indicated. Editorial correspondence and requests to publish, reproduce or translate this publication (articles) in part or in whole should be addressed to: Chair, Publications Board World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 7 bis avenue de la Paix P.O. Box 2300 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland Tel.: +41 (0) 22 730 8403 Fax.: +41 (0) 22 730 8040 E-mail: Publications@wmo.int Note The designations employed in WMO publications and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WMO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WMO in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in WMO publications with named authors are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of WMO or its Members. This document is not an official publication of WMO and has been issued without formal editing. The views expressed herein do not necessarily have the endorsement of WMO or its Members.

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Scoping Workshop for the Development of the GFCS HelpDesk

Offenbach, Germany, 19-20 June 2017

Final Report

1. Introduction 1.1 The rise of climate on the international agenda has fuelled an explosion of climate-related activities and financing, which are only expected to increase in the coming years. Developed and developing countries alike are moving rapidly to put in place measures to protect society and investments from the impacts of weather and climate and take advantage of the opportunities that can be enabled by climate services. Within this context, there is demand to accelerate learning across initiatives, to build capacity among providers and users on lessons learned and good practice to more effectively deliver on the potential of climate services. Furthermore, there is a need for greater coordination among all actors on the climate services chain, to leverage expertise and investments to achieve greater impact through coherent action. 1.2 To support the emerging climate services landscape needs, the GFCS Office, with financial and technical support from the Deutsche Wetterdienst (DWD), will work in collaboration with both the climate service user and provider communities to undertake the development of the GFCS HelpDesk. 1.3 It is with this background that the GFCS Office and the DWD with support from the GFCS HelpDesk Steering Committee, which includes GFCS Office, DWD, the World Bank, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United Stated Agency for International Development, the United Kingdom’s Met Office, World Health Organization, Meteo Swiss, the World Meteorological Organization, and the Tanzania Meteorological Agency organized the Scoping Workshop for the Development of the GFCS HelpDesk on 19 and 20 June in Offenbach, Germany. 1.4 The workshop brought together a group of experts to identify gaps and barriers to understanding climate services and national level implementation, as well as sharing lessons learned from existing platforms. The workshop helped outline the content and format for the design of the HelpDesk for the GFCS. It was agreed that the development of the GFCS HelpDesk would take a step-wise approach, starting with a specific use case and then expand. A task team was formed to support the GFCS on the development of a HelpDesk demo that will be available by the end of the year. The list of participants is in Annex I. 2. Opening and Welcome 2.1 Mr Tobias Fuchs, Head of Department Climate and Environment Consultancy, welcomed all the participants to the workshop on behalf of the DWD. Mr Fuchs highlighted the importance of the workshop and DWD’s support in operationalizing the HelpDesk. Mr Fuchs concluded by wishing fruitful discussions. 3. Intentions of the workshop and review of the agenda 3.1 Mr Filipe Lúcio, Director of the GFCS Office, welcomed all the participants to the workshop and officially opened the workshop. Mr Lúcio thanked DWD for hosting the workshop and being a strong supporter of this initiative. 3.2 Mr Lúcio reminded the group of the main objective of the workshop, in particular to:

• Discuss the scope, purpose and function of the GFCS HelpDesk (focus areas). • Review a selection of existing climate service HelpDesks to define the niche. • Review and refine the GFCS HelpDesk content and prototype architecture. Develop an action

plan for designing and populating the HelpDesk.

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• Discuss the content management strategy to continually refresh/refine resources available on the HelpDesk to ensure the information is relevant and supports the needs of the climate service community.

• Address GFCS HelpDesk governance issues and define the process for coherent and coordinated community input.

• Discuss lessons learned from other knowledge management platforms to design an interactive interface that facilitates use.

• Agree on performance evaluation strategy to track use and usefulness and the business case for the long-term sustainability of the HelpDesk.

