Following our May 2024 Community of Practice meeting in Kenya, the Observatory was invited to join the group of organizations planning the first Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action in Mombasa, 1-3 October this year.
We contributed to the planning and financing of the event, as well as interacting around the evidence base, learning from on the ground lessons and insights, and discussions on the wider regional anticipatory action (AA) roadmap.
With a focus on ‘policy to practice’ the event explored ways to strengthen disaster risk management through anticipatory action, organized around four objectives:
- Take stock of AA learning, evidence and experiences across the region, highlighting challenges and bottlenecks as well as promising innovations and solutions that can be delivered at scale;
- Propose priorities for policy, practice and finance to support the mainstreaming of AA in the region;
- Recommend actions to Governments, humanitarian, development and other agencies to most effectively coordinate and partner to deliver AA and associated actions;
- Produce outcome statements and a Declaration for presentation at the Global Dialogue Platform, COP29 and other relevant events.
The Observatory team comprised Guyo Malicha Roba, head of the Observatory, Tahira Mohamed, post-doctoral fellow at ILRI and George Tstitati, PhD researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Roba was a panelist in the day 1 parallel session with the Ethiopian Ministry of Lowland and Irrigation and the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT on ‘Harnessing innovations and evidence-based approaches for anticipatory actions to protect the most vulnerable pastoral communities in Eastern Africa.’ Mohamed was a discussant in the day 2 parallel session with Action Against Hunger on ‘Addressing Multi-Hazard and Slow-Onset Challenges in Anticipatory Action.’ She also facilitated a day 3 session on ‘Research, Evidence and Learning’ in the regional anticipatory action roadmap.
Our partners at Save the Children ran a parallel workshop on 1 October, exploring how to support child-centred and community-based AA in coping with increasing extreme weather events. The workshop drew from Save the Children’s experience promoting active child engagement and its 2024 Anticipatory Action: A Child-centered Guide as well as the learning from anticipatory action research in Somaliland and Kenya undertaken with the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action.
Mombasa declaration from the meeting
On 3 October 2024, participants of the 1st Eastern Africa Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action committed to scaling up anticipatory action to enhance the resilience of communities across the Eastern African region in alignment with the IGAD Regional Roadmap on Anticipatory Action.
Participants committed to:
- Coordinate for collective anticipatory action through existing coordination structures, such as regional and national working groups, to harmonise triggers and thresholds, actions and financing by leveraging on each other’s strengths.
- Enhance the technical capacities of governments to design and implement the anticipatory action approach at national level.
- Support the integration of anticipatory action into national policies, laws and frameworks, including social protection systems and establish clear governance structures at the regional, national and local levels.
- Collectively communicate and advocate for anticipatory approaches across the development, humanitarian and peace nexus.
- Strengthen national and regional forecasting capabilities to ensure early warning is effectively developed, communicated, leading to coordinated and timely anticipatory action from the local to the national and regional level.
- Promote community-led and informed anticipatory action through the meaningful participation of those at greater risk of being disproportionately impacted by disasters, including women and children.
- Ensure that Anticipatory Action frameworks are responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable, including displaced populations, those in conflict-affected areas, and communities facing protracted crises.
- Continue, wherever possible, to explore anticipatory action in fragile and conflict-affected areas, and expand to other hazards such as heatwaves, contexts such as urban areas, to leave no one behind.
- Explore and implement innovative approaches to scale up, reach and protect more people at risk, especially in hard to access areas, leveraging new technologies like digital Cash and Voucher Assistance.
- Cooperate to address transboundary risks and encourage data sharing within and across countries for Anticipatory Action.
- Develop a solid evidence base by collectively monitoring and evaluating progress, based on robust scientific methodologies, and by sharing lessons learned in relevant knowledge platforms and events such as the dialogue platforms.
- Where necessary, support to develop communication and advocacy strategies on anticipatory action.
Participants also encouraged national governments to:
- Set up, or continue to support, anticipatory action technical working groups to lead the development and evolution of national roadmaps for Anticipatory Action and further coordination effort.
- Allocate budget resources for Anticipatory Action, recognising that governments should lead resource mobilisation efforts.
Further, participants appreciate if the international community could:
- Increase flexible and coordinated funding for Anticipatory Action.
- Support the long-term journey to embed Anticipatory Action into governance structures across the region.
- Support the Early Warning Systems value chain to reach the last mile.