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This paper addresses the need to strengthen government agencies to enhance climate services. Africa has the least developed weather and climate observation network and it is deteriorating. National meteorological and hydrological services (NMHS) work in this difficult environment as an important component in the larger CS system. They have a mandate to serve national needs to observe, forecast, and issue warnings for pending weather, climate, and water threats. Most African NMHSs face challenges associated with limited human capital and financial resources that constrain their ability to provide even basic services. Additional investment is needed to ensure climate services are effective, but given resource constraints, these investments need to target priority gaps. Investments also need to consider ongoing limitations, such as operation and maintenance costs, the roles of multiple actors within the climate and weather enterprise, and the long-term objectives of NMHSs.

This briefing highlights learnings, recommendations, and toold focused on investing in the public components of the CS system that collect data generate information. The recommendations include:

• Governments should be encouraged to provide increased and stable budgets to NMHSs in Africa.
• Donors who fund NMHSs should be cognizant of the challenges of short-term project-based funding.
• Institutional mandates to increase flexibility on cooperation and data sharing should be revisited.
• NMHSs should consider combining observations from different sources and evaluate the scope for public-private collaboration.