3.3 The agenda was presented and the group agreed on the agenda as proposed (Annex II). 4. Icebreaker – interactive vision sharing 4.1 Ms Erica Allis, Senior Program Manager at the GFCS Office and Mr Florian Teichert, Innovation Officer at the Global Hydrometry Support Facility of WMO, chaired the interactive session. Ms Allis explained that the session would allow for an active engagement of the group in order to provide guidance and contributions to the HelpDesk. It would allow gathering ideas and shareing experiences on the GFCS Help Desk: 1) vision 2) purpose and 3) user archetypes. The vision statements collected from the groups centred around the HelpDesk being an authoritative, user-friendly platform that enables climate services by connecting aspiring climate service providers with access to good practice and guidance. Participants at the scoping workshop indicated that the initial target audience for the HelpDesk would be NMHSs, but it was envisioned that a broader community would find the climate service good practice and guidance information of interest. A detailed summary of the session is provided in Annex III. 5. Aspirations of the GFCS HelpDesk 5.1 Mr Lúcio introduced the aspirations of the GFCS HelpDesk explaining that the requirements for the HelpDesk were collected through a series of consultations with users and stakeholders that were organized by the GFCS Office at regional and national levels across all regions. In addition, the Fifth International Conference on Climate Services that was held on 28 February – 02 March, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa helped in collecting additional requirements for the HelpDesk. 5.2 In particular, the GFCS HelpDesk aims at:

• Providing better understanding and examples of currently available products and services and use in decision making processes;

• Detailing benefits from incorporation of climate services into decision making processes, policy and practice (return on investments);

• Sharing lessons learned and good practices on effective delivery and application of climate services in climate sensitive sectors;

• Providing users from global to national levels access to resources, methodologies, tools, products, publications and the possibility to seek assistance and connect to communities of practice.

5.3 Mr Lúcio explained that the GFCS HelpDesk would be an online website where users and providers of climate services can access resources, tools, and request technical support. The main objective is to accelerate learning across the different climate service initiatives. 6. Exploration of gaps and needs from the HelpDesk user community 6.1 This session was dedicated to documenting gaps and needs emerging from the user community, including from the different sectors. Each presentation highlighted the tools and resources being currently used, the gaps and the expectations for the HelpDesk. 6.2 Mr Alberto Troccoli, Professor at the University of East Anglia, presented the views from the energy sector. In particular, Mr Troccoli provided an overview of the Copernicus Climate Change Service “European Climatic Energy Mixes” project which has been producing, in close consultation with prospective users, a climate service tool (https://demos.the-iea.org/ecem/) that enables the energy industry and policy makers to assess how well different energy supply mixes in Europe will meet demand,

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over different time horizons (from seasonal to long-term planning over decades), focusing on the role climate has on the combination of energy sources. Mr Troccoli explained that changes in climate affect the supply of renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, as well as affecting the demand for energy. Mr Troccoli concluded the presentation by highlighting that the main gaps to be filled by the GFCS HelpDesk include: better dissemination to countries in need, transfer of lessons learned to the sectors, improved engagement with users, collection and coordination of questions and answers, quality control of the information provided through the HelpDesk. 6.3 Mr Pete Epanchin, Science Advisor to the Global Climate Change Coordinator at United States Agency for International Development (USAID), provided an overview of USAID’s work to improve the availability and use of climate services. A joint development initiative of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and USAID, SERVIR (https://www.servirglobal.net) works in partnership with leading regional organizations world-wide to help developing countries use information provided by Earth observing satellites and geospatial technologies for managing climate risks and land use. In addition, Mr Epanchin mentioned Climate Services for Resilient Development, a new public-private partnership which includes USAID and other partners. The partnership aims to develop new tools, services, and approaches that bridge technology and organizational gaps in order to strengthen climate resilience to populations around the world. Moreover, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance helps countries prepare for, respond to, and recover from humanitarian crises and has supported initiatives such as WMO’s Flash Floods Guidance System and others. Mr Epanchin highlighted that the GFCS HelpDesk should in his view: avoid duplication of efforts; tailor its outputs towards the different users; engage with stakeholders and ensure sharing of best practices. 6.4 James Hansen, Senior Research Scientist at the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) program of the CGIAR, provided the group with an overview of CCAFS work. CCAFS brings together researchers in agricultural science, climate science, environmental and social sciences to identify and address issues related to climate change and agriculture. CCAFS research on climate services and safety networks with a range of organizations to support the development of effective climate information and advisory services for farmers and climate-informed safety net interventions. Main research focus areas include:

• Climate information and early warning for risk management • Climate information and advisory services for farmers • Weather-related agricultural insurance products and programs • Climate services investment planning and policy

Mr Hansen also mentioned the Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) and the Enhancing National Climate Services initiative, or ENACTS, as unique approaches designed to improve availability, access to, and use of climate information. 6.5 Ms Joy Shumake-Guillemot, Project Officer, Climate and Health Joint Office at WMO, introduced the work of the Joint Office and in particular presented the Office’s work towards the development of a Global virtual platform for climate and health (expected for 2018). The portal responds to the needs from the health sector and is organized around 4 cores:

1. Background linkages of climate and health 2. Science and technical information 3. Climate services applications 4. Connectivity.

