Getting the harmony right at the Asia-Pacific Dialogue Platform

Anticipatory action in the Asia-Pacific region has grown rapidly in recent years, and in 2024, 137 frameworks for different hazards were in place. Yet this expansion brings with it an urgent need for greater harmonization, to ensure that these frameworks – the protocols that set out how, where and when anticipatory action takes place – are aligned with each other and deliver the maximum impact.  

Establishing how to achieve this harmonization is the central theme at the 8th Asia-Pacific Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action, which is taking place this week in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. During the first plenary of the event, Vlad Cozma from NORCAP explained why harmonization is a priority for this region: “It’s a way to reduce fragmentation and achieve collective activations, to develop a standardized approach and [have] better complementarity.”  

This year, 109 people from 15 countries are attending the event, and during the afternoon on day one, they worked in national groups to establish where each country stands in its efforts towards more harmonized frameworks and national-level systems for anticipatory action. This task involved ranking their country's efforts towards nine different harmonization criteria; one of these was the development of national-level frameworks, building on a theme explored at last year’s dialogue platform. The results from the exercise will inform later discussions during the three days.

Setting the scene: the need for anticipatory action in Asia-Pacific 

Governments have a critical role to play in ensuring national-level harmonization, and the opening day began with reflections on the importance of anticipatory action, shared by representatives from different Indonesian ministries. Among them was Pangarso Suryotomo, from the National Disaster Management Agency, who shared why the host country for this year’s event has taken firm steps to contextualize anticipatory action within its disaster-risk-management system: “It not only saves lives, but also reduces the cost to the economy.” 

Working together towards greater harmonization 

The 8th Asia-Pacific Dialogue Platform continues during the week, with sessions on days two and three offering organizations that operate in the region the chance to share examples of the challenges and opportunities they have faced when seeking greater harmonization in their work. The event will conclude with work towards regional-level guidance on how to achieve greater harmonization at the national level, which will be used to steer countries’ efforts in the future. “This is the place to discuss this issue: to work together and explore potential solutions to the ‘harmonization problem’,” noted Raymond Zingg from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).