Early warning systems (EWS) and anticipatory action (AA) are two elements of an approach to support local communities and individuals affected by shocks, such as droughts, before they become a crisis.
However, in many instances, the very communities and individuals being supported are not consulted during the planning or rollout of these initiatives even though they could provide on-the-ground, real-time insights regarding the risks and shocks that they face and their needs in response.
These local insights can highlight critical errors in assumptions underlying EWS models or driving certain AA (e.g., that all pastoral households own livestock or that regional food markets are integrated with national markets).
Even when communities are consulted, their feedback is rarely taken into consideration when designing or implementing interventions.
Leaving out local information – which could include observations of current local conditions, existing contingency plans, or even feedback on the effectiveness of previous actions – is a lost opportunity that decreases the effectiveness of early action.
This brief summarizes points emerging from discussions on the potential, scope and value for local information to have larger roles in early warning systems, anticipatory actions and humanitarian response, and, if so, how this might be accomplished?
In 2022, the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action and partners convened several virtual mini dialogues on priority topics related to the Observatory vision. The aim was to identify priority research, learning and other actions that the Observatory and a wider community of collaborators can tackle.
This dialogue on 6 July 2022 was championed by Steve Mutiso and Enock Nyakundi (Save the Children) and Todd Crane (ILRI). This brief was finalized with inputs from participants by Nathan Jensen of the University of Edinburgh.