Madagascar, as an island, is regularly exposed to cyclones, droughts, floods, and epidemics (such as plague). It has 25 million inhabitants, and it is the most cyclone-prone country in Africa, with an average of 1.5 cyclones per year.
FOREWARN Madagascar was launched to bring experts in risk and vulnerability analysis and forecasting from different public and private institutions together with Start Network members to mainstream and improve anticipatory action.
In Madagascar, FOREWARN focuses on three main hazards; cyclone/flood, drought, and health risks.
How it works
1. Hazard monitoring and anticipatory action plans
We have set up a cyclone anticipation mechanism which is for financing actions to anticipate cyclones. These actions have been identified in advance according to local needs and capacities. For this mechanism, the process of the trigger and the fund release at the Start Fund level has been reduced to 5 hours instead of 72 hours in order to allow member organizations to be operational as soon as possible.
For the 2021-2022 season, anticipation alert was triggered during the two major cyclones Batsirai and Emnati. The total funds allocated were approximately £370,000 affecting nearly 250,000 people.
2. Advocacy and engagement
FOREWARN works with governmental and non-governmental entities to provide information to enable member NGOs to make decisions regarding the initiation of anticipatory actions. To this end, FOREWARN is strengthening the technical capacity of the Directorate General of Meteorology to improve cyclone forecast and to facilitate the triggering of the cyclone anticipation mechanism at the member level.
Also, FOREWARN coordinates with technical working groups like the Anticipatory Action Group involving INGOs, NGOs, UN agencies, the Bureau National de Gestion des Risques et des Catastrophes (National Office of Disaster Risk Management) to facilitate the coordination of activities on Drought, cyclone and different advocacy processes.
3. Network of experts
Within the Start Fund mechanism, FOREWARN provides information to members enabling them to make decisions to raise alerts and raise funds for anticipatory actions or for responses to small to medium-scale crises caused by non-predictable hazards.
Within the Start Ready mechanism, FOREWARN also provides members with technical information to complete block four of the Building Block process – risk analytics. The technical information on cyclone risk profiles and cyclone/flood vulnerabilities will be very useful to complete the Building Block process and can be used to inform contingency planning to tackle modelled hazards through pooled risk funding.
FOREWARN works with other initiatives mobilizing experts to analyze risks, and bringing representatives of these other groups together to provide maximum coverage. Particularly FOREWARN works with different technical working groups (such as the Anticipatory Actions Technical Group, and the IPC analyst group) at the national level to bring its expertise and promote anticipation initiatives at the national level.
As FOREWARN Madagascar has targeted mainly three types of risks (drought, cyclone/flood, and health risks), the group plans to target experts working specifically in these areas such as specific academics, experts from ministerial entities such as Meteorology, Agriculture, Health, but also experts from the National Risk and Disaster Management Office who are involved in vulnerability and risk analysis.
Which members and partners are involved?
- Start Network members: Catholic Relief Services, Action Contre la Faim, CARE, Humanity & Inclusion, Médecin du Monde, Medair, Save the Children, Welthungerhilfe
- Meteorological Operations Directorate (General Directorate of Meteorology)