From Zimbabwe to Winnipeg, researchers share solutions to climate change
Researchers and community partners from Canada and Zimbabwe gather at CMU during the international climate resilience conference, where CMU President Cheryl Pauls presented the CMU Impact Award to the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in recognition of its research partnership, scholarly leadership, and commitment to community-based climate solutions.
How do we as a community respond to the international crisis of climate change? What does it mean to find solutions, adapt, and partner with communities facing significant agricultural vulnerabilities, recurring droughts, rising temperatures, and unpredictable weather patterns?
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) recently hosted a three-day international gathering exploring how communities in sub-Saharan Africa are responding to climate change through locally led and nature-based approaches.
The 2026 international conference, "Sharing Stories, Shaping Solutions: Community Climate Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa," was the culmination of research conducted in Zimbabwe, made possible through funding from Global Affairs Canada and additional support from Research Manitoba.
The event showcased research and work from three climate adaptation initiatives: LINCZ, Nature+, and GTCA.
Researchers, practitioners, partners, and community representatives came together to share research findings, experiences, and lessons learned from across sub-Saharan Africa.
Zimbabwean researchers and guests involved in climate adaptation joined fellow researchers from CMU, Mennonite Central Committee, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Canadian Lutheran World Relief, and other partner organizations for a weekend of panel discussions, interactive workshops, artistic exhibits, and site-based learning activities.
"I think it was a really great conference," says Jodi Dueck-Read, Director of the Research Office at CMU.
The conference brought together people involved in two other Global Affairs Canada-funded projects, Nature+ and GTCA, allowing participants to share learning, compare approaches, and build connections.
The Locally led Indigenous Nature-based Solutions for Climate Change Adaptation in Zimbabwe (LINCZ) project is led by Mennonite Central Committee and supports communities in the Binga, Gwanda, and Mwenezi districts as they cope with the effects of climate change while protecting and restoring the natural environment.
"I think there's lots of learning from that research and how it was conducted, and it was conducted differently," Dueck-Read says.
She explains that the research projects associated with LINCZ were structured in different ways, making the opportunity to compare approaches particularly valuable.
The conference marked the first opportunity for many CMU and Zimbabwean researchers to meet in person and discuss their findings together.
One workshop explored how climate change affects people differently according to gender, including changes in everyday responsibilities and opportunities for women to participate in community decision-making.
"It's important to hear people on the ground speaking about their experience and what they're seeing," Dueck-Read says. "These sort of international conferences, and international collaborations really help reframe or recontextualize a lot of those experiences."
The conference also made space for the wider CMU community to engage with the work.
"Community Dialogue: Building Resilience Through People and Nature" brought together researchers, practitioners, and community members from Canada, Zimbabwe, and Cameroon to discuss how people and communities are building resilience in the face of environmental, social, and climate challenges.
Rather than featuring a traditional keynote, the event was designed to engage conference participants and the broader community in open dialogue.
Alrika Rojas, Learning and Research Hub Coordinator working with LINCZ, says the public event helped make research more accessible and grounded in the experiences of people and communities.
"It reinforced that addressing climate challenges require researchers, practitioners and communities—including the broader CMU community—to learn from one another, and that we all have a role to place in shaping solutions, in this case through dialogue and collaboration," Rojas says.
Throughout the event, discussions highlighted the complex social, cultural, spiritual, and economic dimensions connected to climate adaptation efforts.
Rojas says it was wonderful to see "non-conference folks attend, ask thoughtful questions, and make connections between the discussion and their own experiences."
As LINCZ moves toward the end of its project activities in December, CMU researchers are preparing their findings for publication.
The project has benefited from a valued partnership with researchers at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe throughout the past three years.
As part of the conference, CMU President Cheryl Pauls presented NUST with the CMU Impact Award. The award honours NUST's generous partnership, gracious hospitality, scholarly leadership, and commitment to community-based climate solutions.
"To me, it seems so valuable to have those deep relationships in these places and the way that the research at NUST overlaps with the research that's done at CMU is incredibly valuable."