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Asia-Pacific Technical Working Group on Anticipatory Action
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the most diverse in the world. It’s home to nearly 4.5 billion people – some 60 per cent of the global population – with roughly 2,300 languages and dialects between them. Its geography reflects this diversity, from the high plateaus of Afghanistan to the tropical islands of Fiji and the wide-open grasslands of the Mongolian steppe.
The region is also one of the most hazard-prone: some 70 per cent of the world’s disasters occur here. And they hit particularly hard for families with limited resources, who often belong to minority groups, living in remote areas or on the fringes of cities. For them, the unending cycle of cyclones, floods, droughts and heat waves can be relentless.These hazards are also getting more frequent and intense, thanks to climate change.
The impacts of conflict and economic problems can be equally taxing, especially if these coincide with hazards. It’s no coincidence that some of the most hazard-prone communities in the region are also among the world’s poorest, as crisis after crisis strips away at the hard-earned assets of families who have limited means to protect themselves and limited time to recover between shocks.
Anticipatory action in the Asia-Pacific region
While we may not entirely prevent disasters from happening, we can minimize the consequences by acting early. Anticipatory action is an approach that combines impact-based forecasting, anticipatory (or early) actions, ex-ante financing, and efforts to strengthen countries' operational capacity to implement actions ahead of a hazard. It has been widely accepted and adopted by humanitarian partners and governments in the region as a way to better protect people's lives and livelihoods, and to maintain their self-reliance.
By using better forecasting models, pre-positioning resources and mapping the most vulnerable groups, anticipatory action has the potential to prevent people from falling further into destitution and sustain development gains. Consider, for example, a family’s ability to keep their children in school with the income they derive from the livestock they were able to protect through anticipatory action, or how a community can maintain a basic level of nutrition, even in challenging times. In short, by being a timely form of disaster risk management, anticipatory action reduces losses and suffering, and protects progress.
As interest in anticipatory action grows in the Asia-Pacific, so does the need for information-sharing, coordination and joint advocacy. There is currently a gap in terms of regional partnerships convening the humanitarian, development and climate-resilience communities, and a need to draw on evidence and best practice to drive and unify standards, while also increasing investment. The Asia-Pacific Technical Working Group on Anticipatory Action aims to address this gap and promote a regional approach to knowledge-sharing and cooperation.
Minimum training package on anticipatory action
Based on the needs identified in the Asia-Pacific Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Action (in Bangkok, November 2022), a sub-group on training was established under the regional TWGAA. The sub-group supported the development of a minimum training package on AA that can be used collectively (or by any single agency), at the country level, with a common and harmonized messaging. This training package aims to capacitate national and local actors to intervene in anticipation of extreme events and support the institutionalization of the approach. It was presented at the regional ToT in Bangkok, in April 2024, bringing together representatives from 12 countries that are actively engaged in applying the approach as part of their DRM efforts. Any interested country/ agency can now adapt the minimum training package based on their respective context and level of advancement in AA.
Find the Trainer Facilitation Guide and the modules below.
Anticipatory Action: Trainer Facilitation Guide for Asia RegionNews / Events
Map of current anticipatory action programmes in Asia Pacific

What we do
Contact
Raymond Zingg
Regional Anticipatory Action CoordinatorIFRC Asia Pacific Regional Office
Raise your QuestionCatherine Jones
Anticipatory Action Lead for Asia-PacificFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Raise your Question