Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), in collaboration with Federation of African Engineering Organisations (FAEO) through its Young Engineers Committee (YEC) and UN-Habitat, is organising a webinar series on Building Infrastructure Resilience in Africa. The initiative will focus on strengthening the capacity of young engineers in Africa to understand and address climate risks to infrastructure systems, with particular emphasis on the challenges of rapid urbanisation and the application of tools and methodologies for assessing physical risks to critical infrastructure. Through case studies, expert insights, and practical examples, we will discuss how effective governance structures can drive the implementation of resilient infrastructure systems.

Context

Africa stands at a critical moment in its development trajectory. The continent is witnessing growing investments in infrastructure across various sectors including energy, transportation, water, and digital connectivity driven by population growth, urbanization, and increasing economic aspirations. However, climate change is intensifying the vulnerability of these systems, undermining developmental gains, and exposing gaps in resilience. The dual challenge is thus to scale up infrastructure while ensuring its sustainability and robustness against shocks. Africa has a unique opportunity in building resilience of infrastructure systems as most of its infrastructure is yet to be built. Strengthening the capacities of early career professionals and engineers in Africa is critical to ensure that future investments in infrastructure are disaster and climate resilient. However, the systemic nature of risk, compounded by climate change, continues to undermine progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Agenda 2063, National adaptation plans (NAPs), and recent commitments such as the Windhoek Declaration 2024, which emphasizes capacity development as a key impediment to achieving the continent's strategic long-term goal.

CDRI will host three interactive learning webinars to share knowledge, highlight good practices, and foster peer-to-peer learning and cross-country collaboration. The sessions will be organised on DRI Connect, CDRI’s knowledge exchange, learning, and collaborative platform, beginning in October 2025.

Key Objectives and expected outcomes

• Understanding the risks and impacts of disasters and climate change on built environment and critical infrastructure.
• Exploring practical solutions aligned to resilient urban infrastructure system, standards, codes, and governance frameworks towards addressing extreme heat and flooding in Africa.
• Sharing good practices and case studies through expert webinars, interactions and cross learning