16 Feb 2026 When AI meets Indigenous Knowledge: Climate resilience in rural Zimbabwe

Kudzaiishe Ndawana and Ngoni Muchenje

In rural Zimbabwe, the first sign of a coming drought is not a warning from a satellite, a government bulletin, or a climate model. It is the wind. Or the behaviour of birds. Or the flowering or failure to flower of certain indigenous trees. Long before Artificial Intelligence promised hyper-local forecasts, communities relied on a web of ecological signals, passed down through generations, to understand when to plant, when to conserve water, and how to prepare for difficult seasons. This is knowledge carried in stories, in daily observation, and in the lived experience of people whose survival depends on reading the land accurately.

Today, the world is rushing to introduce a new kind of climate knowledge into these communities: AI-generated forecasts, crop-diagnostic apps, remote sensing analysis, and predictive drought models. At global platforms like COP30, these digital tools are hailed as the future of climate adaptation as they are precise, scalable, innovative. But for communities like those MeDRA works with in Buhera, Gokwe South, Bikita and Chipinge, AI is both a promise and a threat.

AI carries enormous potential, yet it arrives in places where network coverage drops with each passing kilometre from town, where data is expensive, where one smartphone may be shared by an entire household, and where local knowledge remains the first and most trusted early warning system.

Adaptation in Zimbabwe is increasingly shaped by this tension: the collision between high-tech climate solutions and deeply rooted indigenous knowledge systems. And, if not handled carefully, the digital divide risks turning the AI revolution into a source of new inequality.

Transformation and exclusion

AI certainly offers transformative opportunities. In theory, it can generate hyper-local weather forecasts that could help farmers time their planting with precision. It can diagnose crop diseases through a simple phone camera, translate climate information into local languages, or feed humanitarians with predictive drought models that guide anticipatory financing. These tools could change lives.

But the cracks appear quickly. Most AI systems are trained on Western data that do not reflect African climatic behaviour, soil chemistry, or agricultural contexts. Incorrect advice is not just inconvenient as it can cost a season’s harvest. And with the rise of AI-generated misinformation, some rural WhatsApp groups may be exposed to fabricated weather alerts, and deepfake videos presented as truth. For communities with limited digital literacy, misinformation spreads faster than evidence.

The deeper threat, however, lies in exclusion. AI tools assume connectivity, literacy, and stable digital access – none of which can be guaranteed in rural Zimbabwe. When adaptation policy ignores this reality, the most vulnerable are left behind.

Against this backdrop, MeDRA’s work on climate resilience demonstrates a different, more grounded approach – one where technology is introduced carefully and only after strengthening the communication and knowledge systems that communities already trust. At the heart of this approach are Zimbabwe’s Village Business Units (VBUs) or Agricultural Business Hubs. These VBUs began as local marketplaces for small-scale produce, but over time they have evolved into informal climate information centres. On any given day, women and men gather under the shade of a tree or near a communal garden to exchange stories: rainfall patterns, pest attacks, the performance of drought-tolerant crops, or the price of tomatoes in the nearest town. Some share indigenous signals – like the late fruiting of wild trees – as indicators of a dry season ahead. Others bring updates from the radio, the Agricultural Business Advisory Officer, or a family member working in major towns.

These organic networks spread information quickly and reliably, especially where formal systems fall short. Their strength lies in trust. As one woman in Gokwe South explained, “At the VBU we don’t just talk about money. We teach each other how to survive the drought.”

The same dynamic is visible in MeDRA-supported borehole committees in Gokwe South. These committees help generate some of the most valuable climate data in the area – manually tracking water table levels, pump performance, and groundwater stress long before any satellite imagery captures the decline. Their reports, sent to MeDRA and district authorities, tell a human story behind the numbers: why certain boreholes dry first, how women shoulder more burden during droughts, or how cultural norms shape water use. No algorithm can interpret these dynamics without human insight.

Instead of replacing this knowledge, MeDRA is experimenting with ways to blend it with digital tools. If water committees can document their observations through simple mobile forms, their data can feed into broader predictive models. If WhatsApp channels are used strategically, early warnings can reach entire villages within minutes. And once Starlink internet is installed at the new Climate-Resilient Agribusiness Hub in Rambanepasi, communities will, for the first time have stable broadband access to AI tools, digital marketplaces, and online training. But the difference is that technology will arrive at a community that already has strong local governance, active knowledge-sharing networks, and youth prepared to serve as digital intermediaries.

Innovation and resilience

The Agribusiness Hub itself is a model of locally led innovation, blending climate-resilient agriculture, inclusive governance, digital marketing, indigenous knowledge, and youth leadership. A democratically elected Hub Management Committee ensures gender balance, youth representation, and community ownership. Meanwhile, local young people – trained as Digital Champions – will learn to create online catalogues for honey and garden produce, use AI to design marketing content, and manage farm bookkeeping digitally. For many, this will be their first chance to apply technology in a meaningful way. The hub becomes not just a climate adaptation tool, but a space of digital empowerment.

One of the hub’s most visionary components is the systematic documentation of the Indigenous Knowledge System (IKS). Through storytelling dialogues, MeDRA is working with elders, traditional leaders, and knowledge holders to record indicators that have guided communities for generations – such as bird migration patterns or the flowering of local trees that signal early rain. This material will be transcribed, digitised, and preserved. If AI systems are trained on this culturally rooted dataset, rather than relying solely on Western-centric climate indicators, the resulting forecasts could finally reflect the unique rhythms of Zimbabwe’s environment. Algorithms alone cannot hear the wind, but with the right data, they can learn from those who do.

Of course, the digital future of climate adaptation depends not only on farmers: it depends on the journalists who interpret climate science, counter misinformation, and amplify rural voices. Zimbabwean journalists continue to work under severe constraints: minimal climate training, lack of transport to remote areas, political sensitivities, and almost no access to climate datasets. Yet they remain the thin line between truth and misinformation in rural communication channels. As one journalist admitted, “Sometimes we see climate disasters before authorities do. But we have no money to travel.” If AI is to support adaptation, journalists must be resourced – not replaced.

Ultimately, Zimbabwe’s experience offers a powerful lesson for the rest of the world: AI cannot build climate resilience on its own. It must sit within a broader ecosystem where people, culture, and communication come first. Rural communities are not passive recipients of climate technology – they are co-creators of knowledge. They know their land intimately. They innovate constantly. They teach and learn from each other. And when given the right tools, they use technology in ways that reflect local priorities.

The future of climate adaptation in Zimbabwe and perhaps in much of the Global South lies in merging the best of both worlds: the precision of Artificial Intelligence and the wisdom of traditional ecological knowledge. But the order matters. Communities must lead, technology must serve and communication rights must be protected so that every person regardless of gender, age, literacy, or connectivity can access, understand, and shape the information that affects their survival.

As a MeDRA facilitator once noted during a drought preparedness dialogue, “AI can tell us it will be dry next month. But only our elders can tell us how to survive it.” The world would do well to listen.

Kudzaiishe Ndawana and Ngoni Muchenje serve as the National Director and Projects Officer respectively for the Methodist Development and Relief Agency (MEDRA) in Zimbabwe, specialising in climate adaptation, community resilience, and communication for development across rural communities specifically Buhera, Gokwe South, Chipinge, and Bikita Districts. Their work focuses on strengthening local participation, documenting climate resilience stories, and advancing communication rights in rural communities amongst other key thematic areas.