Policy Brief on Scaling Locally-Led, Gender-Responsive, and Environmentally Sustainable Anticipatory Action
Humanitarian needs are increasing faster than the resources available to meet them. Climate change, conflict, economic instability, and environmental degradation are driving more frequent and severe crises, while humanitarian funding continues to fall short of growing needs. Continuing to rely primarily on reactive humanitarian response is no longer sufficient.
Anticipatory Action (AA) complements, rather than replaces, humanitarian response. By using pre-agreed forecasts and risk thresholds to trigger early action and release financing before a hazard strikes, AA helps reduce impacts, protect lives and livelihoods, and limit the escalation of humanitarian needs. Evidence from AA pilots across various hazards, including drought, flood, and cyclone, shows it reduces asset loss, protects livelihoods, and lowers response costs relative to post-disaster aid – shifting part of the system from paying to recover losses toward paying to prevent them. Over the past decade, AA has evolved from small-scale pilots into an increasingly institutionalized approach at the center of the humanitarian, development, peace and climate nexus (HDP + C Nexus), supported by governments, donors and international organizations worldwide.
As AA expands, the focus must be on both scaling up and scaling better. CARE International (CI) believes that effective AA must be:
- Locally led
- Gender-responsive
- Environmentally sustainable
These approaches help ensure that actions are grounded in local knowledge and expertise, respond to how risks are experienced, reach those most affected, and reduce vulnerability without creating new risks. In doing so, they improve the relevance, inclusiveness, effectiveness, and sustainability of AA.
CARE International calls on governments, donors, and humanitarian, development, peace, and climate actors to increase quality financing, strengthen national systems, and invest in effective AA that reaches those most at risk before disasters strike.
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Scaling Locally-Led, Gender-Responsive, and Environmentally Sustainable Anticipatory Action
Full Policy Brief