Finally, Ms Joy Shumake-Guillemot highlighted the following as main expectations for the GFCS HelpDesk:

• On one hand, the GFCS HelpDesk would support providers to: better understand roles and responsibilities of service delivery, including ethical issues of decision-making; demonstrate opportunities to support sectors; facilitate understanding about access and opportunities of open-data policies; orient users to engage and facilitate user-friendly and interoperable application purposes.

• On the other hand, the GFCS HelpDesk would support users to: understand limits and uncertainty of climate products – e.g. gradation ratings; and access quality controlled and reliable products.

6.6 Mr Ladislaus Chang’a, Tanzania Meteorological Agency, presented an update on GFCS implementation in the United Republic of Tanzania. In particular, Mr Chang’a stressed on the main

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challenges in terms of availability and accessibility of information due to inadequate observing network, internet reliability, lack of technical capacity for processing and accessing data and products; gaps in applications due to inadequate expertise in analysis and processing data; and key challenges for flood forecasting and estimating the onset and cessation of rainy seasons. Mr Chang’a stressed the great usefulness of the GFCS HelpDesk especially in the areas of impact based forecasting, forecasting the onset of the rainy seasons, lessons learnt and capacity building. 6.7 Mr Xiaobo Yang, from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), made a presentation on the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Mr Yang explained that Copernicus is a European Union Programme aimed at developing European information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in situ (non-space) data. The European Commission has entrusted ECMWF with the implementation of the C3S. The presentation focused on the user support provided by C3S. Typical questions from users would focus on aspects of accessibility, data, interpretation, quality, suitability for operational usage, reliability of products. The Copernicus User Support (CUS) team at ECMWF manages a centralised service desk for C3S to provide level-1 support to users, to coordinate level-2 support connection to scientists and technical experts, and to manage level-0 support (users help themselves) through a controlled knowledge base and to collect statistics, feeding back to C3S planning and development. CUS has developed performance indicators for their services. In particular, feedback is provided within 8 working hours and level-1 requests are resolved within 5 working days. 6.8 Mr Steve Zebiak, Senior Research Scientist and head of the Climate Services Partnership at the International Research Institute for climate prediction, presented the results from the Fifth International Conference on Climate Services (ICCS5). Mr Zebiak briefed the group on the outcomes of the ICCS5’s “Global climate services programs for climate resilient and smart development” session. The session explored current practices, strategies, challenges and lessons learned in implementing climate services programs, as well as opportunities to increase coordination and knowledge-sharing toward achieving greater synergy and greater impact. In addition, the side working meeting on “Identifying good practices and improving coordination for a next generation of climate service programs” addressed more specific ideas for coordination and improving and harmonizing investments in climate services. 6.9 Mr Joachim Saalmüller, Head of the User Support and Climate Services Division at EUMETSAT, provided an overview of EUMETSAT’s help desk which receives about 4000 user enquiries per year. The support is managed through service contracts with service providers (for first line support, routing, communication interface to the user), a user relations manager and user support officer. In addition, there is a central system of enquiry registrations, monitoring and tracking as well as a system for managing user accounts, product catalogue, user notifications etc. For example, EUMETSAT sets three days to respond to off the shelf requests and three weeks to provide more tailored responses. Mr Saalmüller explained that at the global level the GFCS HelpDesk role could be to coordinate the work of support base partners, address knowledge gaps and provide access to global products and services through a web platform interface. As a first step, it would be key to identify which areas we want to focus on and then create the pool of support base partners (for example, Met Services, partners, regional institutions etc). It was recommended that the GFCS Office enter the value chain upstream and target the NMHS (end user target would easily overwhelm). Secondly, operating procedures would need to be set-up for the “help” functionality of the GFCS HelpDesk together with a responsibility matrix for partners. Thirdly, the knowledge base of the helpdesk would need to be established and continuously maintained. (It was mentioned that providing guidance on the HelpDesk to countries to submit requests to the Green Climate Fund could be useful). Mr Saalmüller noted that if a couple of donors could provide constant support to the GFCS for knowledge management this could be very valuable to the international community as it would serve as a central place for climate service knowledge. He noted the need to develop quality norms (and not misdirect). A good approach would be to combine passive knowledge base with active user support, work with aspiring climate service providers with authority, and adopt a decentralized approach banking on the partners and strongest providers. 7. Learning from success and failures from existing web-based interfaces 7.1 This session was dedicated to documenting and providing details of existing web-based interfaces and lessons from success and failures. Ms Allis provided an overview of the current landscape to be taken into account when designing the GFCS HelpDesk. Ms Allis explained that 40 portals were reviewed under different criteria including ownership, infrastructure, target audience, languages, type of portal, authority / credibility, goal, technological features, problem focus/objectives. Ms Allis concluded the

