Ndika Charles Akong Climate and Society Graduate Class of 2005 FROM ACTIVIST TO STRATEGIST Having worked with social and environmental justice organizations in Africa, I joined the Masters in Climate and Society program with an activist mindset: limiting the problems of climate solely to one of changing climate mean over time. However, at the end of the program, I have come to apprehend the fact that besides the long-term generalized warming of the earth surface that has been reported, there are real and frequent predicaments of short-term deviations from the mean climate within different regions. Extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, impact differently across different spatial and temporal scales. With the strong emphasis on short-term climate variability, the program has grounded me with insights on the dynamics of the variability, and how it can be predicted. Additionally, I have been equipped with state-of-the-art tools and knowledge to manage climate risks at different levels of decision making. Further, by focusing on adaptation to climate variability and change, the seminar format of the classes, uniquely, engaged me with leading climate scientists, and policy makers on how the climate system interacts with the social and political systems. Nonetheless, one of the hallmarks of the curriculum was the freedom to design one’s own angle to engage with the issues of climate variability and change. Coming from a policy background, I had the opportunity to ground myself with potent tools for development and public policy analyses by electing close to 50 percent of my courses from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Above all, my internship with the Energy and Environment Group of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) New York, further enlarged the window on my career trajectory by providing me with a rare opportunity to engage with intergovernmental policy making. More than never before, I am very confident in the direction in which I want to take my career to. In fact, at the end of the program, I feel metamorphosed to a strategist, capable to give clear and reliable guidance on how society can adapt to the vagaries of climate and impending change. I look forward to focusing the climate campaigns in Africa, from the intangibility of mitigation of climate change, to the “bread and butter” reality of facilitating livelihoods adaptation to the extremes of climate and change.