Do we need to mainstream anticipatory action, ensure it is locally led – or both?

Take 1...

One of the dominant themes at the 11th Global Dialogue Platform in 2023 was locally led anticipatory action: local actors being central to the planning and implementation. This year, the focus is mainstreaming anticipatory action, including “within national and regional structures and systems". 

But can these two ambitions work in parallel? Can an approach – anticipatory action or any other – be both locally led and mainstreamed at the national level? We asked some experts in this sector to help us unpack the question. In this blog, we share the first set of answers – we'll share more in the run-up to this year’s Global Dialogue Platform. 

In the past few months, there has been a lot of attention on the need for anticipatory action to be locally led. What does this mean in practice? 

Abdihakim Ainte, Office of the Prime Minister, Somalia: 

“It means local people leading anticipatory action. This is what local people in Somalia, from Hirshaballe to Jubbaland, are doing. And the government, in partnership with local authorities and development partners, are equipping local communities with the tools and information they need to anticipate and act in timely manner.” 

Natalie Acosta, German Red Cross in Honduras: 

“Locally led anticipatory action means putting at the centre the people who know, first-hand, the needs and capacities of their communities. It is essential for them to have ownership of how anticipatory action can strengthen their resilience, especially in terms of sustainability.” 

Julia Burakowski, Welthungerhilfe: 

“In practice, it means placing local people’s perspectives and ideas at the centre of anticipatory action; this ensures they have ownership of this approach and that the systems built are effective and relevant to local realities.  

“It’s also an opportunity for the dominant players – the United Nations, the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, international NGOs, donors – to reflect on their own roles in anticipatory action, become more aware of persistent power imbalances, and then advocate for local actors to have a more prominent role.”    

A number of regional dialogue platforms in 2024 looked at how to mainstream this approach at the national level, for example the events in South Asia and southern Africa. Why does mainstreaming need to happen? 

Natalie: 

“Often, humanitarian organizations have limited capacities, so there is a latent need to look for complementarity within the resources and efforts of different stakeholders –especially at the national level. The goal for anticipatory action is to make interventions more efficient. For this to happen, we must promote integrated initiatives.”  

Abdihakim:  

“After decades of cyclical shocks, we are currently drafting a national transformational plan in Somalia, which places disaster-risk-reduction programmes at its core. And, through the Somali Disaster Management Agency, we have a national strategy that mainstreams anticipatory action through the national development plan. At the same time, we are working with regional states to ensure that their activities align with the national transformational plan.  

“This is the first time we are integrating anticipatory action into a national document. These efforts to mainstream anticipatory action mean that we are better prepared, have better plans, and we now have national vision for anticipatory action.  

So, the big question: can anticipatory action be mainstreamed nationally – within government processes, ongoing disaster-risk-reduction programmes or National Red Cross and Red Crescent Society Plans – and, at the same time, locally led? Or do these ambitions not pull in different directions? 

Julia: 

“Mainstreaming anticipatory action nationally does not necessarily delegitimize efforts to make it more locally led. If mainstreaming at the national level allows local actors to be in the lead and ensures that local voices – especially from most marginalized people – are heard and acted upon, national systems can very much be locally led. 

“Nevertheless, there is a need to balance the benefits of mainstreaming anticipatory action – the methodologies and tools, for example – with the risk of losing highly contextualized local systems. We need to make sure that mainstreamed systems for anticipatory action still have the flexibility and adaptability needed to take into account the multifaceted realities of local settings.”  

Natalie: 

“In Latin America, efforts to mainstream this approach nationally – as promoted by technical groups in countries including Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras - are making significant steps on the road to promoting national strategies for anticipatory action.  

“At the same time, there are numerous locally led initiatives, such as the minimum packages for anticipatory action for droughts, which are being promoted by local governments in Central America, and especially in Honduras. These show that pursuing both approaches is possible – if there is enough compromise around this approach.” 

Julia: 

“I would add that taking a binary view of 'national’ and ‘local’ as opposing levels does not reflect the nuances that exist across the spectrum. And doing so can be unhelpful; often, we see a disconnect between the national and local levels, meaning discussions and decisions taken in the capital city often do not reach the local level.”