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presentation asking for inputs on additional portals to be added in order to refine the analysis to better identify the main requirements for the GFCS HelpDesk. Ms Allis explained that this information will be complemented by interviews with key stakeholders and a review by the Steering Committee. 7.2 Ms Marina Livezey, NOAA, provided (on behalf of the CCL ICT-CSIS) an overview of the WMO Climate Services Toolkit (CST - www.wmo.int/cst), which is a suite of guidance, procedures and instructions, data, software tools, training resources, and examples for enabling climate services at global, regional, and national levels. The CST comprises:

• Data portals available in public domain for access to and analysis of observations • Data management systems for quality control and simple management of data • Climate monitoring tools for calculation of anomalies, percentiles, and return periods • Software tools for conducting climate analyses, making predictions, and assessing projections

Ms Livezey explained that the CST would serve as a starting point for climate services development by providing guidance, a reference tool and training materials. Ms Livezey concluded by stressing on the need to explore synergies between the CST and the GFCS HelpDesk. Furthermore, Ms Livezey provided (on behalf of NOAA) the group with an overview of climate.gov (www.climate.gov) - a US federal government initiative whose main objective is to raise awareness and knowledge on climate related issues. The climate.gov platform includes news, data and products, and teaching resources. The climate resilience toolkit targets decision makers and its main goal is to inform adaptation choices. The toolkit contains real case studies and decision support tools.

7.3 Mr Giacomo Teruggi, Scientific Officer at the Climate and Water department of WMO, presented the HelpDesk for Integrated Flood Management (IFM HelpDesk - http://www.floodmanagement.info/ifm-helpdesk/) which is a facility that provides guidance on flood management policy, strategy, and institutional development related to flood issues for countries that want to adopt the Integrated Flood Management concept in close partnership and tailored to the needs of the particular partner. The IFM HelpDesk includes a “Help yourself” section with links to tools, publications and other resources and a “Get Help” section to request support from the technical support unit. The unit relies on a vast pool of support partners to respond to the specific requests. 7.4 Mr Stefan Rösner, Coordinator of WMO Regional Association (RA) VI Regional Climate Center (RCC) Network at DWD, presented DWD’s portals. In particular, the Climate Data Center (https://www.dwd.de/EN/climate_environment/cdc/cdc.html) provides free access to climate observation data of the DWD. The German climate portal (http://www.deutschesklimaportal.de/EN) provides information about and access to partners that provide climate services, collects and disseminates news related to climate issues, offers an event calendar and information at federal and Länder levels. Mr Rösner, also presented the portal for WMO RA VI RCC Network (https://rcc.dwd.de) which provides access to relevant products. Finally, Mr Rösner presented the DWD helpdesk and provided ideas for the GFCS HelpDesk. In particular, Mr Rösner mentioned that the GFCS HelpDesk could focus on examples of best practice from governance of national GFCS implementations down to tools, also listing national GFCS Focal Points and thematic experts. 7.5 Mr Roger Stone, Commission for Climatology expert team on user interface platform, presented the work done by the expert team. Mr Stone first presented the terms of reference of the team which is mandated to review the GFCS Implementation Plan Annex on the User Interface Platform (UIP), identify and evaluate examples of UIs for the provision of climate data, products and services, publish guidance on UI best practices. Mr Stone stressed on the importance of understating decision making processes in order to link climate information to stakeholder decisions. Finally, Mr Stone provided a Summary of the main results from the task team report: “Good Practices for Climate Services User Engagement”. The report points that the ideal user interface mechanism is the one that uses multi-way communications enhancing co-learning and co-developing of products/services as it has further benefits in building climate literacy to support the application/use of climate information. 7.6 Mr Alik Ismail-Zadeh, Secretary-General at International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics, provided a brief overview of IUGG’s work. Established in 1919, IUGG is the oldest non-governmental, international, scientific organization dedicated to advancing, promoting, and communicating knowledge of the Earth system, its space environment, and the dynamical processes causing change. Mr Ismail-Zadeh expressed IUGG’s interest in participating in the development of the GFCS HelpDesk.

