WORKSHOP REPORT: Adapting Care Systems to Climate and Migration Pressures in North and West Africa

The Climate-Care Nexus Policy Workshop, organized within the framework of the IDRC-funded project “Climate-Care Nexus: Adapting Care Systems to Climate and Migration Pressures in North and West Africa”, is a policy and research dialogue bringing together public decision-makers, international organizations, and leading experts to examine the evolving relationship between climate change, migration, and care systems. 

The workshop positioned the climate-care nexus as a critical policy issue by exploring how climate and migration pressures are reshaping care systems and redistributing unpaid care work across households and communities. Drawing on international evidence and comparative experiences, the discussions identified emerging policy priorities and explored pathways for integrating care considerations into climate, social, and gender policy frameworks. 

A central focus of the workshop was the role of national institutions in responding to these interconnected challenges, with particular attention to policy coherence, institutional coordination, and the alignment of social, climate, and gender policies. The workshop provided a platform for sharing concrete experiences, exchanging perspectives, and identifying practical entry points for policy action.

The workshop also marked the operational launch of the project, bringing together its four institutional partners: the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS, Morocco), the National School of Statistics and Economic Analysis (ENSAE, Senegal), the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies (ECES, Egypt), and Chinguitt Modern University (Mauritania). Discussions focused on establishing a common analytical and methodological approach, covering unpaid care measurement, survey design, data harmonization, and cross-country comparability, while accounting for differences in national statistical systems and climate exposure.