Across low- and middle-income countries, education systems are increasingly having to respond to climate shocks that disrupt access to education and threaten learning outcomes. According to Oxfam (2022), funding appeals to respond to climate-associated humanitarian crises have increased eightfold since 2000. Anticipatory action is needed to protect progress towards equitable education and keep children learning, and with donor purse strings tightening, investments in education system resilience can’t afford to fail.
Technology is at the core of much anticipatory action to reduce the impact of climate shocks in the Global South. Satellite imagery and remote sensing predict weather patterns, while mobile phone alerts and social media-enabled check-ins warn communities and offer opt-in tracking systems. Yet, the most effective digital tools are not built in silos; they are co-created with the government institutions that will use them.
In this blog post, we describe three strategies to drive government engagement and ownership of climate resilience tools for education systems.
Tanzania’s Climate Risk Mapping Tool
Over the past year, EdTech Hub has supported the Government of Tanzania to design a Climate Risk Mapping Tool for the Pwani Region, with partnership from Cambridge Education and FCDO as part of the UKaid-funded Shule Bora programme.
The tool integrates satellite imagery, hydrological modelling, vulnerability indicators, and school-level data to help officials identify climate-vulnerable schools and prioritise interventions. The strength of the tool stems not only from the technology behind it but also from the participatory approach used to create it.
Through an iterative process of evidence synthesis, participatory design, and agile product development, this work has demonstrated how co-creation can unlock ownership, usability, and long-term sustainability of digital solutions.
Grounding the Tool in Government Priorities
Following devastation caused to Pwani region from the 2023/24 El Niño floods, the Regional Administrative Secretary officially requested support to prevent further loss of learning due to extreme weather. The EdTech Hub team, with Cambridge Education, started the process by understanding the government’s priorities and the policy landscape shaping climate-resilient education planning.
The first workshop brought together regional and District leadership to reflect on the impact of the 2024 floods and explore what a risk-reduction tool should prioritise (e.g. early warning communication, infrastructure upgrades, locations of shelters for displaced communities). The representatives from the government shared the key climate hazards that affect the area (flood, rain, and heat) and mapped out the short, medium, and long-term impacts of each on the community. It was important from the outset that the tool align with existing national policy frameworks, in particular the Education Sector Multi-Hazard Preparedness, Response, Recovery, and Mitigation Strategy (2023–2027).
By positioning the dashboard within the existing national policies and frameworks, with prioritisation led by the Government from the beginning, the tool was never a stand-alone product but rather an enabler of existing government strategies.
Embedding Government Expertise Through Participatory Design
Co-creation means ensuring government voices actively shape the tool, instead of only validating it once created.
Throughout April to September 2025, the team continued to bring together officials from Pwani Region, Kibiti and Rufiji Districts, climate specialists, and education officers to review mock-ups, refine indicators, and guide interface design. July’s presentation of the mock-up to regional leadership produced immediate design improvements: clearer risk categories, more intuitive maps, and simplified data interpretation for non-technical users.
This participatory work fed directly into the dashboard’s indicator framework and analytical logic, ensuring the tool reflected the lived realities of Government leadership managing recurrent floods.
Creating a Feedback Loop for Iterative Improvement
Co-creation is not linear. It requires cycles of testing, feedback, and refinement. Throughout the entire process, our government counterparts consistently reviewed interface designs, risk priorities, and the logic used for decision-making.
Their feedback informed improvements ranging from technological adjustments to realignment of analytical priorities. This iterative loop ensured that the technical aspects of the tool were deliberate and relevant to the end user.
Conclusion: Co-creation is a Mindset
The development of the Pwani Climate Risk Mapping Dashboard shows that the most impactful digital tools emerge from close collaboration with the government and not from parallel technical workstreams. Co-creation builds trust, ownership, and solutions that last.
As Tanzania moves toward climate-resilient education planning, this approach serves as a model for how digital development can be grounded in partnership, evidence, and institutional ownership.
In fact, the pilot of this tool has provided a systematic method for prioritising infrastructure investments, and has formed the backbone of Tanzania’s USD 50 million climate-finance proposal through the Global Climate Fund.
Importantly, though, the urgent need for proactive, preemptive and preventative measures to protect learning in the face of climate change is not unique to Tanzania. Demand for education resilience tools and technology is there, but a co-creation mindset could be the key to their sustainability and impact.
