On 15 and 16 July 2026, the third General Assembly of ALBATROSS was held in Accra, hosted by our partners from the University of Ghana Legon. The opening session was delivered by different personalities, namely Prof Daniel Nukpezah, director of the Institute for Environment and Sanitation Studies, (IESS), and Africa Climate Collaborative, Research Team Member University of Ghana; Dr. Emmanuel N. Abbey, facilitator at the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), and especially Juliet Osei-Wusu Esq Executive Secretary, The African Centre for Nature Based Climate Action (AC4NCA). She expressed her satisfaction with the project, stressing that current challenges demand collaboration and that we share the same interests.

The first day of the General Assembly served to update on the progress made so far in the different work packages, as well as to arrange several parallel sessions between the hub coordinators and technical work packages leaders, to discuss and agree on different topics needed for the final phase of the project. Indeed, all developments are going to be implemented in the hubs, and assessments of their performance will be completed.

The description of the progress and next steps in the hubs was featured on the second day of the Assembly. The ALBATROSS project officer, Alessia Pietrosanti, opened the meeting, highlighting the relevance ALBATROSS has reached in the EC sphere. In fact, ALBATROSS is one of the six flagships on climate services selected by the European Union out of the more than 30 projects working with African partners. The approach taken by ALBATROSS to engage with local actors for co-developing the services and integrating local knowledge was highlighted as our strengths.

The General Assembly ended with a special session held by the students who participated in the Research School. After receiving lectures and visiting the Keta hub, they spent the last two meeting days working in groups, designing a project related to a nature-based solution integrating climate services. They presented these projects to the ALBATROSS consortium, which rated them and chose the best one. The winners will participate in the next regional SDG Olympiad to be held in Nairobi in August.

Lastly, the consortium decided to organise the final ALBATROSS General Assembly in Tanzania, hosted by the partners from ARDHI University. We already look forward to it!