In Bangladesh, acting before a crisis is not a new idea. In this piece, Md Jafar Iqbal, Programme Manager - Emergency Response at CARE Bangladesh explores some of the barriers and opportunities around scaling early action in the country.
Women and girls are known to suffer disproportionately during crises and disasters. A recent report by CARE International found 10/11 top humanitarian donors and 5/6 major United Nations agencies to be unsatisfactory in their progress towards their commitments to target 15% of their humanitarian aid to gender equality programming.
The United Nations and the Governments of Germany and the United Kingdom convened a high-level event to advance anticipatory action and galvanise a collective push to act ahead of crises. Start Network CEO Christina Bennett made the following statement at the event.
Mongolia is unique. 30% of the population earn their livelihoods from herding livestock, leading a traditional nomadic life to enable their animals to access pasture throughout the year. Weather conditions can be extremely harsh, with long, stormy winters where temperatures can drop as low as -40C or -50C. Herders, and therefore the wider Mongolia economy are vulnerable to the impacts of extreme winter weather. Dry summers can mean livestock do not gain the weight needed to survive winter, combined with harsh conditions this can cause mass livestock mortality known as ‘dzud’.
The quarterly FOREWARN meeting in May 2021 focussed on epidemics in a deliberate effort to share recently-acquired learning on anticipating disease outbreaks and to apply them beyond the current pandemic. When considering which disease outbreak or epidemic the Start Fund could represent, cholera was the obvious choice for a few reasons.
For nomadic herder families in the Mongolian grasslands, living in extreme conditions is the norm. But when it comes to Dzud, the Mongolian term for a bitterly cold winter weather phenomenon, the impact can be greater than many are able to prepare. Anticipating how changes in the weather and environment will impact their lives is key.
Start Network's Luke Caley looks at how the Start Fund has learned to anticipate - and what's coming next
Start Network's Luke Caley sets out a vision for early action in humanitarian crises, and the platform that could provide the capability needed to take it to scale.
