Between 2017 and 2020, the UN World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the Start Network and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) joined as organizing partners. The practice is also replicated by the annual Regional Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action in the Americas, Africa and Asia Pacific. Signaling stronger commitments from governmental organizations to integrate anticipatory action into regional and national policies and frameworks, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa / IGAD Climate Prediction Centre (ICPAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Coordination Centre for the Prevention of Natural Disasters in Central America (CEPREDENAC) and Nepal´s Ministry of Home Affairs´ National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) committed to co-host / co-organize the Regional Dialogue Platform in Asia Pacific, Africa and Americas in 2023 to assure a more systematic engagement of National Hydrometeorological Services and National Disaster Management Agencies in the respective regions at the Dialogue Platform. Partner Red Cross National Societies such as Finnish Red Cross, Danish Red Cross and the American Red Cross have also contributed as partners of the Regional Dialogue Platforms. As of September 2023, there have been 10 Global, 6 Asia Pacific, 5 Africa and 4 Latin America and the Caribbean Dialogue Platforms. In 2022, the Regional and Global Dialogues Platform brought together more than 2,000 participants from at least 140 countries.
About the Anticipation Hub
Building on the experience of the Dialogue Platform, commitments to scale up anticipatory action and the increased demand for more collaboration and guidance on the topic, the Anticipation Hub was launched in December 2020 as an initiative of the IFRC, the German Red Cross and the Climate Centre to provide a more permanent space for learning and exchange beyond the annual Dialogue Platforms. Since its launch, the Hub has acted as the host and convenor of the Dialogue Platforms.
The mission of the Anticipation Hub is to facilitate knowledge exchange, learning, guidance and advocacy for practitioners, scientists and policymakers that supports them to jointly work with at-risk communities to collectively achieve anticipatory action.
The Anticipation Hub aims to support practitioners, scientists, and policymakers, to do more anticipatory action, do it better and do it together, to jointly embed a culture of anticipatory action inside and beyond the humanitarian sector.
The Anticipation Hub´s governance is currently supported by a director-level Steering Committee composed of GRC, IFRC, Climate Centre. Its Advisory Group is co-chaired by FAO and the Start Network with membership across humanitarian agencies, government, and universities. The workplan of the Anticipation Hub is implemented by 31 Coordination Team members with a wide range of expertise from climate science to cash located in 15 countries. As of September 2023, the Hub has gathered 120 partners across the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, UN, governments, NGOs, think tanks, academia and network initiatives from more than 40 countries.
Aligned with the Anticipation Hub´s 2021-2024 Strategy, the Dialogue Platform embraces the following values:
- Embracing a people-centred approach
- Creating shared ownership and inclusiveness
- Promoting and encouraging diversity
- Bridging knowledge across science, policy and practice
- Stimulating creative and interactive exchange
- Ensuring accountability