The concept of the Talanoa Dialogue was introduced into international negotiations during the 23rd United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP 23, held in 2017, and represented the first time in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process that national governments met with non-Party stakeholders in an official setting. The Cities and Regions Talanoa Dialogues were launched by ICLEI at the ninth World Urban Forum, with the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate & Energy (GCoM) and UN-Habitat as special partners. Since then, Talanoa Dialogues have been held around the world as a way to take stock of current action towards the implementation of NDCs. The informal and inclusive dialogues use story-telling as an accessible way to enable stakeholders to openly report on progress. The dialogues are designed to support actors to raise ambition and to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. The word Talanoa itself refers to a style of dialogue practiced in Pacific Island countries, which fosters openness and inclusiveness. The ethos of the dialogue is to bring together stakeholders to discuss cross-cutting challenges in a space conducive to participatory and transparent communication.

This document outlines five lessons from the African Talanoa Dialogues, including 1) Coordinated reporting; 2) Accessing finance; 3) Building local ownership; 4) Identifying capacity gaps; and 5) Fostering city-to-city learning.