18 Oct 2022

More than 300 participants attend the 4th Latin American and the Caribbean Regional Dialogue Platform

More than 150 people gathered in Antigua, Guatemala, for the 4th Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Dialogue Platform on Anticipatory Humanitarian Action, with over 150 connecting virtually.

The event brought together humanitarian actors, institutions that oversee national risk management systems, as well as representatives of international agencies, meteorological institutes, academia, civil society organizations, and other organizations implementing anticipatory action and resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The theme for the 2022 event was ‘Scaling up and integrating disaster risk management systems’. During the diverse sessions held over two days, the speakers shared progress with implementing anticipatory action in the region, as well as the new initiatives that have been launched.

High-level speakers included, among others: Shelley Chetham, head of OCHA's regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean; Eduardo Vélez, advisor to the Coordination Center for Disaster Prevention in Central America and the Dominican Republic (CEPREDENAC); Carlos Iván Márquez, a member of the board of directors of the Colombian Red Cross; Marcio Baca, director of meteorology of the Nicaraguan Institute of Territorial Studies (INETER); and Rodney Martínez Güingla, representative of the World Meteorological Organization for North, Central America and the Caribbean.

“The event leaves us with the great challenge of putting words into action,” concluded Mathieu Destrooper, head of the German Red Cross office in Central America. "We have made a commitment to work together for more localization, inclusion and inter-agency coordination to take anticipatory action in the region to the next level”.

The 4th Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Dialogue Platform was held on 28-29 September 2022. It was organized by the Guatemalan Red Cross, the Anticipation Hub, the German Red Cross, the World Food Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The German Federal Foreign Office provided financial support.