City to city learning and knowledge exchange for climate resilience in southern Africa

from a pool of diverse city stakeholders and participants. The city learning labs and dialogues were facilitated as either initial consultative and/or project validation workshops (Table 1). These engagement processes in the cities collated information, which was documented as interview transcriptions, reports and in the case of the city of Lusaka, flood maps. After the field and data collection was done in each city, city exchange visits were organized in such a way that researchers from visiting cities could learn about the host cities’ sources of information, sampling techniques, relevant sites, policies and practices using field and site vis- its. Visiting and hosting city teams held joint community and council meetings in the host cit- ies and discussed commonalities in thematic problems as well as potential solutions using guided agenda (see S8–S10 Files). Simultaneous to the field sampling and exchange visits, desktop studies were used to complement the learning labs and engagements that we convened Table 1. Sources of information in the cities. City (year) Sampling details Historical climate and hydrological data Harare (1984–2014) 30 years monthly rainfall totals and temperature averages at 3 weather stations (Belvedere, Chivero and Kutsaga) data was obtained from Zimbabwe Met services Department as well as Upper Manyame River flows from eight (8) gauging stations (C2, C3, C17, C21, C22, C24, C83 and C89) obtained from ZINWA Lusaka (1967–2017) 50 years rainy season (November to April) rainfall totals and standard precipitation index for

the period 1967 to 2017 was collected from the Met services for Lusaka. A 12.5m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from ALOS PALSAR in ArcMap was used to analyze flooding using height above the nearest channel base Windhoek (1977– 2017) 40 years monthly rainfall totals were collected from Okahandja and Windhoek Stations and Meteorological Office in Windhoek. Streamflow for the Swakop River in the Swakop- Omaruru and Omatako-Okavango catchments as well as three (3) dams (Swakoppoort, Omatako and Von Bach) water levels and groundwater table levels Household questionnaires Harare (2017) 120 respondents from six suburbs (Mabvuku, Stoneridge, Mainway Meadows, Marlborough, Mt. Pleasant Heights and Vinona) representing 3 density levels (high, medium and low and old versus new settlements) Lusaka (2017) 500 respondents from two informal settlements (Kalikiliki and Kanyama) Windhoek (2017– 2018) 863 respondents from across the city (John Pandeni, Katutura Central, Katutura East, Khomasdal, Moses Garoeb, Samora Machel, Tobias Hainyeko, Windhoek Rural and Windhoek West) with the largest (~60%) representation from informal settlements Key informant interviews Harare (2017) 18 key informants from several organizations: Harare City Council; Ministry of Environment, Water and Climate; climate change policy coordinators; and civil society Lusaka (2017) 14 key informants (9 from SOG and 5 from GEC) from LuWSI, Lusaka City Council, GiZ, National water and sanitation council, Lusaka Water and Sewerage Company and Water Resources Management Authority Windhoek (2017– 2018)

4 key informants from UJaams Water Reclamation Plant, MeatCo and City of Windhoek Workshops Harare 2- Project initial consultation and culmination (validation) Lusaka 2- Stakeholder engagement and project culmination Windhoek 1- Stakeholder workshop- dissemination of findings Document and policy review Durban (2014) Durban Adaptation Charter (DAC); South Africa National Climate Change Response and the mitigation Policy Harare (2016–2019) Zimbabwe National Water Policy, Climate Change Policy; Climate change response and strategic Plan; Harare Masterplan Lusaka (2016–2019) Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI); Zambia National Climate Policy, Water Resources Management Act 2011, Zambia National Water Policy https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227915.t001 City learning in southern Africa PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0227915 January 24, 2020 8 / 25