Putting people at the centre of early action

A new report into Start Network's anticipation tool advises that going forward, enabling communities to act ahead of a potential disaster will require a focus on localisation, putting at-risk people at the centre of the process to mainstream of early humanitarian action.

Since the Start Fund anticipation work began in 2016, the fund has allocated £3.7 million to implement nineteen early action projects in response to all types of disasters in fourteen countries across Africa and Asia.

The majority of actions are in response to rapid-onset events characterised by short forecast lead times (typically one-two weeks) with limited time to activate and implement early actions. Similar to the Start Fund, the anticipatory alert cycle is quick, with allocation decisions made within 24 hours, with a target activation time of seven days.

To increase member’s ability to undertake forecast-based actions, the Start Anticipation Team has been working to improve forecasting tools and develop technical guidance and training resources. Based on the information provided by Start Network staff, members and partners, the review highlights existing forecast-based tools and platforms used to inform early action