24 Aug 2022

Looking back at the GPDRR: building synergies between anticipatory action and DRR

The 7th Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) took place in Bali, Indonesia, in May 2022 – and anticipatory action was a prominent theme throughout the event. This approach can play a critical role in disaster risk reduction (DRR) and, with growing international recognition of the links between these two sectors, the GPDRR was an opportunity for actors from both communities to interact. 

Statement on how anticipatory action and DRR can work in synergy

Ahead of the event, the Anticipation Hub issued a statement outlining some of the ways in which the anticipatory action and DRR communities can work together, for example to help countries achieve their targets under the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-30. This statement called upon both communities to:

  • build partnerships to promote national ownership and strengthen locally led anticipatory action
  • collect, share and exchange knowledge, lessons and evidence about how anticipatory action makes a difference
  • promote socially inclusive anticipatory action approaches that ‘leave no one behind’
  • be innovative to make anticipatory action applicable to a wider variety of hazards, including compound risk. 

The statement also included clear messages for governments and donors about how to bring these two complementary approaches closer together. “Our statement outlines what the anticipatory action and DRR communities can do to strengthen and scale up anticipatory action, so that more people affected by hazards are better able to cope with the impacts,” said Dr Nikolas Scherer, policy and advocacy manager at the Anticipation Hub.

Videos from the event

With people from across the world gathering in Bali, the GPDRR was an opportunity to learn more about how anticipatory action is implemented around the world. The Anticipation Hub team spoke to many delegates at the event – from Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe – about ongoing initiatives and priority areas in their countries. A series of video interviews, available on our YouTube playlist, provides diverse insights into the global impact of this approach. 

This playlist includes the recording of a session at the GPDRR led by the Anticipation Hub, ‘Anticipate and act early: putting communities and creativity at the heart of learning and exchange’. You can also find an introduction to the Future Leaders Network, a new initiative that provides a space for young people to work collaboratively on establishing early warnings that translate into anticipatory action. Another video explains how governments are being encouraged to mainstream anticipatory action as an approach to DRR.

The GPDRR also saw the launch of the anticipation dance, a creative communications tool that will help to spread the word about the need to scale up anticipatory action: to do more, do it better – and do it together.

You can read more about the 7th GPDRR on the event’s website. The 8th session will be held in 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland.