Strengthening partnerships between National Meteorological Services and humanitarian actors to enable anticipatory action in Argentina:
The Argentinian National Meteorological Service becomes a partner of the Anticipation Hub and signs an MoU with the Argentina Red Cross
Vea la versión en español aquí.
Partnerships between National Meteorological Services and humanitarian actors are crucial to strengthening access to scientific information, to improve development of impact-based forecasts and to better understand users’ needs to translate forecasts into effective anticipatory action that protects the lives and livelihoods of the most vulnerable. The Anticipation Hub is proud to have the Argentinian National Meteorological Service - Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (SMN) as its first National Meteorological Service partner and to have the Argentina Red Cross as our partner, joining us on this journey towards strengthening knowledge exchange and learning to enable more anticipatory action. In addition, the Argentina Meteorological Service and the Argentina Red Cross have signed a Memorandum of Understanding which catalyzes their commitment to collaborate on enabling and implementing anticipatory action in Argentina.
We asked SMN and the Argentina Red Cross a few questions to learn more about how these organisations collaborate, their vision for enhanced partnership on implementing anticipatory action nationally and their engagement with the Anticipation Hub. We heard from Mariano Alfonsi, Coordinator National Risk Analysis, Argentina Red Cross, Julia Chasco, Head of Meteorology and Society, Argentinian National Meteorological Service (SMN) and Celeste Saulo- Director of the Argentinean National Meteorological Service (SMN).
Read below to hear what they had to say and watch the short summary in the video clip below.
1. What is the vision for implementing anticipatory action in Argentina?
Mariano Alfonsi, Coordinator National Risk Analysis, Argentina Red Cross explains that:
By working on anticipatory action, Argentinian Red Cross contributes to enabling the paradigm shift for emergency response to move from response to anticipation. By boosting knowledge and strengthening learning resources from global to local levels we can keep on improving field-level implementation of anticipatory action with our branches and communities. We aim to effectively reduce impact, by providing a high-quality anticipatory humanitarian service on the ground.
It is also important to mention that in order to achieve anticipatory action in Argentina, we need to work with actors beyond the humanitarian sector to jointly develop the methodologies and implement coordinated approaches that reach more people and cover multiple hazards.
2. Why is it so important that the National Meteorological Service works alongside the Argentina Red Cross to support anticipatory action?
Julia Chasco, Head of Meteorology and Society, Argentinian National Meteorological Service (SMN) explains how:
The contribution of the SMN consists of jointly monitoring meteorological phenomena, with the aim of improving anticipatory decision-making in the humanitarian sector in the event of an emergency and/or disaster situation.
The actions between the two organisations will include the design and implementation of projects aimed at optimising risk management associated with hydrometeorological phenomena, and the strengthening of information exchange channels, in different formats, temporal or spatial scales, their impacts and/or associated decisions. In addition, we will promote the co-production of scientific knowledge through the promotion of academic-scientific initiatives and other spaces designed for this purpose.
During the months of October and November 2020, the SMN carried out an inter-institutional training on the new Early Warning System (EWS), mainly aimed at disaster risk management sectors, at national, provincial and local levels. The Argentinian Red Cross participated with approximately 100 participants from 31 branches throughout the country to learn how to use it as a tool to support anticipatory humanitarian action.
We identified the implementation of impact-based warnings and alerts (IBF) as a central axis of joint work, generating capacities and establishing methodologies associated with the collection of impact information. We look forward to collaboratively developing a specific IBF framework that can support anticipatory action.
3. How can the partnership with the Anticipation Hub support you achieving anticipatory action in Argentina?
Julia Chasco, Head of Meteorology and Society, Argentinian National Meteorological Service (SMN) explains that:
By being connected to a global community of practitioners across the Red Cross Red Crescent Network, NGOs, UN agencies, universities, research institutes and governments, the Anticipation Hub will help inspire, motivate and drive our shared ambition to realize more anticipatory action for the people of Argentina. We can exchange with these actors in the development of our methodologies and frameworks for connecting impact-based forecasting and anticipatory action to collate feedback and advice. We can benefit from access to training materials and learning resources, for example on impact-based forecasting, to help inform the development of our projects.
4. Why is it important for other Meteorological Services to join the Anticipation Hub?
Celeste Saulo- Director of the Argentinean National Meteorological Service (SMN) explains that:
The current challenge for meteorological services is to respond not only to the functions of observing, understanding, and predicting weather and climate, but also to coordinate with decision-makers to provide useful and reliable information. In this sense, the establishment of strategic alliances with key actors is required to strengthen anticipatory action in hydrometeorological hazards. For this reason, the exchange with actors in the humanitarian sector is an opportunity to promote joint work, stimulate innovation, provide advice, and generate capacities that increase interdisciplinary knowledge.
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The Anticipation Hub is very excited to see this partnership develop which will not only contribute to integrating anticipatory action within national early warning systems in Argentina, but also benefit the global community of partners and users of the Anticipation Hub through continued knowledge exchange and learning.
If you would like to learn more about this partnership please get in touch and we can connect you.