This operational guide is dedicated to public, academic and private institutions working in the fields of climate, water, environment, agriculture, livestock, plant protection, food and nutrition security, climate disaster risk reduction, and any other related sectors using (or wishing to use) the products and services of AGRHYMET Regional Climate Centre for West Africa and the Sahel (AGRHYMET RCC-WAS), which is a specialized agency of the Permanent Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS). Its main objective is to enhance the value of AGRHYMET RCC-WAS's various products and services, by making them more visible and attractive to development stakeholders (public, academic and private), decision-makers and partners (technical and financial), through their performance, relevance, and effectiveness in meeting the specific and collective needs of different users in the countries of West Africa, the Sahel, and other zones. The guide maps out the various services provided by AGRHYMET RCC-WAS, which is a benchmark institution in the sub-region for diploma and continuing training in the various fields listed above, and for building the operational capacities of state, university and private technical institutions involved in reducing hydro-climatic and phytosanitary risks and improving the productivity of agro-sylvo-pastoral and environmental systems in West Africa and the Sahel. It explains the different types of services that AGRHYMET RCC-WAS provides or can provide, as well as the modalities and procedures that state technical institutions and other applicants must adopt to gain access to them, in accordance with their specific or collective, immediate, or future needs, and in compliance with environmental and social safeguard standards.

This evaluation was conducted by Ulrich Diasso (PhD) for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the AGRHYMET Regional Centre under the Swedish-supported Sahel Resilience Project. We are grateful to our national and international partners for their availability and support to online and on-site interviews with relevant experts and site visits: national meteorological and hydrological institutions, disaster risk management and early warning services in the seven partner countries to the Sahel Resilience Project, as well as officials from regional bodies, namely the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD), the Niger Basin Authority (NBA), the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC). We would like to express our deep gratitude to international partners and UN agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for West Africa and its office in Senegal, the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Institute for Security Studies for Africa (ISS) and the CIMA Foundation (International Centre for Environmental Monitoring) of the Italian National Centre of Civil Protection.