Enhancing food security early actions and community resilience against recurrent droughts and other climate shocks in the Horn of Africa

Descriptions

Early warning (EW) and anticipatory action (AA) are fundamental to stronger drought resilience that guides early actions to prepare or, respond and recover from shocks. Improving the links between the two (so appropriate actions mitigate predicted impacts) is central to securing the livelihoods of pastoralist communities. Different countries use different tools and approaches to document and prepare for the onset of droughts. Since early warning systems have a good track record of predicting emerging food crises, EW systems are widely used to prepare and plan for humanitarian and other responses. However, there is a poor record of these warnings actually triggering timely anticipatory actions. Thus, the effectiveness of Early Warning Systems (EWS) to translate warnings into effective action, remains low in many arid and semi-arid parts of the region. Recent efforts to overcome late responses to hazards are increasingly based on linking forecast data and information with pre-agreed actions and funding. However, the disconnects between early warnings and anticipatory actions results in ineffective drought responses – by the many organizations set up to address these issues as well as by dryland communities themselves. The overall aim of this impact collaboration is to propose changes to the end-to-end processes linking the products of Early Warning Systems (their data, information, analysis and predictive impacts) with decision-making at community levels, so pastoral and agropastoral communities in the Horn of Africa can better manage seasonal variability and its effects on their food security, nutrition and livelihoods.