Shaping Rwanda’s Next Generation of Climate Adaptation Professionals : Climate Adaptation Research & Consulting (CARC), a PlanAdapt affiliate, partners with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
We are proud to announce a new collaboration between Climate Adaptation Research & Consulting (CARC) (a PlanAdapt affiliate in Rwanda) and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). Both organisations are dedicated to providing innovative educational and professional development opportunities to advance Rwanda’s next generation of climate adaptation and climate risk managers.
This collaboration is framed by the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Programme, an approach to education that integrates class-based learning with a relevant, work-based context. It is a professional stream within the existing Master’s program that provides students with a combination of academic training at AIMS and ‘hands-on’ work experience in a professional work environment – hosted by CARC – enabling them to develop valuable work skills and successfully transition from school to progressive careers.
From August 2025 onwards, Linda Ingabire and Emile Niyitanga, two talents that recently graduated from AIMS, will join the CARC team as data scientist interns. Their onboarding marks not just important milestones to the individual careers of Linda and Emile, but a collective leap forward in our commitment to research-for-impact and climate adaptation knowledge brokering approaches, core pillars of CARC’s approach.
The two new team members will contribute to CARC’s work with other public, private, and not-for-profit organisations in Rwanda, while developing their individual skills and competencies to manage climate risks for the benefit of climate-vulnerable Rwandan families and households. CARC’s organisational model is designed to gradually build a cadre of Rwandan adaptation professionals, also with an aim to overcome outdated “fly-in, fly-out” models of climate consulting and instead anchor locally rooted expertise, elevated and backed by global collaboration.
CARC’s work is embedded in PlanAdapt’s global expertise and networks, leveraging its methodologies and international partnerships to enhance climate resilience efforts in Rwanda. While benefiting from PlanAdapt’s well-established organisational infrastructure and collective experience across multiple countries, our Rwandan team is locally driven, ensuring that adaptation solutions are contextually relevant and impactful.
What does the WIL program mean for CARC, our partner AIMS, and for Rwanda?
- Local leadership backed by global networks:
based in the vibrant Westerwelle Startup Haus in Kigali, CARC draws strength from the broader and global expertise of PlanAdapt. Our team, comprising of our Managing Director, Martin Rokitzki, Senior Research Analyst Christian Muragijimana, Legal Advisor & Senior Administrator Aimée Clarisse Mukarukundo, our Accountant Jean de Dieu Munyemana and our new interns, in close collaboration with our Global Coordination Hub, benefits from a rich tapestry of international expertise in climate change adaptation and climate risk management, while staying deeply rooted in local realities.
- Interns ready to make a difference, right from day one:
Linda and Emile will immerse themselves in cutting-edge analytics, knowledge-sharing platforms, and bridging the gap between research and policy. Their roles exemplify CARC’s belief in earning, learning, and growing together, a shared journey where interns are not just observers but contributors to meaningful action.
- Building Rwanda’s climate adaptation ecosystem:
CARC works closely with key national institutions such as the Ministry of Environment and REMA, funding organizations such as the Rwanda Green Fund. We also work closely with key implementers and educational institutions, as well as research institutes and leading universities such as Vanguard Economics, AIMS, among others. Through our strategic collaboration with educational institutions like AIMS, we aim to develop climate adaptation knowledge brokering, competencies and capacities through programs like the WIL, designed as a driving pipeline of home-grown professionals ready to lead climate adaptation efforts across various sectors.
- Transforming a consulting and advisory model that favors home-grown expertise:
We aspire to move beyond deliverable-centric, short-term interventions. Instead, and through programs like the WIL program, CARC weaves knowledge brokers into the fabric of Rwandan institutions, empowering local voices, retaining capacity, and connecting Rwanda to global learning network
Linda and Emile, A Warm Welcome to the CARC family! Your energy, curiosity, and analytical brilliance will help build tools, insight, and partnerships that make real change across the climate-vulnerable landscapes and communities you will serve.
To our partners, and the broader Global PlanAdapt network: Thank you for being catalysts in reshaping how climate adaptation learning and leadership are cultivated.
Together, we are not just responding to climate pressures, we are shaping resilient futures for generations to come. Here’s to collaborative learning, bold action, and bright futures!