Driven by the changing climate, the frequency and severity of extreme weather events have increased and will continue to do so. As hazards increase in frequency and intensity, we can also expect there to be not only less time to recover between them, but also multiple hazards happening at once, resulting in compounding risks. Extreme weather events occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic have shown the impact of compounding hazards on vulnerable populations.

 

Yet scientific progress over recent decades means that we can now make increasingly precise predictions about when and where hurricanes, drought, flood and other hazards are likely to occur, and what their likely impacts on people will be.  These advances in forecasting make anticipatory action possible.

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Anticipatory Action (AA) refers to actions taken before a crisis hits to prevent or reduce potential humanitarian impacts prior to a shock or before acute impacts are felt. The actions are carried out based on forecasts or predictions of how the event will unfold. The types of actions are varied and depend on the hazard and context and can range from evacuation, the reinforcement of homes and the distribution of health protection kits to mobile cooling centres and cash distribution. The parameters for anticipatory action include the following:  

• The objective is to reduce the potential impacts of forecastable hazard(s).   

• Actions are designed based on forecasts or predictive analyses of when and where a hazard will occur.

• Actions are implemented before a hazard’s impact, or before its most acute impacts are felt.  

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This Online Course is a critical technical anticipatory action development curriculum for Red Cross Red Crescent focal points for early warning/early action, disaster management and key staff/volunteers involved in related elements of AA such as finance, resource mobilization and CVA. The Course consist of seven (7) Sessions over 7 weeks. Each session will be for 2.5 hours. 

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Certification

 

A Certificate of Completion will be issued to each participant who have completed at least 80% of the course material (included Final Assignment) and have score a minimum of 80% on final assessment.