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7.7 Mr Simon Mason, Senior Research Scientist, IRI, presented on the IRI’s IFRC HelpDesk. The IFRC HelpDesk was founded in 2007 and operates separately from the IRI IFRC Maproom (the maproom is a collection of maps that provides information that can be used for humanitarian decision-making around the world). The IFRC HelpDesk and the IFRC Maproom are linked, but the HelpDesk serves as a resource for IFRC staff to ask more general questions about weather and climate. The scope is very narrow, targeting only IFRC staff and is positioned within the GFCS user interface platform and not designed to address the CSIS function. IFRC staff located at the IRI are responsible for responding to questions issued through the IFRC HelpDesk and the IRI oversees the responses. The performance metrics are to issue a response within one business day, this also serves the purpose to limit the scope of the response. Questions range from climate service research related, data access and information, questions on hotspots, and information coming from climate outlook forums. 8. Functionality of the HelpDesk 8.1 Ms Allis presented a summary of the discussions from the previous sessions. In particular, Ms Allis mentioned that the GFCS HelpDesk would be a user-friendly gateway to connect with users, a trusted and authoritative facilitator for climate-sensitive sectors to provide access to good and best practices (i.e. examples, guides, regulations) on global and national levels and by sectors and to allow exploring existing climate services. The main users would be Met Services, regional centers, policy-makers, government/ministries, as well as priority sector users. The HelpDesk would also address donors, investors, sectorial end-users (e.g. Insurance companies) and international organizations, on a second order of priority. Private sector / NGOs, as well as the research community would also benefit from the HelpDesk. The HelpDesk would provide:

• access to examples, good practices, guidelines and experience with tools and services • tailored information by sector/geography • access to the actual climate services • networking capabilities to share expertise

8.2 The group agreed on the importance of exploring synergies between the HelpDesk and the CST, therefore a meeting at the end of the year between the two groups could be explored. The need to have a clear vision and objectives for the HelpDesk was also mentioned as a key starting point for its design. The idea to develop first the knowledge base around a specific request from a target users and build the helpdesk from a use case perspective was recognized as a feasible way forward. For example, the knowledge base in the agricultural sector is quite mature and resources are available already from organizations, including WMO and UN Food Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Programme (WFP) etc. Therefore, developing a demo was recommend as a first step towards the development of the full HelpDesk. In particular, a demo geared towards Tanzania was recognized as a first concrete step to start the development of the HelpDesk. The long term goals of the HelpDesk should be kept in mind while designing it and resource mobilization efforts should also be considered in order to fully sustain and maintain the HelpDesk beyond its first development. Dr. Chang’a volunteered to serve as the HelpDesk champion to develop resources and guidance materials around enhanced agroclimate support. 9. Define Next Steps The following next steps were agreed:

• A step-wise approach will be adopted (start small then expand, keep the long term objectives in mind)

• The GFCS HelpDesk Steering committee will continue to guide the process • A task team was formed to support the GFCS on the development of a HelpDesk demo (Erica

Allis, Bob Stefanski, Marina Livezey, Ladislaus Chang’a, DWD AgMet expert, Steve Zebiak, Jim Hansen)

• The task team will develop a case study on Tanzania which will be the basis for the development of a demo

• The demo will be available by the end of the year • Interaction/integration with the other WMO Helpdesks will be explored • Synergies with CST will also be explored.

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10. Closing Session On behalf of the organizers of the workshop, Mr. Filipe Lúcio, Director of the GFCS Office, thanked all the participants for their active participation and constructive outcomes and thanked DWD for hosting the workshop.

Annex I

SCOPING WORKSHOP FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GFCS HELPDESK

(Offenbach, Germany, 19-20 June 2017)

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Commission for Agricultural Meteorology (CAgM)

International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI)

Mr Roger STONE Email: Roger.Stone@usq.edu.au Deutsche Wetterdienst (DWD)

Mr Stefan RÖSNER Email: Stefan.Roesner@dwd.de Ms Maya KÖRBER Email: maya.koerber@dwd.de Mr Tobias FUCHS Email: tobias.fuchs@dwd.de Mr Paul BECKER Email: paul.becker@dwd.de Mr Klaus-Jürgen SCHREIBER Email: klaus-juergen.schreiber@dwd.de European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Mr Xiaobo YANG Email: xiaobo.yang@ecmwf.int European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT)

Mr Joachim SAALMÜLLER

Email: Joachim.Saalmueller@eumetsat.int Mr Mark HIGGINS Email: Mark.Higgins@eumetsat.int

Mr James HANSEN Email : jhansen@iri.columbia.edu Mr Simon MASON Email: simon@iri.columbia.edu

Mr Stephen ZEBIAK Email: steve@iri.columbia.edu

International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG)

Mr Alik ISMAIL-ZADEH Email: Alik.Ismail-Zadeh@kit.edu

Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology (MeteoSwiss) Ms Michiko HAMA Email: michiko.hama@meteoswiss.ch

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Ms Marina LIVEZEY Email: Marina.Timofeyeva@noaa.gov

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Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA) Mr Ladislaus CHANG’A Email: changa60@hotmail.com University of Cape Town

Mr Bruce HEWITSON Email: hewitson@csag.uct.ac.za United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mr Pete EPANCHIN Email : pepanchin@usaid.gov

Ms Anna BUCHER Email: abucher@worldbank.org World Energy and Meteorology Council (WEMC) Mr Alberto TROCCOLI Email: alberto.troccoli@wemcouncil.org WMO Secretariat Staff

Mr Filipe LÚCIO Email: flucio@wmo.int Ms Erica ALLIS Email: eallis@wmo.int Ms Veronica GRASSO Email: vgrasso@wmo.int Ms Joy SHUMAKE-GUILLEMOT Email : jshumake-guillemot@wmo.int Mr Robert STEFANSKI Email: rstefanski@wmo.int Mr Florian TEICHERT Email: fteichert@wmo.int Mr Michael SCHWAB Email: mschwab@wmo.int

The World Bank (WB)

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Annex II

Scoping workshop for the development of the GFCS HelpDesk

Offenbach, Germany

19-20 June 2017

AGENDA

Time Agenda item / Presentation By whom

09:30 – 09:35 Opening and Welcome DWD

09:35 –09:40 Intentions of the workshop and review of the agenda Filipe Lucio

9:40–10:45

Icebreaker – interactive vision sharing

Erica Allis and Florian Teichert

10:45-11:00 Coffee break

11:00-12:00

Interactive session (continued)

Erica Allis and Florian Teichert

12:00-12:30 Aspirations of the GFCS HelpDesk Filipe Lucio

12:30-1:30 Lunch

1:30-3:30 Exploration of gaps and needs from the HelpDesk user community (10 min presentation 5 min discussion)

• What role/engagement do you have in the climate services supply chain?

• What tools/resources do you use to inform your work in designing and implementing climate services (portals, guidance materials, etc.)?

• What is missing? What are the gaps that the GFCS HelpDesk could fill?

• What are your expectations for the HelpDesk?

Pete Epanchin (USAID); James Hansen (CCAFS), ICCS5 (Steve Zebiak), Joy Shumake-Guillemot (Joint Office on Health), Alberto Troccoli (Energy), Ladislaus Chang’a (Tanzania Met Service), Xiaobo Yang (ECMWF)

3:30-3:45 Coffee break

3:45-5:45 Learning from success and failures from existing web-based interfaces (10 min presentation 5 min discussion)

• What approach was used to determine website content?

• How do you know if it is being utilized? How solicit user-feedback and include that feedback?

• What is some key feedback you have received that is relevant to the GFCS HelpDesk?

Erica Allis (current landscape), Marina Livezey (U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, Climate.org, WMO/GFCS Climate Services Toolkit), Stefan Rösner (DWD),

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• What are some of the key challenges and obstacles you deal with?

• If you include links to external products or data or case studies, what approach do you use? (Process for submission, quality control, dead links, etc.)

• What resources (time, funds) are required to maintain the website?

• For those that have incorporated ‘help’ functions that connects website users to real experts, what are the pros and cons, and various approaches?

• What other suggestions would you have for the GFCS HelpDesk

Michiko Hama (MeteoSwiss), Giacomo Teruggi (APFM-Remote), Simon Mason (IRI IFRC HelpDesk), Roger Stone (Commission for Climatology Expert Team on User Interface Platform),

6:00-8:00 Icebreaker offered by DWD

DAY 2

9:00-10:45

Functionality of the HelpDesk (starting with strawman list of functionalities being considered by Filipe Lucio)

Goal: To identify key areas of HelpDesk content (functionalities) for focus in near term, and to inform the development of an implementation strategy

Rank the potential functionalities of a GFCS website based on (1) apparent needs, (2) the ability for existing web interfaces or other mechanism to meet those needs, and (3) resource requirements

Do any existing web-based interfaces provide, or plan to provide, these functionalities at an adequate level? If so, are there options for the GFCS to contribute to those interfaces?

Filipe Lucio (strawman of the GFCS HelpDesk functionalities), Marina Livezey (WMO/GFCS CST);

Open discussion

10:45-11:00 Coffee break

11:00 – 12:30 Functionality of the HelpDesk (continued)

Open discussion

12.30 – 1:30 Lunch

1:30 – 2:30 Define next steps

Goal: To develop a HelpDesk Implementation Strategy

• Define functionalities (focus on those we think we can deliver on)

• Define potential users of these functionalities • Outline what external content required to meet each of

the functionalities (data, case studies, etc.) • Outline what estimate resources (cost, human hours,

etc.) is required to meet each functionality • Timeline for development of Version 1.0 • Plan to incorporate user assessment and feedback

Open discussion

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• Socialize with key entities and expertise not present in the meeting, including the PAC, to confirm findings and to express interest

• Continue regular meetings of HelpDesk Steering Committee to provide guidance on the process and progress

• Partner commitments to the GFCS HelpDesk expressed

2:30-2:45 Coffee break

2:45-3:45 Define next steps (continued) All

3:45-4:00 Wrap-up and closure of the meeting Filipe Lucio

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Annex III Results from the Interactive Session at the GFCS Scoping Workshop in Offenbach, 19-20 June 2017

A moderated interactive session was conducted to gather the audience’s feedback on three major questions to guide the scope and functionality of the envisioned GFCS HelpDesk as follows:

1. Vision: What should be achieved in the long-term? 2. Purpose: What capabilities should be provided to the users to achieve this vision? 3. User: Who are the target user groups and what are their priorities?

The following section summarizes the findings of the interactive session. It should be noted that the results are general and the interactive session was the first step in data gathering to develop the HelpDesk. Results will be collected and aligned with other audiences (e.g. GFCS PAC members as well as IBCS Management Committee) to give a comprehensive picture.

Vision

Participants were instructed to write down as many of the desired functionalities and features of the HelpDesk on sticky notes. This task was executed individually to get opinions unbiased by group dynamics.

The following summarize common themes recorded during the sticky note exercise. The GFCS HelpDesk:

• Will support countries in developing climate services and their national frameworks for climate services.

• Will be a trusted authoritative source of information, guidance, and good practice such as sharing experiences of other countries, practical guidelines on implementation and lessons learned. Users should be able to discover/explore existing climate services as a reference for own implementation of similar services.

• Should give access to knowledge/information, discoverable by various search criteria incl. target levels (global, regional, national) and possibly tailored to users from different climate-sensitive sectors, and different levels of capacity (beginner to advanced).

• Should provide technical regulations and manuals in a more granular targeted way then provided by current WMO manuals.

• Should provide a gateway to connect users with the GFCS, other users, and organizations for networking and technical assistance. (To help accomplish this, one colleague recommended that the GFCS Office request that partners commit clear and definable assistance in terms of human resources, person days a year, to assist in responding to technical questions coming to the HelpDesk.

• Will be user-friendly, reliable, avoid complicated/technical language, and be simple in application.

• Should collect user feedback to improve functionality and presentation and catalogue frequently asked questions/responses.

Facilitate good governance structures by examples. Following the individual exercise, participants were asked to break into four groups and within their group compare sticky notes, prioritize the four

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most important elements and then synthesize these elements into one overarching vision statement. The following are the vision statements from the four groups:

Group 1: Provide best practices and guidance on climate services addressing global and regional levels (including basic to advanced levels)

Group 2: HelpDesk will be a trusted authoritative, user-friendly platform for exploring and enabling climate services

Group 3: Facilitate good governance structure by examples.

Group 4: Gateway to connect users to expertise, climate sensitive sectors, good practice and guidance.

Purpose

The groups were then asked to write down four capabilities required to achieve the vision.

Group 1: a) intuitive product knowledge; b) provide global and regional overview; c) information and networking functions; and d) dynamic consultative process to meet needs.

Group 2: a) search function; b) inform, visually attractive; c) user feedback for evaluation, two-way communication; and d) support eg forum, advise.

Group 3: a) guide “user” to identify appropriate provider by geographic region, variable, and timescale; b) link to relevant tools and documentation and expertise; c) educate on service delivery and how to go about tailoring and communication with users; and explain governance options through examples.

Group 4: a) networking skills and processes; b) big picture vision of climate services; c) technical expertise in GFCS pillars; and d) entry points into sector climate services communities.

Synthesis

The following is a synthesis of the vision and purpose exercise:

The HelpDesk should give a comprehensive overview, the big picture, of existing climate services. It should follow the portal principle and not replicate content, but provide access to information and help raise awareness of existing providers.

The HelpDesk should provide content that reflect the technical expertise of the five GFCS pillars, support communities of different sectors, as well as users from global and national levels. Content should not be limited to climate services but also comprise in-depth knowledge such as good practices in establishing adequate governance structures at national level by comparison to similar/neighboring countries (this will assist in responding to the already frequently encountered question, what do national frameworks look like at the national level?).

The HelpDesk will facilitate two-way communication between users and information providers (i.e. building feedback functionality) to systematically tailor and improve the content and services

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provided and effectively assist users to improve their dissemination mechanisms (i.e. access to communities of practice).

The HelpDesk will provide guidance on good practice methods for providers to engage users to better tailored services and feedback mechanisms. It is of crucial importance to provide information from documented authoritative sources on global, regional, and national levels.

Search functionalities are based on users’ background taking technical expertise, sector and level (global or national) into account. Also supported are search functionalities by comprehensive description of information including source, reliability, geography and others.

Transparency about data policies and sustainability of services are key where actual climate services are concerned.

The user interface should be visually attractive and intuitive to use.

User

In the third exercise, participants were asked to specify target user groups and prioritize them in the breakout groups. Participants ranked users into four different categories: central (most important), important, and interesting.

The results among the different groups consistently showed that the NMHSs should be the primary user group of the HelpDesk. Another consistent element among the groups was the perception that a beneficial way for NMHSs to learn about climate services is from other NMHS to improve their service delivery. Still central, but with a slightly lower priority, were governmental organizations and decision-makers as well as users from the different climate-sensitive priority sectors, mainly health and agriculture(likely due to the backgrounds of the participants in the room).

Also important for the HelpDesk is to give climate service providers (mainly NMHSs) a platform to present their own services, and the socio-economic benefits of the services to donors, other investors, and internal organizations. End-users for some sectors, such as insurers, are also considered important.

The private sector, NGOs, as well as academics were identified as interesting users, general media was also mentioned.

Content

In the interactive session and over the two-day meeting, a variety of possible content for the HelpDesk was mentioned.

The list can roughly be categorized into guidance, funding, and country profiles:

Guidance

• information on best practices and their application across sectors • access to examples and success stories from mature CS • guidance for policy processes from credible information and existing services to evidence

based impacts

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• expertise in climate services • examples of governance structures from countries that have completed their national

frameworks for climate services • sharing experiences in the use of tools and services (successes and lessons learned) • support planning of CS for sectors • a means to connect to other organizations and experts that can provide knowledge /

expertise

Funding

• investments of donors with metadata (timeframe, sector, target country, etc.) • country information on current funding and current needs by sector • support for programming requests for proposals opportunities and needs

Country profiles

• find gaps in current technical knowledge • information on training resources • serve particular needs of specific sectors

Summary

The members of the audience consistently specified the demand driven means for identifying content mainly good practices and sharing of experiences with tools, services but also issues of governance and national implementation of climate services in the global and regional contexts. Furthermore, case studies which provide access to examples of existing climate services, a review of features, feedback mechanisms, etc., that reviews the content context of implementation of these services and how and why they are used by decision- and policy-makers were identified as possible first steps.

The content specification is consistently supported by the main user groups specified, namely NMHS that want to improve their climate service portfolio and those NMHS that want to share their experiences developing these services. The need for knowledge sharing and to browse content to answer specific questions and to connect to members of the same community, i.e. exchanging experiences and expertise in a community of practice was also highlighted as a desirable feature.

It was stressed on the fact that discovery of documentation, services and contacts presents challenging requirements to the describing meta data that should not only be tailored to different user sectors (health, agriculture and others), geography and range of validity (i.e. global, regional, local) but also allowing insight into the credibility of the source, sustainability of a service and obtainable usage rights.

The requirements on sustainability, usage rights and credibility of climate services points to the desire to use accessible climate services not only for information and training purposes but also to directly integrate e.g. regional and global climate services into national policy-making.

To summarize it can be stated that the members of the audience in the Scoping Workshop for the GFCS HelpDesk in Offenbach demand knowledge management functionality with an elaborate user

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interface for self-help that allows exploration of example climate services, sets information and services into context of how they are created and how they are used to inform policy- and decision making.