Anticipatory Action by Welthungerhilfe (WHH)

Strengthening Early Warning and Response Mechanisms (SEWaRM) in Nigeria Floods and droughts continue to threaten communities in Nigeria, but Anticipatory Action is changing the way we act. The SEWaRM project, implemented by Oxfam in Nigeria, and Christian Rural and Urban Development Association under Welthungerhilfe (WHH) WAHAFA program, is working to ensure at-risk communities in Adamawa (flood-prone) and Katsina (drought-affected) states can act before disaster occur. Key highlights: 📑 Community-Led Anticipatory Action Protocols (AAPs) – Co-developed with local communities to ensure relevance and effectiveness. 🔎 Focus on the Most Vulnerable – Supporting women smallholder farmers, persons with disabilities, displaced families, and other at-risk groups. 🗺️ Impact-Based Forecasting – Using hazard mapping, risk analysis, and local knowledge to trigger timely action. 🤝 Strengthening Collaboration – Bringing together local authorities, state agencies, and humanitarian actors to improve coordination and preparedness. Learn more about the project and its progress in the new briefing published on the website of the Anticipation Hub: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eJxqkgWG  #AnticipatoryAction #WAHAFA

🧩 Two days of reflection, collaboration, innovation and learning 🧩 For two days, team members of the Welthungerhilfe (WHH)’s Anticipatory Humanitarian Action Facility (WAHAFA) came together for an interactive and insightful retreat —taking time to reflect on our work, strengthen further collaboration with our partners, and explore new ways to enhance our Anticipatory Action work. Key topics we tackled: 📅 Strategies & Priorities for 2025 – We brainstormed how we will be navigating new realities, supporting strong at-risk communities, and what looked at our role in shaping a humanitarian system that is locally led and more anticipatory. 🤝 Collaboration & Partnerships – How reflected at how we currently collaborate with partners and how we want to shape our role and collaboration in the future, fostering a sense of community and leadership. 🏃 Conflict and Displacement  – We identified entry points to structure initial considerations for AA and displacement and conflict in WAHAFA projects (stay tuned for our guidelines!). 📢 Risk Communication – We looked at ways to incorporate crucial elements of risk communication in WAHAFA projects to ensure that early warnings are communicated and messages co-designed, inclusive, timely and actionable. 💡 Improve Learning – Our team members designed and tested a hands-on card game to enhance WAHAFA’s AHA 101 capacity trainings and improve future training participants' understanding of trigger model development & threshold setting.   We are excited to share and bring these insights into practice! Stay tuned!   #AnticipatoryAction #WAHAFA #Welthungerhilfe

🤖 Have you wondered how Artificial Intelligence can support Anticipatory Action? What potential does it hold, and what ethical questions must we address—like ensuring digital do-no-harm principles and robust data safeguards? Do you know how AI is already being used in AA today? During our session at the Global Dialogue Platform 2024, we explored the entire Anticipatory Action timeline—from analysis and forecasting to trigger setting, rolling out actions, and evaluation. 💡 Experts from HeiGIT, Humanitarian Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT), World Food Programme, Kenya and Ethiopia Meteorological Departments, Deutsches Rotes Kreuz, Deltares, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry CLEAR Global, and Welthungerhilfe (WHH) shared their insights and demonstrated practical tools already in use or under development. 🌐 Curious to learn more? 📖 Read our blog on Anticipation Hub or watch the full session (link in comments). 🛠️ Also, we are currently forming a working group on AI in Anticipatory Action, which will be a forum to explore these questions further, share experiences and foster collaboration. If you’re interested in joining the group, please complete this survey: https://lnkd.in/dN4czBs4

Exactly Sude Niehues! 😎 Join the team driving Anticipatory Humanitarian Action in Sub-Saharan Africa at Welthungerhilfe (WHH) 🔎 We are looking for an Expert Finance and Processes to support our WHH Anticipatory Humanitarian Action Facility (WAHAFA) project. 💪 This role is crucial in ensuring the financial backbone of complex, donor-financed multi-country projects. 🧳 Also, in case needed, you will have international duty travels with a regional priority for Sub-Saharan Africa to reinforce our engagement in delivering effective Anticipatory Action programming for people at risk of hazards. If you’re ready to make a difference, have the skills to manage finances of projects funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, willingness to travel, you are fluent in English and perhaps also in French? Then apply until February 2, 2025 👉 Check out the role and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eDuMWxwf #AnticipatoryAction #FinanceJobs #Welthungerhilfe

Reducing drought impacts with local solutions In the face of intensifying droughts across Southern Africa, anticipatory approaches to mitigate impacts on communities and their livelihoods are emerging. In Mbire, #Zimbabwe, WHH Zimbabwe - Welthungerhilfe and Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe introduced an Anticipatory Action project to support communities in their efforts to mitigate loss and damage to their livelihoods. 📖 Key Highlights from Mbire: 💡 Combining Innovation and Tradition: Communities use indigenous knowledge and scientific data to predict droughts and adapt. 💧 Securing Water Resources: In response to limited water access, communities co-designed water pipe scheme solutions to reduce long walks for water, particularly benefiting women and children and reducing wildlife-human conflicts. 🐄 Protecting Livelihoods: Dipping and deworming programs are strengthening livestock resilience, ensuring cattle—a vital resource—can survive drought conditions. While farmers are creating nutrient-rich feed using urea, molasses, and local crops. 🤝 Community-Led Solutions: From traditional feeding techniques to water management committees, local leadership is at the heart of these anticipatory actions. 🔗 Read the full story: link in comments 📷 & 📖 by Tendai Marima #AnticipatoryAction #Drought #Zimbabwe #WAHAFA with Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany

Save the Date & Join Us for the 13th Global Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action! 🌍 Anticipation Hub colleagues have announced the 13th Global Dialogue Platform, taking place from 2–4 December 2025, in Berlin and online. This year’s event celebrates the 10th anniversary of advancing anticipatory action globally. 📅 Event Details: Dates: 2–4 December 2025 Location: Hybrid – Berlin (invitation-only) and Online (open to all) 💡 Interested in participating? Register your interest here: https://lnkd.in/e7Xremgh In the lead-up to the event, we’re celebrating the incredible diversity of the global anticipatory action community with a special video: “How Do You Say Anticipatory Action in Your Language?” This inspiring video showcases voices from around the world—including many members of the WAHAFA team—sharing how they express “anticipatory action” in their native languages. 🎥 Watch the video here: https://lnkd.in/epf_ZaEV As part of the organization team for this year’s platform, WAHAFA (Welthungerhilfe Anticipatory Humanitarian Action Facility) is proud to support this significant global event. We look forward to engaging with partners, practitioners, and experts to further advance anticipatory action. Anticipation Hub Deutsche Rote Kreuz International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - IFRC FAO World Food Programme United Nations OCHA Start Network Welthungerhilfe (WHH) Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany Videocredit: storytile, Anticipation Hub and anticipatory action community contributing their voices and languages! #AnticipatoryAction #GlobalDialoguePlatform

💡 What are you curious about in #AnticipatoryAction? Our colleagues at Anticipation Hub are looking for ideas for their 2025 blog series! What topics would you like to read about? - Are there specific challenges you're eager to understand better? - Is there an area in anticipatory action where you’ve noticed a gap in literature or practical insights? - Or perhaps a success story, innovation, or approach you'd love to see explored in greater detail? Share your ideas directly via this link: https://lnkd.in/ef3ns4rM For inspiration, you can check out some of the blog posts we've contributed to and get a deeper look at Welthungerhilfe’s approach to anticipatory action here: https://lnkd.in/erjN6CVY

As 2024 comes to a close, we reflect on a year of collaboration and progress in advancing anticipatory humanitarian action. Through the Welthungerhilfe Anticipatory Humanitarian Action Facility (WAHAFA), we partnered with 16 local humanitarian organizations, 7 international NGOs, and 4 Welthungerhilfe country offices, alongside countless community members, to enhance resilience, co-develop early warning systems, and implement anticipatory action plans that safeguard lives and livelihoods in high-risk areas. As we step into 2025, our vision remains clear: scaling anticipatory action and reducing vulnerabilities in the face of increasing risks. May the coming year bring continued success and new opportunities to work together for stronger partnerships and impactful anticipatory action. A heartfelt thank you to all our partners, stakeholders, and communities for their trust and collaboration. Happy New Year! 💫 #AnticipatoryAction #Welthungerhilfe #WAHAFA

How can we harness AI for AA? Earlier this year, WHH’s Matthias Amling attended a workshop organized by the EconAI team that brought together a mix of academics, foreign offices and AA and data experts from UN agencies, NGOs and the Red Cross Red Crescent movement. Over two days participants discussed existing practices, challenges and opportunities in using predictive forecasting systems for effective AA. The workshop discussions and insights are now summarized in this NEW 🎉 Policy Insight paper, published by CEPR - Centre for Economic Policy Research: 📄👉 https://lnkd.in/ecV4aRuF Our key takeaways: 🤝 Collaboration is essential to address key challenges including data gaps, forecast literacy and ethical concerns. We learn best together! 📡 Locally-led AA can be supported through open and accessible forecast models working to build trust and incorporate local insights and information. ⚙ Retaining flexibility through use of ‘soft triggers’ (expert consensus) is key to managing the limitation of data and forecast uncertainty, recognising forecast models as one tool in the AA toolbox. We look forward to continuing work in this area! Together we can learn and ensure that these tools are grounded in communities and effectively inform anticipatory action to save lives. #AnticipatoryAction #AI #AIforAA #MachineLearning #Forecasting

We echo the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in emphasizing the critical role of scaling up innovations and technology in early warning systems to enhance climate resilience. At Welthungerhilfe (WHH), we are committed to proactive measures that protect vulnerable communities before disasters strike. Through Anticipatory Humanitarian Action, we utilize advanced forecasting models, early warning indicators, and collaborative approaches to act early—saving lives, reducing risks, and safeguarding livelihoods. By integrating cutting-edge technology, strengthening partnerships with local stakeholders, and incorporating indigenous knowledge and community insights, we aim to improve effectiveness and reach of early warning systems. These systems not only allow us to anticipate disasters, but also empower local communities with the critical information they need to take timely, preventive actions and protect their lives and livelihoods. 📲 Learn more about our approach to anticipatory humanitarian action: https://lnkd.in/eywDb27h