World Resources Institute has worked in Africa for over 30 years on forest protection, landscape restoration and more recently, sustainable cities, energy access and climate action. WRI Africa has built a reputation as a trusted partner on the continent. Since 2017, these operations have crystallized under the helm of African leadership and formalized as WRI Africa. Today, WRI Africa is a team of over 160 scientists and experts from across the continent.

Our vision for Africa is an inclusive transformation so Africa’s people and landscapes flourish.

There is a strong connection between climate action and economic growth and development. For countries to thrive, they must protect their ecosystems, invest in sustainable infrastructure, and ensure access to clean and reliable energy. This will unlock opportunities to create jobs and support equitable growth and resilient economies. Delaying climate action will mean missing opportunities for climate-resilient economic growth and development.

People, nature and climate thrive through sustainable economies and livelihoods.

This strategic framework aligns with WRI’s Strategic Plan 2023-2027. It anchors on flagship offers, including rural landscapes, cities, energy and climate action, with active engagements to enhance the enabling institutional and financial ecosystem for transformation in focus countries. The strategic framework anchors WRI’s work on African countries’ own transformation agenda, informed by the core challenges and opportunities for sustainable development. We will have wins if we can deliver sustainable and robust sectors of the economy based on the idea that people and nature work well together.

Infographic - About Africa.

The strategy is grounded on the recognition that Africa’s critical socio-economic and environmental challenges harbor the seeds for building a better future.

Four out of 10 people in the world in 2100 will be Africans; there will not be a bright future for humanity without a bright future for Africa.

In addition to delivering impactful outcomes via flagship initiatives, WRI Africa will embark on strategic engagements to unlock new opportunities or convene critical stakeholders on emerging issues. We will also contribute to enhancing evidence-based discourses and champion efforts to shift the focus of research on Africa to take place in Africa.

Partnerships are integral to our strategy. We work with governments at the regional, national and county levels and closely with civil society organizations, research institutions, technical partners and local communities on the ground.

Our Integrated Strategic Framework

Africa is a large, complex and diverse continent. In the first two decades of the 21st century, Africa’s ‘growth miracle’ challenged a long-standing narrative of pessimism about the region and encouraged hope for the future. Despite the commitment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and strengthening some market-orientated economies in Africa, efforts to reduce the share of people living in extreme poverty have been uneven and further stressed by climate events, degradation and destruction of nature and global crises. Africa is heating up faster than any other continent, yet it contributes the least emissions. African countries face the uphill challenge of transforming their economies and improving human well-being while tackling the impact of climate change and navigating through a struggling global economy. The root causes of the challenges facing people, nature and climate are deeply interconnected. We must tackle them together and simultaneously.

Our strategic framework anchors on critical challenges and opportunities across African countries. We aim to develop locally relevant and regionally coherent offers that leverage WRI’s unique positioning to work at global, regional, national and sub-locational levels.

Our Vision and Strategic Pillars

WRI’S overarching vision for Africa is an inclusive transformation so Africa’s people and landscapes flourish. Our strategic framework is anchored on four interconnected pillars of action to convert Africa’s challenges into opportunities for an inclusive, green and resilient transformation. Our strategic pillars are aligned with the human-centric systems transitions and enabling environment shifts encompassing WRI’s global strategy for 2023-2027, putting three interconnected goals for people, nature and climate at the center of all we do.

  • Goal 1: Ensure people are living in an equitable society where they can meet their essential needs.
  • Goal 2: Protect and restore ecosystem health.
  • Goal 3: Limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C and support communities in adapting to climate change.

By tackling the three goals together, we will drive greater policy coherence, increasing the chances of interventions that lead to the impact we aim e.g., restoring agroforestry can increase food productivity, take pressure off natural ecosystems, sequester carbon and improve farmer livelihoods. Conversely, if we pursue these separately in silos, we risk creating trade-offs that undermine progress. For example, if climate policies do not account for people or nature, these risk deepening inequities, in turn eroding support for action.

To achieve our three interconnected global goals for people, nature and climate, we focus on shifting the human systems directly affecting them: cities, climate, energy and vital landscapes.

These three systems — as well as the financial, economic and governance systems that underpin them — are essential to meet the world’s needs but are largely responsible for fueling climate change, inequity and the degradation of nature.

Cover image by Dow Maneerattana/WRI