The 13th Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action will take place from 2 to 4 December 2025 in Berlin and online. This special edition will focus on the theme ‘Anticipatory action: a decade of learning, a future in a changing humanitarian landscape’.
Setting the scene
In 2015, 60 humanitarian practitioners and scientists met at the first event, then known as the Dialogue Platform on Forecast-based Financing, to share experiences and facilitate joint work around their innovative efforts to harness scientific knowledge and build a more proactive humanitarian system. At that time, work on anticipatory action was concentrated in a few initial pilot projects that were beginning to act ahead of extreme hydrometeorological events.
A decade later, anticipatory action has brought about a paradigm shift in humanitarian assistance – enabling action before crises unfold leading to faster, more cost-effective and more dignified humanitarian outcomes. Last year alone, anticipatory action protected 17 million people ahead of the impacts of hazards with 110.7 million USD released; whilst frameworks are being developed in over 70 countries. The approach now increasingly also offers a proven way forward not only for climate- and weather-related hazards, but also for getting ahead of the impacts of displacement, epidemics, and other emerging polycrises. Over the same period of ten years, the global dialogue platforms have become the annual event that gathers over 2,000 practitioners, scientists, local actors, and policymakers from across governments, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, academia, and the private sector.
Progress has not been linear. Successes have been tempered by hard-won lessons: from failed triggers, challenges with working on very short lead times and delayed funding to the complexities of operating in fragile and conflict-affected settings. A lot remains to be done to effectively scale up, including (1) developing frameworks that cover more people and more hazards and are locally-led and people-centred, (2) ensuring there is sufficient funding in place to activate these frameworks, (3) institutionalizing it further (e.g., through national-level frameworks) and (4) applying it effectively in complex settings.
This must be achieved at a time when the humanitarian system is being reshaped by growing humanitarian needs, significantly reduced resources and increasing climate-induced crisis and conflicts. Current discussions around a ‘humanitarian reset’, brought about by the vast and sudden cuts in donor funding, require renewed advocacy showcasing that anticipatory action offers a proven way forward, backed by compelling evidence. With efforts underway to reform the humanitarian system, it is incumbent upon the anticipatory action community to demonstrate the important role anticipatory action can play in achieving a more effective, people-centered, and efficient humanitarian system.
Thematic focus areas
The 13th Global Dialogue Platform aims to foster the exchange of knowledge, drawing on the collective experience gained over the past decade, to reinforce the commitment of all stakeholders to accelerate anticipatory action, and to underline its continued vital role in today’s complex humanitarian landscape. It will offer a dynamic three-day exploration of anticipatory action’s past, present, and future through deep reflections, honest dialogue and actionable insights, with sessions structured around three focus areas.
A decade of hard-earned success: marking the 10th anniversary of anticipatory action
Despite today’s turbulent realities, this is a moment to acknowledge how far we’ve come and to reflect on our joint achievements over a decade shaped by innovation, collective effort and joint learning. Together, the participants will revisit milestones, celebrate collective achievements, look at enabling factors at play, acknowledge the crucial role of various stakeholders — including local communities, donors, governments, humanitarians, scientists and the private sector — and showcase success stories. This collective retrospective will lay the foundations for honest conversations about both challenges and opportunities ahead.
Taking stock: a courageous space to learn from setbacks
The 13th Global Dialogue Platform will create a candid environment for learning from past setbacks in anticipatory action, and encourage honest reflections on failure, on what has worked well and where challenges remain; e.g.: for which hazards has the approach shown promising results and which remain tricky?; What have we learned about working in fragile and violence affected settings? Etc. Through open and reflective conversations, participants will examine the missed opportunities, the difficult lessons from failed activations, and the systemic barriers that persist. Reflecting a decade of evidence, sessions held under this theme will then discuss challenges, remaining gaps and explore what is needed to overcome them in terms of the research, methodologies, operational practice and the recurrent investment required. Honest takeaways form the core of these discussions.
Moving forward in a changing humanitarian system
As well as celebrating achievements, the anticipatory action community must be forward-looking, addressing the shifts in the evolving humanitarian landscape – and firmly position anticipatory action as a proven pathway forward. In the context of a system reset, how can we adapt and prioritize? How can we better leverage our collective financial instruments for scale?
Discussions will centre around shaping the future of anticipatory action. This will involve identifying strategies and opportunities for greater collaboration amongst agencies to achieve greater outcomes and include sessions that:
establish how to demonstrate the unique value of this approach in today’s climate in terms of lives saved, dignity, and cost-efficiency
explore how anticipatory action can be applied responsibly and effectively in fragile, conflict- and violence-affected contexts, ahead of complex crises, and in places where early warnings exist but anticipatory action remains elusive
consider ways to ensure its sustainability, for example, via innovative financing models and integration into national systems for disaster management.
Format
The 13th Global Dialogue Platform is a hybrid event that will take place in Berlin and online. Sessions will be delivered in plenary and parallel formats, using a variety of participatory approaches. The programme will include innovative engagements, panel discussions, ignites and in-depth thematic sessions. The main language of the event is English, with simultaneous interpretation available during the plenaries in Arabic, French and Spanish.
Background
In 2015, the German Red Cross, the IFRC, the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, and WFP, with support from the German Federal Foreign Office, initiated the first Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action.7 Since then, the event has become a regular platform for exchange and learning around anticipatory action, for practitioners, scientists, policymakers, and experts drawn from the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organizations, governments, local actors, donors, academia, and the private sector.